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India brings Bollywood dance to Harare

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THE 2017 edition of the Indian Festival — running under the theme India in the Sunshine City — presented a Bollywood dance workshop on Saturday afternoon, where the audience was treated to a variety of classic Indian and hip-hop dances.

THE 2017 edition of the Indian Festival — running under the theme India in the Sunshine City — presented a Bollywood dance workshop on Saturday afternoon, where the audience was treated to a variety of classic Indian and hip-hop dances.

BY PRECIOUS CHIDA

Gilles Chuyen
Gilles Chuyen

The curtain officially came down on the event on Saturday evening with a violin concert by the “god of Indian violin”, Lakshminarayana Subramaniam featuring one of Zimbabwe’s biggest music talent, Oliver “Tuku” Mtukudzi, ahead of the festival’s closure tomorrow.

Gilles Chuyen, who has taught Bollywood dance styles in India, United Kingdom and South Africa also presented at the workshop.

Audiences at the workshop — which attracted a multiracial crowd, including Zimbabwean-based Indian nationals — were trained in Chhau Mayurbhanj, Kathak and Bharatnatyam dances.

Festival goers also had an interface with henna body art, as Indian tattoos are known, as well as an exhibition by Vibhor Sogani titled Mahatma in Me at the National Art Gallery in Harare.

Presented by the Indian embassy in Harare and Teamwork of Arts, it had an array of programmes at various venues in Harare.

The festival’s executive producer, Sanjoy Roy, told NewsDay that they were happy to bring the event to Zimbabwe for the second time.

“This is one of the 26 international festivals that we run from Australia to the United States of America and we have had a big interest in Africa. We have been running a similar festival in South Africa for the past 13 years and we are glad that we were able to bring the festival to Zimbabwe again this year,” he said.

Roy said despite the economic challenges in the country, the attendance was overwhelming.

“Looking ahead, the festival will celebrate our shared past and further shrink the cultural space between India and Zimbabwe,” he said.

The festival was meant to celebrate India’s 70 years of independence from British rule.