O U R     S U P P O R T E R S

We love getting involved with the community and collaborating on exciting new projects by working in partnership with local organisations to provide opportunities for the community. Below are some of the wonderful teams and people we have had the pleasure of working with.
 

University of Bedfordshire

The University of Bedfordshire hosted our Odissi festival last year, with many of the participants choosing to reside at their Bedford campus during the course of the workshop. The university was a  great venue where our participants could learn, relax and socialise and the festival was a success. We look forward to hosting this year's festival here again with the addition of offering Odissi taster sessions to University of Bedfordshire dance students and tickets to the students and faculty for the public performances. We feel that this collaboration is both exciting and beneficial and will serve as a platform for bringing together students from various countries and institutions to experience an opportunity to enhance their learning and training together. 

The Higgins Art Gallery and Museum

As a unique addition to our Odissi festival, one of our team members, Nisha Somasundaram curated an arts exhibition which was not only an attraction to our participants but also garnered public interest as an open event. Titled “Odissi: The Beauty of Indian Dance & Arts" the exhibition traced the evolution of the South Asian dance form of Odissi from its origins in ritual devotion in temples in Odisha to 21st century performance art, widely practiced in contemporary Britain. The artefacts and means employed in the exhibition reflected this confluence of tradition and modernity, with inclusion of various artefacts and items.  The intent was to highlight the rich and dynamic history and visual and material culture of this art form as well as draw to the attention of new audiences the fascinating links and relationship between India and Britain. Works shown in this exhibition include textiles, jewellery, photography of Odissi as practised in UK and India, video installation and a live performance.

Akademi 

We are glad to have the support of Akademi for our Ananda Odissi Festival 2018. Akademi has been at the forefront of bringing South Asian dance to the UK in a variety of styles and performances, with connections across the world and a wide reaching vision.

The Nehru Centre

It is great to to have the support of The Nehru Centre, who seek to maintain and strengthen its cultural bridge with the UK through promoting Indian music, dance and theatre and encouraging greater relations between the UK and India, as well as fostering partnerships between artists from both countries.

Kadam Dance and Music

Kadam are a Luton based South Asian dance and music company that creates high quality performances. They have been a great support and included press release of last year's festival, written by one of our team, in the Autumn 2017 issue of their Pulse Connects magazine.

A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T S

Anita Srivastava 

Anita is an Independent Arts Manager, Producer and Founding Director of New Dimensions Arts Management. She works with South Asian dance organisations delivering strategic projects of regional and national significance. Anita produced the International Dance Conference ‘Navadisha 2016’ bringing the South Asian dance sector together to look at future challenges and opportunities. As an independent consultant, she has supported artists in pursuing their artistic ambitions and has been instrumental in helping us set up and honing our vision of Odissi dance development in the UK.