Art Share Info:
The 2024 artist sharing will take place in Bangalore, India. This will be a works-in-progress showing of three members of our cohort, Pritam Das, Dayita Nereyeth, and Shwetha Gopalakrishnan. The 6 month residency emphasizes process over product, and the artists have been digging deep into each of their works to put together an intimate preview of the projects they continue to work on. Grateful to Courtyard Koota, who is our space partner, and @cartoon_nayam, our dedicated organizational partner, whose support has been instrumental in bringing this vision to life.
For our supporters in the United States, rest assured that you'll have the opportunity to experience the work of our Indian artists. Their creations will be featured alongside US-based artists during our October sharing event in the United States. More details on this upcoming showcase will be announced soon.
Please join us in supporting the residents and consider a small donation to help us fund the residency next year.
Artist Bios:
Pritam Das | New Delhi, India - Pritam Das defines passion for dance through his immense dedication and effortless grace as a Bharatanatyam dancer. Having undergone his initial training under Smt. Jayita Ghosh and Sri Samrat Dutta, he is now under the advanced tutelage of Sangeet Natak Akademi awardee Smt. Rama Vaidyanathan. Pritam has performed both solo and group works as part of his teacher’s ensemble in several prestigious festivals including Spirit of Youth, HCL Concert Series and Mid-Year Dance Festival 2022 by Music Academy, Uday Shankar Dance Festival, NCPA Mumbai’s Mudra Festival, Dhauli Kalinga Festival, Gudi Sambaraluu, Ustad Alauddin Khan Samaroh, Shivaargya Dance Festival and many more. He is an ‘A' grade artist of the Doordarshan, an empanelled artist in Spic Macay, and was also awarded the National Scholarship from the Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India for the field of Bharatanatyam in 2015-16. Pritam is the recipient of Gutty Vasu Memorial Prize from The Music Academy, Madras for being the Best Dancer in the 30 th Spirit of Youth Music and Dance Festival. He is also the recipient of M.N Subramanian Memorial Prize from the Music Academy, Madras for being the Best Dancer in the Mid-Year Dance Festival 2022. Undoubtedly recognized as a formidable talent in the field, Pritam is determined to scale greater heights and create meaningful art through his lifelong commitment to dance.
Dayita Nereyeth | Bangalore, India - Dayita Nereyeth is a co-founder of 206 Dance Collective and an Alexander Technique teacher based in Bangalore, India. She creates by pulling from practical realities of the self, exploring the mundane and pedestrian as performative, and contemporising classical forms. Dayita has a BA in Dance and Psychology from Mount Holyoke College (USA). She has performed in India, the USA, and Switzerland, and presented her choreography in India and online.
Shwetha Gopalakrishnan | New Delhi, India - Shwetha is an interdisciplinary artist, educator and researcher whose work blends together practices across fields of dance, theatre and research through a psycho-social lens. In 2019, she co-founded an online platform called "Nritically Yours" which looks at Bharathanatyam from a critical lens of gender and caste. Shwetha has performed solo and group dance productions both across India and abroad, as a part of the Abhinayaa Centre for Dance. She has a diploma in Bharathanatyam from Kalaikaveri College of fine arts. Shwetha has a Bachelors from Lady Shri Ram College for Women and a masters in Sociology from Ambedkar University. She also has worked as a Mitigation associate understanding and documenting the life histories of death row prisoners at Project 39a, National Law University Delhi. Her recent freelance work includes acting and dramaturgy in plays in Delhi. Shwetha currently works as a theatre faculty in Shiv Nadar School where she curates and teaches arts integrated curriculum.
About Unrehearsed Artist Residency Program (URP):
The Unrehearsed Artist Residency Program aims to fund and support the creation of new dance work by artists who are often not represented in conventionally-funded spaces in the South Asian Dance industry. The program keeps care & developmental support front and center while working toward sharing a Final Work in Progress.
This virtual residency program provides awards of up to $1500 to 5 artists to center the strengths, experiences. For more details about the Residency Program and artist bios, please visit https://www.navadance.org/artist-residency-program
We understand that not everybody is able to make a donation. So we've introduced a few accessible tickets for each day. We recommend that you take a look through the registration options and make the best choice for you.
This program is funded by the California Arts Council Impact Project Grant and supporters like you.