Anurekha Ghosh & Company

Anurekha Ghosh & Company has a global focus.  The company seeks inspiration from the east and west, and create original expression – an expression that is unique by its own nature.  It does this by designing exciting classical and contemporary dance productions, integrating a dialogue, combining movement, poetry, digitally created visuals, and challenging mixture of live music from Indian sub-continent, and contemporary music.  The aim of the company is to communicate the beauty and power of the very best of Indian classical dance form Kathak, and contemporary dance to a wide range of audience within India and abroad. 

The company performs the productions in various large/middle and small-scale theatres, World dance festivals.  The company received grants and funding from Arts council of England, Esmee Fairburn Foundation, Birmingham City Council, UK, and has presented performances in US, Japan, Morocco, France, Estonia, Spain, Germany, Pakistan, India, and UK.

“It’s a very tempting, but a bit too glib to see the latest piece made by and for Anurekha Ghosh and her wonderful dancers as a reflection of the experience of the younger Asians in the West.  Forget the Martha Graham style angularity that characterises western contemporary styles, this is rounder, more flowing, somehow less abstract – something not seen before in quite this way.”

Birmingham Post, UK

Founded in January 200I, Anurekha Ghosh & Company is a team of high calibre musicians and dancers brought together under the creative vision and leadership of internationally acclaimed award-winning dancer, choreographer and artistic director Anurekha Ghosh.

MISSION

Based in Kolkata, India, Anurekha Ghosh & Company has a global focus.  The aim of the company is to create dance and music which is bold, powerful, passionate, and intelligent, interpreting the contemporary voice of today.  Anurekha Ghosh collaborates with several interesting and world class artists be it choreographers, film makers, composers, musicians in order to create work of highest quality. The company also collaborates with Dance producers from UK, Europe and India who promotes the company’s work in various parts of the globe.   The company provides opportunities to artists  and support them to develop their own creative skills and perform in important venues and festivals. Finally, the company has been providing training opportunities to young generation artists grooming them into professional dancers.  The company runs choreographic residencies., research and development programs and professional dance and music classes in the city of Kolkata, India.

BELIEFS AND VALUES

Drawing influences from classical Kathak dance. Sufism. Martial arts (Kalaripayattu / South Indian Martial Arts). Indian classical music, Western contemporary dance and music, the aim is to shift and change, going through a process of chaos and confusion and then clarifying a concept, which holds relevance to   the present-day environment. This results in the creation of a powerful dance and musical language which is spiritual, dynamic, pure, fresh, beautiful, original, innovative and is still a blend of ‘tradition and modernity. The company believes in work that is created from challenging concept, which is often addressed by Anurekha Ghosh who is always seeking to find newer expressions. meaning and new ways to choreograph her productions. Although Anurekha has a strong commitment to ‘Tradition’ yet she believes in stretching the ‘Tradition’ and finding an intelligent interpretation which is very personal.

CAPABILITIES AND SKILLS
  • Company Productions: Create innovative dance productions (Classical and Contemporary)
  • COLLABORATIONS

Anurekha Ghosh seeks to collaborate with internationally reputed artists from various art forms, be it choreographers, composers. musicians.  Film-makers, cinematographers, designers, theatre directors, set-makers, lighting designers and costume designers. Anurekha’s philosophy is to aim high; to work with the best collaborators in the field so that she could stretch her artistic ability and raise her own profile accordingly.

  • Classical Kathak solo performances in collaborations with Indian classical musicians.
  • Workshops, Chorographic residencies, and Master-classes.
  • Anurekha teaches classical Kathak dance and choreography. She teaches classical Kathak by making an individual understand one’s own inner-self, spirit, and help them to mould themselves into sensitive and intelligent dancers and dance-makers. She believes in making her students understand about the inner freedom which every individual must feel, while dancing, which can be further enhance their emotion, devotion, aesthetics, and passion.
FUNDERS AND PROMOTERS

The company was funded by Arts Council of England, Birmingham City Council. The company received funding from Esmee Fairburn Foundation and commissions from Royal Opera House, London, The Drum, Sampad Arts, UK, Peaguses Theatre, Oxford, Warwick Arts Centre and several other esteemed organisations based in United Kingdom.

