The Dancers’ Retreat that followed Vivartana, on the 14/15/16th of May, 2018 saw, for the first time, many Bharathanatyam dancers fly into Austin to spend 3 blissful days, amongst the tranquil serenity of a private Texan ranch right in the midst of our beautiful hill country terrain. It was 3 full days of learning, discussions centered around dance and related issues and forging bonds of friendship that will hopefully come together to create exciting works in the future.
Rama Ji, who had planned and guided the entire program, ensured that everyone got ample opportunities to voice their concerns, opinions, ideas and made time to work with each dancer individually to provide help and advice with each one’s individual choreographic processes. The invited speakers each spoke with great passion about their individual topics, answered questions and gave guidance. Do check out the FB Live videos of the speakers, Sushant Jadhav, Anu Naimpally & Anisha Rajesh on my wall.
The communal living brought everyone together and the spirit of sharing and camaraderie was palpable. If there is anything that stood out beyond the exceptional learning opportunity that this was, it definitely is the possibility of the seeds of a lifelong bond amongst all of us that have been planted.
Art cannot thrive in seclusion. Together we came as a passionate community of creators and together shall we continue to support each other’s artistic and creative journeys.
More photos and videos here.