Arts & Culture showcase

Last year, the 39th Annual Festival of India proudly presented a unique lineup of new and award-winning performances that portrayed the depth and the beauty of ancient India's devotional traditions. From enrapturing dance performances to dramas depicting thrilling stories from ancient scripture, the Arts & Culture stage program presented at the Festival of India was a treat for one and all.

This year's Arts & Culture showcase is expected to have a number of unique and new set of performances that will engage the mind, capture the senses, and delight the soul. Stay tuned for more information.

Last year performances by:

Kumari Ellora Patnaik & Guru Sri Devraj Patnaik

Kumari Ellora Patnaik has won international acclaim as a dancer and actor. Many revered Gurus contributed to her training including: Kalashri Chitralekha Patnaik, Srimati Nandita Patnaik, Padmabibhusan Kelucharan Mohapatra, Padmashri Pankaj Charan Das, and (late) Padmashri Sanjukta Panigrahi. She has been teaching dance and performing professionally since 1980. Ellora is also a talented choreographer of Odissi and various folk and film dances, and has created several beautiful works. Ellora holds an Associate's Degree from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and was a member of the Company in her third year (1994).

Guru Sri Devraj Patnaik is a prodigious dancer and percussionist. His native talent for dance has been nurtured by the tutelage of Kalashri Chitralekha Patnaik, Srimati Aruna Mohanty, Padmabibhusan Kelucharan Mohapatra, Padmashri Pankaj Charan Das, and Kalashri Ellora Patnaik. His skill in percussion extends to both the pakhawaj and the tabla. He has received training in pakhawaj from Guru Sri Banamali Maharana, and training in the tabla from Badya Samrat Sri Umesh Chandra Kar in the Delhi and Farukhabad Gharana. He has taught Odissi since 1986, has been performing professionally since 1988, and has taught tabla since 1991.

Duet Performances: Together, Ellora and Devraj Patnaik constitute the ideal union of two dancers, combining technical mastery and conceptual brilliance to form what is arguably the most requested duo in the Odissi world.

Enakshi Das

Enakshi Das Sinha an Odissi dancer originally from India now based in Canada, Ontario. Her training has been under eminent Gurus in her field of dance like Padmavibhusan Guru Kelucharan Mahapatra, Smt.Sharmila Biswas and in Bharatnatyam under Guru Thankamuni Kutty.

Enakshi's experience spans almost 18years in the course of which she have performed in individual capacity and also with her group and students at major festivals like Dover Lane Music Conference, Konark Festival, Nishagandhi Festival, Haridas Sanmelan, Raindrops Festival, Kalidas Sanmelan, Swarna Utsav, All Bengal Music Conference, Ganga Mahautsav, Choreography of the Millennium, Youth Dance festival in Nehru Centre ,Deccan Festival, International Festivals in Tokyo, Bangkok, Dhaka,Canada, Toronto Sanskrit Sansgtha, Edmonton Bengali Association, Lumbini Arts in Ottawa and many others.

Menaka Thakkar Dance Company

Menaka Thakkar is a master dancer in three classical Indian styles – Bharatanatyam, Odissi and Kuchipudi. She settled in Canada over 38 years ago at the peak of her career as an international soloist and is credited (along with Kathak dancer, Rina Singha) as having been the first artist to introduce Indian culture to Canadian audiences.

In the early years Ms. Thakkar performed across Canada and soon began to train youngsters in classical bharatanatyam. She opened the first school of Indian dance in Canada, Nrytakala which continues to train new generations of dancers and formed the Menaka Thakkar Dance Company comprised of graduates of her school. Many of her graduates have gone on to develop their own careers in dance such as Winnipeg’s “Manohar Dance Company”, Natasha Bakht, Niharika Mohanty, and Nova Bhattacharya.

Today the Menaka Thakkar Dance Company is known as Canada’s premiere Indian dance company. It includes up to 20 professional dancers, most of whom have studied with Ms. Thakkar from 16 to 26 years. Ms. Thakkar has created groundbreaking choreographies which reflect both her exposure to western dance styles and her background in classical Indian dance and has collaborated with many of the best modern dancers in Canada.

Panwar Music and Dance Productions

Panwar Music and Dance Productions is a non-profit and charitable organization. PMDP aspires to enrich the lives of youth, adults and communities at large that it touches. The company creates innovative and traditional dance pieces that involve not only the artistic directors Hemant and Vaishali Panwar and their professional team but also concerts, workshops, and seminars by visiting artists from around the world. The company is involved in a genuine promotion of traditional Indian music of aesthetically high standards by arranging musical concerts. The company also creates opportunities for upcoming dancers, singers & musicians who are at the threshold of their professional career.

PMDP is committed to enlighten Canadian audiences with Indian music and dance, invited talks, lecture demonstrations, panel discussions and outstanding performances of traditional and contemporary styles. The company is progressing towards new horizons by amalgamating various art forms, both Indian and Canadian, in fusion choreographies; to be staged in the near future.

The artistic Directors are also dedicated towards the promotion, preservation and propagation of the South Asian heritage through classes in Kathak, Harmonium, Vocals and Hindi language from late September to June end for all ages under Panwar Music and Dance Academy

Uma Vasudevan

An accomplished dancer Uma Vasudevan hails from a family in which music and dance have been the focus of life for many generations. Her dance is a replete with textured grace and a structurally fine understanding of handling body architectonics. Tall and poised Uma has a combined centered strength that gives her style a definitive impact. She is the tenth generation in her family to continue the tradition.

Over the course of her career Uma has been a dedicated performer, choreographer and teacher. She is the grand daughter of the music celebrity Smt. T Muktha and the grand niece of the illustrious dancer Smt. T Balasaraswati. She had her training from Sri. T.M Arunachalam ,Smt Jayalakshmi Arunachalam ,Sri S.K.Rajaratnam and Smt Kalanidhi Narayanan.She has been a professional dancer for the past 25 years and has performed extensively in India, Afghanistan, Europe, US and Canada. She is also the recipient of the Government of India scholarship for dance in the year 1988. She has also performed at Doordarshan (Indian Television) on many occasions.

Since moving to Canada in 1993 she has been performing as well as teaching dance. In the year 2001 she performed for “Poussieres d'etoiles” produced by Music Multi Montreal touring the region of Quebec, performing with her musician husband. She has given demonstrations and workshops for Spic Mackay, Toronto, Concordia University, Montréal and Sivananda Yoga Center ,Val Morin, wheaton college Boston, Cegep St.Foy Quebec city. She has performed in major dance festivals in India and Canada.She and her husband Vasudevan Govindarajan who is a well known mridangam player were featured on Busy Bodies in the year 1996.