The multi-day event, spread throughout February 2023, featured a diverse range of performances, including plays, musicals, dance productions, experimental theatre, and other forms of live entertainment, as well as workshops and artist interactions.

STORY CREDITS

Writer/Editor: Shivangi Vasudev Bhatt

Photo: Media and Communication, IIT Gandhinagar

Bringing together diverse performing artists and myriad forms of stage art expressions, IIT Gandhinagar organised ‘Theatre and Performing Arts Festival’ (TaPAF), a month-long multi-day event spread throughout February 2023 on its campus that aimed to showcase the talents of both student and professional artists in the fields of theatre, dance, and music.
Organised by the Art@IITGN initiative of the Institute, the festival featured a diverse range of performances, including plays, musicals, dance productions, and other forms of live entertainment. In addition to the performances, the festival also included workshops, artist interactions, and other educational opportunities for aspiring performers and theatre enthusiasts. These activities were conducted by professional artists and focus on a variety of topics, such as acting, singing, dance, and stagecraft.

More than 30 artists from diverse socio-cultural backgrounds from India and abroad performed and conducted workshops/interactive dialogues during the festival at IITGN. These included artists from Amsterdam; USA; Hollywood; Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); young women artists of the Kranti NGO, who are survivors of trafficking and daughters of sex workers from Mumbai’s red-light areas; Pune; Ahmedabad; Budhan Theatre, a community theatre group working for the constitutional rights of Nomadic and Denotified tribes of India; and IITGN.

The event was open to the general public and served as an opportunity for the community to engage with the artists.

The goal of the IIT Gandhinagar Theater and Performing Arts Festival was to provide a platform for artists to showcase their talents and to expose audiences to a diverse range of performances and styles. The festival also showcased cultural diversity from around the world. We want art to be intertwined in our social fabric. Prof Jaison Manjaly

Head of the HSS and Faculty Lead of Art@IITGN, IITGN

Sharing their thoughts, young women artists of the Kranti Theatre Group, Mumbai, who staged their flagship show ‘Lal Batti Express’ (Red-Light Express), at the IITGN TaPAF, said, “With this interactive theatrical show, we take audiences through the journey of our lives – growing up in Mumbai’s brothels; our battles against society’s violence, abuse, and discrimination; as well as our hopes and dreams for ourselves, our community, and the world. Like other young people, we also have big plans, crazy dreams, and a determination to change the world. Together, we are Kranti; and aim to become agents of social change and happiness! We are thankful to IIT Gandhinagar for inviting us to perform here.” Many of these young women are also pursuing their higher studies and careers in diverse disciplines within India as well as abroad, including social sciences, child rights, arts, Yoga training, Zumba training, dance/activity/art-based therapy, animal welfare, and so on.

Sharing her experience of performing and interacting at the IITGN TaPAF, Maria Magdalena Kozlowska, a Polish theatre maker and artist based in Amsterdam, said, “IIT Gandhinagar holds space for a unique encounter between art and science. It seems to be vibrating with a promise of new and unexpected perspectives. I can only hope that, in some way, we have contributed to this very special conversation.”

“This festival at IIT Gandhinagar served as a great place and time for me to be able to freely develop a performance work that has been in my mind for a long time. As my work is collaborative, I found it very rewarding to develop it in relation to and conversation with the students at the campus. Because the students come from diverse backgrounds, it was interesting to articulate the work in a way that they could understand. I discovered that being away from a purely artistic environment enabled me to make the work comprehensive for the broader public. It was a very new kind of residence experience for me that has been very fruitful.”, said Tom Oliver Jacobson, a Swedish performance artist based in Amsterdam.

The event also featured ‘Explore Kathak’ – a lecture and demonstration by Guru Shamatai Bhate and her troupe from Nadroop, Pune; ‘Andaaz – Evening of Ragas’, an Indian Classical Music Concert featuring classical Hindustani music performances by Smt Viraj Amar Bhatt (vocal) with Akash Joshi (harmonium) and Jajvalya Shukla (tabla), Shri Sohan Nilkanth (sarod) and Prof Srinivas Reddy (sitar) with Rajiv Bhatt (tabla); an interactive performance by artist Chetna Mehrotra; Artist Residency and Curator’s Meet by TENT: A Nomadic School of Performative Practices; a Workshop on Opera to the People, a practice of singing in public spaces, investigating acoustic, architecture and social structures; ‘Fabric of the Universe: Stories from young scientists in their passionate search for meaning’, a performance by IITGN students of the course ‘Storytelling for Scientists’ by Hollywood actor Brian Brophy; a workshop on ‘The Art of Self-learning Musical Instruments – Keyboard and Guitar’ by Harvansh Dandelia; ‘Stroke of insight’, a performance by Jaya Iyer, a veteran dancer and martial artist; ‘Folk Dance Workshop’ by Chetan Jethwa; Street Play ‘Second Class Citizen?’ by Budhan Theater; ‘Every Brilliant Thing’, play by Rahul Bishnoy, an artist from IITGN; ‘Laal Pencil’ by artists of the Department of Drama, Gujarat Arts and Science College, Ahmedabad; and ‘AI and Future of Art’, a conversation with Prof Jaison Manjaly, IITGN; among others. Check below some photos from the fest.

Kathak performance by Guru Shamatai Bhate’s troupe from Nadroop, Pune

Young women artists of the Kranti Theatre Group staging their flagship show ‘Lal Batti Express’

Andaaz – Evening of Ragas” Indian Classical Music Concert led by Prof. Srinivas Reddy

A Workshop on Opera to the People

About Art@IITGN Initiative:

Art at IIT Gandhinagar is an initiative that promotes and facilitates artistic expressions and engagements on campus. Art as a medium and practice nurtures liberal, inclusive, interdisciplinary, and futuristic values. This initiative provides spaces on campus that enhance and create more avenues for students and community members to experiment with artistic possibilities. It aims to reimagine the cultural landscape of the IIT Gandhinagar campus and give direction to forms of expressions in a manner that is inclusive, energising and most importantly, unique in its approach. With Art@IITGN, we envision an environment which will allow for ingenuity to thrive while simultaneously bridging the transference of intergenerational knowledge systems.

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