The annual Navaratri Festival is now in its 46th year! This year, there is a wide range of film, music, dance and visual art to explore from Sept 28-Oct 2. This cherished tradition– which is supported by a committee of community members and the Wesleyan music, dance, film departments and the CFA– celebrates Indian art and culture. All first years and transfer students can go to the box office for a free festival pass. We hope you join us!
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2022:
Wednesday, September 28, 2022 at 4:30pm
Zoom
When performing and teaching the South Indian style known as Karnāṭaka Saṅgīta (Karnatak music), vocalists tend to spontaneously gesture while they sing. Such physical gestures share an important quality with Karnatak melodic structure, namely a degree of non-discreteness; in this style gamakas (ornaments) tend to subsume conceptually distinct svaras (notes) under their more continuous, often oscillatory, melodic movement. The relationship between gesture and melody lies at the heart of this paper, in which I reflect on the extent to which vocalists’ spontaneous co-singing gestures can be considered as either representations or analyses of musical sound. This talk is founded on the years I spent learning to play the style with the violinist T.K.V. Ramanujacharyulu, and on my subsequent research with Karnatak musicians on their teaching, learning and performance practices. This includes analyses of gestural interaction based on videos recorded in India between 2011 and 2018.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2022:
Kinetic Visualities Exhibition Opens
Thursday, September 29, 2022 at 12:00pm
Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery, South Gallery
FREE!
The exhibition Kinetic Visualities will present art processes by the members of SAEDA (South Asian Experimental Dance Artists), a United States-based collective which explores shared and divergent artistic processes and disrupts representations of South Asian bodies in the diaspora. Featuring works of video, installation, and drawings by Parijat Desai (New York), Meena Murugesan (Los Angeles), Lionel Popkin (Los Angeles), and Pramila Vasudevan (St. Paul, Minnestota), the exhibition is co-curated by SAEDA, including co-founder Hari Krishnan, Professor and Chair of the Dance Department and Professor of Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.
Exhibition on display from Thursday, September 29 through Sunday, October 2, 2022. Gallery hours are Thursday through Saturday, Noon to 7pm; Sunday Noon to 5pm.
Film Screening: The Other Song
Thursday, September 29, 2022 at 7:00pm
Powell Family Cinema, The Jeanine Basinger Center for Film Studies, 301 Washington Terrace, Middletown, Connecticut
$12 general public; $10 senior citizens, Wesleyan faculty/staff/alumni, and non-Wesleyan students; $8 Wesleyan students and youth under age 18.
The documentary The Other Song (2009) is a story of a lost song—an erotic version of the music genre Thumri recorded for the gramophone in 1935 by Rasoolan Bai, a famous courtesan in the northern Indian state of Benares. A variation of her more famous song “My heart is wounded, don’t throw flowers at me,” she would never sing “My breasts are wounded, don’t throw flowers at me” again. Nearly 75 years later, the filmmakers traveled through the cities of Varanasi, Lucknow, and Muzzafarpur in Bihar to search for the forgotten song. The quest for the song, its meaning, and hidden presence gradually reveal a complex narrative that weaves together the history of the rich artistic culture of courtesans, the disappearance of the tawaif (entertainer), the contested terrain of Bai’s art practice and lifestyle, and the politics of the control, censorship, and moral policing of female sexualities and cultural expression.
The Connecticut premiere screening of the two hour film will be followed by a Zoom conversation with Director Saba Dewan based in India, and moderated by Assistant Professor of Film Studies Anuja Jain as part of the 46th annual Navaratri Festival at Wesleyan.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2022:
Dance in the Round with Parijat Desai
Friday, September 30, 2022 at 12:15pm
Labyrinth Tent (east of World Music Hall, 40 Wyllys Avenue, Middletown); Rain Location: Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery, South Gallery
FREE!
India-born, U.S.-raised choreographer/dancer Parijat Desai leads an inclusive Dance in the Round workshop based on the “garba” circle dance from Gujarat, India. No experience necessary.
