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Sattriya dance culture at the British Library & Museum of Croydon in London

menakaborapeterschiazzaAward winning performer,    choreographer and scholar   Menaka PP Bora has been selected to represent Sattriya dance in a major dance and music exhibition entitled Indian Strings & Dances from 10 April 2009 to 1 August 2009 at the Museum of Croydon in London. This exhibition traces the history of Indian cultural heritage, the story of the art forms, their cultural significance and the way they have been transformed by musicians and dancers practising in Britain today. Apart from showcasing traditional Indian artefacts, classical and folk dance costumes and musical instruments related to the dance forms, this colourful and vibrant exhibition also showcases oral history interviews and video performances with key figures in the Indian music and dance movement in Britain.

In an exclusive section of this exhibition, Sattriya dance is represented through a stunning display of dance costumes, photographs, musical instruments like khol, bhortal, khuti tal, live dance and short films containing oral history interviews of Menaka PP Bora as the female representative of the dance culture as practised in India and Britain. A selected collection of Sattriya dance videos and music recordings of this exhibition will be archived at the prestigious British Library in their Indian music collection at the library’s Sound Archive. Menaka will present Sattriya dance and highlight the philosophical foundations of Sri Sankardev’s Vaishnavism movement in Assam on 25 April 2009 at the museum venue. A special presentation on Sattriya dance music will include Menaka’s original concept of researching and introducing rare and dying musical instruments of Assam into Sattriya dance music repertoire in order to facilitate documentation and appropriate means of raising the profile of lesser-known musical instruments and music traditions of Assam. For the first time in the history of Sattriya dance music, the traditional NAGARA drums were introduced as a major musical accompaniment into classical Sattriya dance repertoire in 2003 amidst a distinguished gathering of scholars, artistes and media persons in Guwahati. So far only khol drum was used as the prime rhythmic instrument in Sattriya dance music. This was an original project developed and performed in close collaboration with established nagara player and Guru Aswini Kumar Bayan of Barpeta Sattra. The purpose was to develop a new direction in Sattriya music repertoire within the classical framework of Sattriya dance. Recently, students of Sattriya exponent Indira P.P.Bora have borrowed this concept to work on lesser known mridanga and sarinda musical instruments through Sattriya dance.

In 2009, Menaka’s ongoing dance project, Dance in Museum Project, was nominated for Knowledge Transfer Fellowship from Kingston University where she is currently teaching as a Lecturer in Dance. This fellowship aims to bridge the gap between academic research and its accessibility and relevance in the non-academic and commercial world. Menaka’s project has been nominated for successfully making academic research related to Indian dance practice accessible and sustainable in the environment of some of the reputed museums and galleries of London and Liverpool such as National Portrait Gallery and Horniman Museum in London and World Museum in Liverpool.  In 2009, she has been invited by Victoria & Albert Museum and Asia House in London to develop new dance based projects for mass audiences.

Jugal Kalita, Colorado
Photo by Peter Schiazza

Comments

Menaka Congratulations! I look forward to your next performance. All the best.

menaka congratulation and good luck.