Ranan's Scottish SchoolConnect

Ranan was delighted to have Scottish Dance Theatre back with us again for many engagements between 10 - 20 October, 2014

Here is Dawn, Chris and Nerea of Scottish Dance Theatre conducting two Ranan SchoolConnect integrated workshops with Akshar and Mahadevi Birla World Academy on 10 October, 2014

Some responses from the students:

I was pretty nervous before coming here, but all of it went away the moment Dawn Ma'am started talking to us. All the warmth and cheer and liveliness and joy in her made me feel super comfortable. It was awesome and amazing. Now I came to know that contemporary dance isn't about learning up steps but expressing your feelings and emotions through movements. Thank you so much. It was amazing. Best of luck for your show tomorrow!  I'll be there for sure   - Anmol Bharuka, MBWA

It was very unique. It can make a non-dancer enjoy dancing. The music was really melodious. It was really a wonderful time dancing with a different twist  - Malavika, Akshar

My second time with SDT and as amazing as the first (if not even more!) The terrible dancer in me feels a lot more free after today's " Forces of Nature" workshop - I'm glad to have sneaked in and am grateful to Ranan for bringing them back to us again  -Ahon Gooptu, LMB

Saloni Happy - Saloni, Akshar

Really liked it  The group dance was fun. I likes the Chris - Nerea parter dance. It was pretty cool  and the Melting Dance. Awesome stuff:-D - Prakriti Pachisia, Akshar.

This workshop made me realise that you should dance like you are floaring in the air, you stretch to connect and bond and you emote for your companion in dance to understand, and you feel what you show!!  DANCE to be yourself!. This workshop was a really wonderful experience. Thank you!!  - Sneha Malakar, MBWA

Ranan and Scottish Dance Theatre - October 2014

Ranan is delighted to be the Calcutta outreach partner for Scottish Dance Theatre as part of their India-China tour this month. This is the third time in four years that we will work with SDT, and each time the relationship and engagement has grown. See below for the schedule this time - an exciting line-up of workshops, addas, residencies and performance between 10 to 20 October 2014. 

This is part of our tenth year celebrations - click here for more information on our plans for the year. 

Scottish Dance Theatre events in and around Calcutta at a glance. 

Contact ranan.artsengage@gmail.com for details, queries or registration.

10 Oct - Regency, Hungerford Street, Calcutta. 

• Integrated workshop for students, including both regular schools and schools for children with special needs. 
• Special workshop for SchoolConnect students 

11 Oct - Kala Mandir, Calcutta 

• SDT performance as part of IMPULSE Season 2 presented by the British Council. Time: 7 pm. 

12 Oct - Ranan Space, Rabindra Sarabar, Calcutta 

• 'Preparing Participatory Performance' - SDT dancers in an adda about some of their interactive work. Time: 6 pm. Open to all.

Click image for full information

14 - 20 Oct - Bali island, Sundarbans 

• 6 day residency with SDT, where they will lead movement workshops with students of Bijoynagar Adarsha Bidyamandir and with members of local women's group, Disha.

Want to know more about our four-year relationship with SDT? See the timeline below.

Absurd Tales, Absurd Cities

Ranan and Microsoft Create to Inspire present

ABSURD TALES, ABSURD CITIES

- three plays on cities gone wrong

Lights Out                  Gandi Baat                Andhar Nogori Choupot Raja

Friday, 12 September 2014

Aban Mahal (Children’s Little Theatre, Gariahat Road, Calcutta – 29)

6.30pm

Tickets: Rs. 100/-

(seating on first come first served basis)

Total Duration of programme: 90 minutes

Contact: rananindia@gmail.com / 9830348443

The event is part of Ranan’s tenth year celebrations,

which will see performances and projects in Calcutta throughout the year.

Click here for more information on our plans for the year.

MY WORD: the word and performance - a workshop with Anjum Katyal

[Scroll down for reference videos and participant responses]

An exploration of the word – as poetry, as lyric, as prose monologue and in other forms – uttered, enacted and performed. With a focus on the emotional connect, the personal relationship between the word and each of us.

Dates: Friday, 1 August and Sunday, 3 August
Time: Friday, 6pm to 8pm / Sunday, 2.30pm to 6.30pm
Venue: the Ranan Workspace (8 Sultan Alam Road, Calcutta - 33)

Fees: Rs. 600/-

To register, please email us at rananindia@gmail.com

Anjum Katyal has been Editor, Seagull Theatre Quarterly and Chief Editor, Seagull Books, Calcutta, and Web Editor, Saregama-HMV. She has translated Habib Tanvir’s Charandas Chor and Hirma ki Amar Kahani as well as Usha Ganguli’s Rudali and stories by Mahasweta Devi and Meera Mukherjee. She is the author of Habib Tanvir: Towards an Inclusive Theatre and a forthcoming book on Badal Sircar. She is Co-Director, Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival (AKLF), and Consultant, Publications, MAKAIAS. She is a published poet. She also sings the blues and writes on the arts. 

Grace and Balance in Kathak: a workshop with Smt. Rani Karnaa

[Scroll down for participant responses and a link to a video]

What is Grace? What is Beauty?
Is it conventional or convincing tried and tested images that are considered graceful? Or is it that which is intuitively felt and personal that becomes graceful?
Smt. Rani Karnaa approaches these aesthetic questions through the many subtle movements that give Kathak a unique flavour. Beginning with deconstructing the strongly identifiable basic stance, the sessions will explore movements of the head, neck, eyes, wrists, torso, waist and more drawing from her own rich body of work, exploration and discovery along the way.

Responses to Subhagata Singha's workshop on rhythm...

Dana Roy responds to Subhagata Singha's workshop on rhythm - HEAT THE BEAT...

Patterns exist everywhere in music, or maybe it’s because patterns can exist in our minds that music exists at all. We have note intervals, chord patterns, chords themselves and most important of all time.

You may think that time is not something you can play with, that it flows constantly never changing it’s pace, steadily on from our past to our future, and you would be right. You can’t change time… but here is the fun bit, you can change how you measure time, and playing with and between the patterns of how you measure time is playing with the perception of how time feels.

HEAT THE BEAT: rhythm workshop with Subhagata Singha

The second of our intensive workshops in Ranan over the summer... sign up now.

Subhagata Singha (aka Rivu) is a guitar player from Kolkata. He is 20, and currently a member of the band 'The Monkey In Me'. Other than that, he has been producing solo music with the focus being on guitar. He thoroughly enjoys it when people enjoy listening to his music, and would like to give them all a hug.