The Third Edition of Dance Bridges Festival in Kolkata

Thursday August 1: Dance Bridges Festival has become a much awaited encounter for performing arts aficionados, placing Kolkata firmly on the map of international arts festivals. This dance biennale founded in 2015 by Vanessa Maria Mirza supported by an international team based in the U.K, Taiwan and France has grown from strength to strength. Now in its third edition, there will be no less than 40 artists hailing from 15 countries to take part in this 5 day art extravaganza working around the theme of “The Sense of Intimacy” from August 1 to 5, 2019. Apart from Vanessa, associate director Dam Van Huynh from UK and artistic programmer Pierre Palluet were also present for the curtain raiser.

The opening day performances took place at ICCR featuring Asomates Dynameis Dance Company (Cypress), Tijmur Dance Theatre (Taiwan), Gabrielle Revlock (USA) a piece by Vanessa Maria Mirza and Martin Piliponsky Braier (Argentina). The festival saw participation from other renowned dance groups and artists like Massala Dance Company, Florent Schwartz, Harm Weistra, Julianna Ottlick, Compagnie Humaine, Dadans, Papia Chakraborty, Buoyant Performing Arts, Syimah Sabtu, Subhajit Khush Das, Stefano Fardelli, Parth Bharadwaj, Pintu Das, Van Huyhn Company, Pietro Marullo, Casey Avaunt, Diya Naidu, Purnendra Meshram and Vanessa Maria Mirza.

Talking about her experience, Vanessa said, “I was inspired in the beginning in 2014 to try to create a small onetime event in Calcutta for artists to meet and share their work, which developed into a festival in 2015. It had an amazing response from artists, audiences and participants. And so I dared to dream to create an organization to support the Festival as an International Dance Biennale with smaller events in between for years. I was lucky to be able to have an international team to support this as well as Indian based advisers and board members. I think it's important as artists not to be too easily satisfied with what we are creating and where we are at, and to be aware of what is happening in other parts of our country and around the world.”

Making this event extra special is the ambition of Vanessa to ensure the Festival is open to all by offering most events free of charge – apart from workshops requiring a participation fee. Performances and showcases will take place across Kolkata inviting the national and international audience to discover our unique city whilst watching some of the finest contemporary dance made today. Dance Bridges Festival has at heart to engage with local artists and connect them with artists from around the world. For this edition, 3 international choreographers have been offered the opportunity to spend a few days in Kolkata to create new dance pieces with local performers, which will then be presented during the Festival. The various venues of DBF includes ICCR Kolkata, Alka Jalan Foundation (Ballyngunge), Alliance Française du Bengale, International Management Institute (Alipore), Kolkata Centre for Creativity (E.M. Bypass), American Center and Quest Mall.

This year's theme “The Sense of Intimacy” reflects a wide range of shows connecting audiences to personal stories of artists from around the world. “We will explore performances in unconventional settings and bring the viewers closer to the performers to create a space for unique and personal encounters. We will look at how turning our focus towards deeper human connections may help us to cope with our changing world and society,” signed off Vanessa.

Meena Bazaar Classics at Hyatt Regency

Tuesday 30th July : Lopamudra Mandal, former Miss Kolkata and current Mrs India IAB 2018 First Runner Up successfully curated a spectacular Rakhi edition of Meena Bazaar Classics, that fused fashion and entertainment under one roof on Tuesday, July 30th, at Hyatt Regency in Kolkata.
The motto of the exhibition was to indulge people in retail therapy and help them choose their 'comfort buys', and staying true to its theme, Meena Bazaar Classics turned into a fun filled shopping and eating extravaganza, in an otherwise mundane monsoon day of Kolkata.

Around 50 exhibitors from all over the country were featured in this exhibition, along with spa, makeup and nails art stations, tarot card reading, tattoo studio, dessert stalls, live food counter, hookah lounge, active bar and much more. Fashion and apparel designers from all over the country displayed their creations, setting up stalls of ethnic wear, jewellery and even handbags and purses. The special Rakhi edition of this much-awaited exhibition also saw counters selling Rakhis and handmade cards for the upcoming occasion!
  Meena Bazaar Classics had its heart in the right place as it featured stalls of NGOs in this Fall edition of the much celebrated fashion and lifestyle exhibition.

Talking about Meena Bazaar Classics and her involvement in the same, Lopamudra said, “Meena Bazaar Classics is one of the most well-known events in the city and it falls within my responsibility to support the organisations working with social concerns by providing them with a platform. I have always been supporting the cause silently but today I am proud to say that I am in a position to do my bit for a larger cause, and that remains to be the ultimate source of satisfaction for me.”