The session will take place online (Zoom session) on 30 September 2021 at 4.00 pm. It is open at a nominal price.
As India is set to celebrate Navratri, the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) is hosting a special session to share the the mythical stories of the Mother Goddess. The storytelling session, titled Stories from the Womb, celebrates Devi, the feminine form of divinity and her nine forms. Garba or the womb has a symbolic interpretation of being the body, within whom divinity (in the form of the Goddess or Devi) resides.
Anita Ratnam, a storyteller and dancer, will conduct the session. Besides this, audiences will also be able to participate in a Garba Raas workshop. Eminent Bharatanatyam and Kathak dancer, Avani Shah will organise it. The two-hour session will be available to audiences at INR1,000.
Speaking about the workshop, Swapnokalpa Dasgupta, Head of Dance Programming, NCPA says, “Navratri is almost incomplete without Garba and with the current COVID-19 scenario, we have missed the grandeur associated with the nine-day festival. Hence, this year, NCPA has decided to start the celebrations early with Anita Ratnam and Avani Shah hosting a virtual session that pays homage to the forms of Devi through a curated storytelling and Garba Raas.”
Both Avani Shah and Anita Ratnam are popular faces in the entertainment industry. Shah has co-choreographed and assisted Sanjay Leela Bhansali for films such as Devdas and Ramleela. Ratnam is an Indian classical and contemporary dancer and choreographer, who has received formal training in Kathakali, Mohiniattam, T’ai chi and Kalarippayattu.