Special Feature “Dance India Asia Pacific 2020 has been a special experience for the organisers, faculty and participants in making it happen in the new normal braving the current pandemic precautionary measures. We are proud to have successfully completed Fourteen (14) Master Classes, Twelve (12) Webinar sessions, Six (6) choreographies during the DIAP Showcase performance, Three (3) DIAP Residency programs, Two (2) DIAP Highlight Conversations, , One (1) Panel Discussion, One (1) Kids Dance Workshop, One (1) Fringe Event, One (1) Special Choreography for the inauguration of DIAP, and One (1) SPOTLIGHT talk series, across Ten (10) days between 4th to 13th September 2020.  We are pleased to have introduced Indian classical music master classes and music lecture demonstration sessions this year on this 9th edition of DIAP. Our gratitude to all the faculty and participants, who have made DIAP2020 a grand success!” says, Mr Aravinth Kumarasamy, Curator and Convenor, Dance India Asia Pacific  and Artistic Director, Apsaras Arts Singapore.

Dance India Asia Pacific has been a visionary annual industry development initiative on Indian classical dance education for students, teachers and performers at Singapore and Asia Pacific countries. Since its inception in 2011, Dance India Asia Pacific has expanded it’s curricula to offer master classes in several genres namely Bharatnatyam, Kathak, Odissi dance forms.  Dance India Asia Pacific 2020 was conceived as a hybrid blended program with physical classroom and online sessions, in alignment to COVID-19 health advisory guidelines and observance of social distancing safety measures. DIAP 2020 also introduced Music master-class training based on popular demand. Dance India Asia Pacific 2020 was organised by Apsaras Arts and supported by National Arts Council and Esplanade Theatres on the Bay. DIAP2020 was inaugurated on 4th of September 2020 with the video messages from Dr Padma Subrahmanyam (Dancer, Scholar, Choreographer, Advisor for Apsaras Arts), Rosa Daniel (CEO, National Arts Council), Alok Nayak (CEO and Artistic Director, Milapfest UK), Yvonne Tham (CEO, The Esplanade Co. Ltd), Priyadarsini Govind (Dancer, Choreographer, DIAP Faculty since 2012), Rama Vaidyanathan (Dancer, Choreographer, DIAP Faculty since 2015), Malavika Sarukkai (Dancer, Choreographer, Speaker DIAP Webinar 2020), Aditi Mangaldas (Dancer, Choreographer, Fcaulty DIAP2020), and Sriram Emani (CEO and Founder, IndianRaga). We thank them for enabling DIAP2020 begin with a positive note. This was followed by the premier of our new work “Kanna Va” performed by Shivangi Dake Roberts, Seema Hari Kumar and Soumee De and choreographed by Mohanapriyan Thavarajah. On conclusion of a successful learning journey over 10 days, we would like to thank our faculty members for their unparalleled support and adaptability during the workshops, namely: Music  faculty: Dr S Sowmya, Sikkil Gurucharan,  Patri Sathish Kumar and  Dr Sridhar Vasudevan. Master class Dance faculty : Priyadarsini Govind, Rama Vaidhyanathan, Bragha Bessell, Mohanapriyan Thavarajah, Aditi Mangaldas and Dr Ileana Citaristi, Mohanapriyan Thavarajah and Gayathri and Chachithanandar, faculty of Apsaras Arts for conducting the daily morning warm-up, Adavu and dance therapy session; Soumee De, Apsaras Arts Faculty for conceptualising and conducting the Navarasa for Kids workshop.

Apart of the above in-person masterclasses DIAP2020 Webinar sessions ranged over a variety of topics related to Indian Classical Dance and Music in order to gain a holistic multidisciplinary learning through the week. We are pleased to enlist the detailed the write up about each of the webinar content covered by Aalaap Concepts founder, Akhila Krishnamurthy. 

4th Sep: What’s Your Voice in Dance with a panel that comprised four young Bharatanatyam dancers — Dakshina Vaidyanthan, Kavya Muralidaran, Manasvini Ramachandran and Mohanapriyan Thavarajah. The conversation was moderated by Aravinth Kumaraswamy, Artistic Director, Apsaras Arts and Akhila Krishnamurthy, Founder, Aalaap.Click here 5 Sep : In Conversation with Alarmel Valli : Poetry in Movement – Click here 5 Sep: Priyadarsini Govind:  The Dancing Body – Click here 6 Sep: Swarnamalya Ganesh – Evolution of the Maargam Like a rolling stone: Click here 6 Sep : Malavika Sarukkai – Re-Imagining the Solo Performance The Dance of Life:Click here 7 Sep : Dr S.Sowmya – Veena Dhanammal’s School of Padams The Aha Moment!:Click here 7 Sep: Rama Vaidyanathan – Tumris in Bharatanatyam The Dance of Passion, and vice versa!: Click here 8 Sep : Chitrasena Dance Company – Kandyan Dance Soul of the Soil: Click here 8 Sep: Dr Srilatha Vinod and Anjana Anand – Silapathikaram – Dancer’s delight Stream of Consciousness, Dance of Human Conscience: Click here 9 Sep : Dr Ileana Citaristi – Sancharis in Odissi between the lines: Click here 9 Sep : Aditi Mangaldas – Re-Imagining dance during lockdown. Dance of/in the now: Click here 10 Sep : GyanDev Singh – Light Design for Bharatanatyam. In the light of: Click here 10 Sep : Sujatha Vijayraghavan – Appreciation of Music and Poetry for Bharatanatyam Of words and Beyond: Click here 12 Sep: Lalgudi GJR Krishnan and Vijayalakshmi – Lalgudi Thillanas Dance of Music, Music of dance: Click here 13 Sep : Dr V.R Devika – Nataraja and the Cosmos – Special SPOTLIGHT Series God is in the detail: Click here

DIAP2020 would not have been possible without the commitment and handwork by Team Apsaras Arts : Vidhya Nair, Vijaya Nadesan, Mohanapriyan Thavarajah, Sankari Elavalahan, Seema Hari Kumar, Periaychi Roshni, Soo Mei Fei and the support from Bethanie Xavier. The team had to work extra hard to ensure we keep the master classes safe and adhere to the COVID19 health advisory guidelines. Special thanks to Akhila Krishnamurthy from Aalaap Chennai for penning the daily reviews. Our heartfelt gratitude to our collaborators, Esplanade Theatres on the Bay for their continuous support and collaboration for DIAP since 2012, and for presenting the first ever digital performance of “Natya Lahari” – DIAP Showcase as part of their Raga series,  featuring Singapore local artistes. We thank Mudra Cultural Society Singapore for their collaboration this year to present Chakkayar Koothu with artistes from Kerala. A big thank you to Aalaap Concepts, Chennai, for promoting DIAP2020 amongst young dancers in India and covering the webinars in depth and also to to Sruti Magazine, India and Focus Malayalam Singapore for the publicity for DIAP2020. Gratitude to our sponsors and supporters from stART Fund, Temasek Foundation, Arts Fund and Lee Foundation and to National Arts Council of Singapore for their support and guidance. Last but not the least, our heartfelt thanks to Dr Prashant Nayak from Milapfest UK, who envisioned Dance India in Liverpool almost two decades ago and for the continued support from Alok Nayak and Archana Sashtri of Milapfest, UK for being with us on this journey for the past nine years.

Without the support of each and every individual,  DIAP2020 would not have been possible. We concluded this week of learning with a congratulatory message from the High Commissioner of India to Singapore, His Excellency Mr P. Kumaran to Singapore.