Students from GIIS Queenstown and East Coast conducted the Indian Performing Arts Workshop on the 20th May ‘08 at CHIJ St Nicholas School, Ang Mo Kio. Gauri Ajay Vaidya of the East Coast campus started the programme with an introductory note about the entire performance. Next, Srikanth Radhakrishnan took them through a journey giving a brief explanation about Indian music. Simultaneously Devika Kulkarni and Akshayaa Sivaraman demonstrated the Saptaswaras of Hindustani and Carnatic vocal music. The journey continued with Mridangam, where Eswaran Shreehari demonstrated the basic Taal followed by Prashanth Sai Sankar and Teacher Sarfraz Ahmed on Tabla. Nithin Srinaath performed an Indian classical song on violin to show the adaptation of Indian classical music in a western instrument like violin. The demonstration ended with Siddhant Banerjee who played Indian music on Keyboard, which is also a western instrument. After the demonstration on Indian music the audience was taken through a different journey about the three major Indian Classical dances. Jayashri Chandramohan and Anu Maashaa Nedumaran demonstrated the basics of Bharathanatyam while Ananya Das shared some of the basics of Odissi. Gauri Ajay Vaidya, Priyanka Sai Sankar and Parijot Kaur explained and demonstrated the basics of Kathak. The grand finale was an orchestra presentation with combined Thillana where the three major classical dances were showcased.

After the performance there was an interactive session where our students were present on stage to answer the questions from CHIJ students. The first question was from a Chinese student who wanted to know ARA MANDI is used in which classical dance form. Anu Maashaa and Jayashri explained to her and demonstrated what ARA MANDI is. Our Odissi performer Ananya showed them the corresponding ARA MANDI posture in Odissi called CHOUKA. Some of the CHIJ students wanted to know how long does it take to learn these performing arts. Each of our participants gave an explanation on how long does it take to learn the basics of their respective disciplines. They also clarified that to have an in-depth knowledge and master the art is a life long learning process. GIIS students were very confident in their performances and presentations. Our sincere thanks to teachers Sarfraz Ahmed, Irene Manuel, Jyoti Unni and Bharathi Murthy for their expert guidance in making this programme a success.