Singapore-based Apsaras Arts has announced the 10th anniversary celebration of their Indian Performing Arts Convention (IPAC) this year.
Launched a decade ago as a collaboration with Milaapfest United Kingdom called ‘Dance India Asia Pacific’ (DIAP), it has been renamed this year as a standalone initiative by Apsaras Arts as a broad-based learning and engagement platform for Indian performing arts.
The convention targets practitioners, professional musicians and dancers, researchers, arts aficionados and connoisseurs of the arts including heritage and history enthusiasts industry-wide.
Over the past nine years, a total of 1,000 practitioners and 8,000 Indian arts audiences have participated and benefitted from each year’s unique programmes.
IPAC 2021 comprises over two weeks of Indian classical dance and music masterclasses in Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Carnatic Music (Vocal, Violin and Mridangam) and Hindustani Music (Tabla) by renowned teachers, most of whom who are leading practitioners, with over 30 years of teaching experience.
IPAC convener, creative head and managing director of Apsaras Arts, Aravinth Kumarasamy said that the aim of the event was to raise the awareness and competencies of Singapore-based artistes with knowledge of their crafts and equip them with skills that place them at par with the best in the world.
“The curation identifies gaps in the industry and organically supports practitioners to develop themselves. The content we create is highly accessible to anyone who wants to become more aware and learn about the rich culture of Indian performing arts,” Aravinth added.
Highlights of IPAC 2021’s line-up of webinars includes the inauguration webinar featuring In Conversation with Oscar awardee vocalist Bombay Jayashree with Dr Raj Kumar Bharathi, prolific music composer on September 3.
Oliver Craske, who authored Pt Ravi Shankar’s memoir, ‘Indian Sun’ published in 2020, will speak about the acclaimed global artiste and his impact on performing arts in an exclusive IPAC Book Club session on September 17.
Earlier this year in June, IPAC had launched an Australia edition in collaboration with Monash University, Melbourne attracting participation from approximately 120 delegates.
The line-up for Singapore includes topics such as explorations on ancient compositions, making of dance productions, retrospectives on music and dance legends like Muthusamy Dikshitar, Rukmini Devi Arundale, Adyar Lakshmanan and K J Sarasa and dance research topics that dwell into the Natyashastra, the ancient treatise for performing arts widely applied in India and South East Asia.
IPAC has enabled a number of home grown upcoming Singaporean dancers to present their own repertoire through its Residency programme.
From concept creation to thematic development to performance showcase, these dancers are handheld by IPAC dance mentors over 18 months. So far, nine Singapore dancers have completed their residencies and showcased their works at public venues such as the Esplanade.
Esplanade Theatres on the Bay who has partnered IPAC for the past decade will present three exclusively created new works for IPAC Singapore 2021.
Some of the showcase events include:
10th Anniversary concert featuring Singaporean dance practitioners of the Indian dance styles of Bharatanatyam, Kathak and Odissi.
Date: September 3 (4pm and 8pm at the Esplanade Recital Studio)
Premiering a dance film by internationally renowned dancer-choreographer Priyadarshini Govind.
Date: September 4 (2pm and 5pm at the Esplanade Recital Studio)
IPAC Dance Residency Showcase performance
Presenting the residency works by Singaporean dancers Varsha Vishwanath and Nitya Shanthini Manokara.
Date: September 4 (4pm and 8pm at the Esplanade Theatre Studio)
IPAC will also release a commemorative book that documents the 10-year journey with detailed insights on how this convention has grown and developed and the impact created for the industry.