Garba (and raas) are typically played across India and the Gujarati diaspora during the autumnal Navaratri festival. One of India’s major celebrations, Navaratri is a time to see family and friends, enjoy music and dance, and seek blessings for new endeavors. Through this event, Desai welcomes people of all ages, abilities, genders, cultures, and castes into the circle, transforming a culture-specific practice into an inclusive space for collective well-being and activation.
B. Balasubrahmaniyan: Vocal Music of South India
Friday, September 30, 2022 at 7:00pm
Crowell Concert Hall
$12 general public; $10 senior citizens, Wesleyan faculty/staff/alumni, and non-Wesleyan students; $8 Wesleyan students and youth under age 18.
Vocalist and Adjunct Associate Professor of Music B. Balasubrahmaniyan will be joined by Adjunct Associate Professor of Music David Nelson on mridangam as part of the 46th annual Navaratri Festival at Wesleyan. This year marks the 20th anniversary of their annual performance together.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2022:
Master Class with Sujata Goel: Bollywood Dance—A Globalized Body
Saturday, October 1, 2022 at 11:00am
Bessie Schönberg Dance Studio, 247 Pine Street, Middletown
FREE!
This Master Class, led by Indian-American choreographer and dancer Sujata Goel, is an introduction to Bollywood dance. Originating in the 1930s, Bollywood dance is a hybrid form that fuses eastern and western dance styles. In this class, participants will look at the history of Bollywood through its different styles spanning the 1940s to present day. The class is open to all, no previous experience or training is required.
From the early vernacular fusion of Indian classical and folk forms, to the incorporation of European classical and folk dances, and then the adoption of MTV and other pop aesthetics in dance and music in the United States, participants will consider Bollywood dance through the lens of globalization. After a brief introduction to the class, participants will be led through a fun and vigorous warm up, and learn a short Bollywood dance medley that shifts from early to current Bollywood styles in order to embody this complex yet intriguing dance form and its history.
Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan
Saturday, October 1, 2022 at 7:00pm
Crowell Concert Hall
$25 general public; $20 senior citizens, Wesleyan faculty/staff/alumni, and non-Wesleyan students; $8 Wesleyan students and youth under age 18.
“Ustad Shahid Parvez was at his melodious best…with harmonised phrases of intertwined melody and intricate rhythmic patterns.”
—The Hindu (India)
World-renowned sitar virtuoso Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan belongs to the seventh generation of an influential musical lineage. His playing focuses on exploring and expanding the possibilities of the melodic framework for improvisation in North Indian classical music, or raag, often to mind-blowing effect. This concert is part of the 46th annual Navaratri Festival at Wesleyan.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2022:
Saraswati Puja (Hindu Ceremony)
Sunday, October 2, 2022 at 11:00am
World Music Hall
FREE!
This religious service, led by Joseph Getter MA ’99, marks the most auspicious day of the year for beginning new endeavors. The audience may participate and bring instruments, manuscripts, and other items for blessing. This event is part of the 46th annual Navaratri Festival at Wesleyan.
Dance Performance: Nrithya Pillai
Sunday, October 2, 2022 at 2:00pm
Crowell Concert Hall
$15 general public; $12 senior citizens, Wesleyan faculty/staff/alumni, and non-Wesleyan students; $8 Wesleyan students and youth under age 18.
Nrithya Pillai is an acclaimed performer and activist from the hereditary community of South India’s former courtesan artists. She presents her dance in the context of critical perspectives on the form, and her New England debut performance will be accompanied by live musicians. She comes from a long and complex lineage of hereditary dancers, musicians, and dance-masters, and brings her unique positionality to bear on the discourse and practice of Bharatanatyam. A talk-back moderated by Professor and Chair of the Dance Department and Professor of Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Hari Krishnan will follow the performance. This event is part of the 46th annual Navaratri Festival at Wesleyan.
This festival is presented by the Center for the Arts, Music Department, Dance Department, and the Department of Film Studies, with leadership support from the Madhu Reddy Endowed Fund for Indian Music and Dance at Wesleyan University, and additional support from the Jon B. Higgins Memorial Fund.