 Anurekha’s company toured extensively in the UK and India with a triple bill dance production entitled “The Veil” in autumn 2001 presenting 13 concerts. In spring 2003 the company premiered 2 new works “Moments of Give” & “Rasika at Contact Theatre, Manchester, Midland Arts Centre, Birmingham, and Royal Opera House, London .In autumn 2003 the Company entered into a new partnership with the internationally renowned Flamenco dance Company “ALMA”, to create   “BONDED PASSION”, featuring a sublime fusion of Kathak and Flamenco dance against a live musical exchange between Spanish and Indian musicians which was performed in various cities in the UK and Estonia in 2004-05 and won critical acclaim.  In March and April 2004, the company in partnership with “The DRUM” created an in-house production “Ganges to Nile: The story of 2 Rivers” celebrating “Black and Ethnic Minority Dance” which featured cross-cultural conversation between the African choreographer Patten and Anurekha Ghosh.  The music score was composed and played live by Pandit Ulhas Bapat. In 2005 Anurekha’s Company, in collaboration with award winning choreographers Shobana Jeyasingh and Kumudini Lakhia, produced RUINS, which created a unique identity and brand for the Company’s work in the UK, Europe and India.  It has been the largest tour of the Company, presenting 60 performances in 3 separate tours across England, India, Pakistan, and Germany. In 2006 Anurekha Ghosh & Company created a new production titled CONVINCE-Me in which Anurekha blended classical Kathak dance with diverse musical genres including Sufi music. In this exciting collaboration, the dancer and the musicians express the rapture of mystical ecstasy by bridging the gap between tradition and modernity, yet preserving the doctrine of classical temple, darbari forms and the Sufi traditions. In 2007 and 2009, Anurekha was given special project grant by the Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre, Ministry of Culture – Government of India, to choreograph an inter-disciplinary production combining the acrobatic dance form of the Gotipuas from Orissa along with the dynamic folk tradition of Chhau from Purulia in combination with classical Kathak. The production MUDRA, featured 22 artistes from various disciplines (some from rural India), under the leadership of Anurekha and it was premiered in Purbashree Auditorium, Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre, Kolkata, India to a full house audience. The production received tremendous acclaim from the press and the connoisseurs of Kolkata.

In 2007 Anurekha launched her new production NOOR – Light featuring martial arts and contemporary Kathak, taking the spins from Kathak to a new inner stillness. In these times of global uncertainty, Noor questions the nature of ‘enlightenment,’ exploring through this extraordinary dance piece, our notion of light from scientific, religious, and mystical perspectives.

The Company performed NOOR in 13 major theatres in the UK in Autumn 2007 and May 2008.  The London premier of NOOR was held at South Bank Centre in June 2008.  In August 2008 the Company was invited to New York to present NOOR at the Erase Border Festival organised by Indo American Arts Council.

The company opened a sister-concern in Kolkata, India called NATMANDIR in 2009.  NATMANDIR has a dynamic performing wing, engaging a team of talented professional dancers, musicians and a production team and a training wing. 

 

memorable performances

Anurekha has performed in the major venues and festivals as a soloist or with her company productions in the United States of America, Canada, Europe, India, Estonia, Pakistan Indonesia Mauritius, Reunion Island and the UK.

And various concerts and festivals in Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Bhilai, Bangalore, Mysore, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Aligarh, Vishakhapatnam, Cuttack, Bhopal.

 

Madison Square Gardens

New York

Royal Opera House, Royal Festival Hall

The Place Theatre – London

The Lowry

Manchester

Musee Guimet

Paris

Festival de Hellin

Madrid, Spain

Festival of Lille 3000

France

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