Indian dance group Nrityavani
For several years already, the Indian dance group Nrityavani (= voice of the dance) has been touring through Central Europe (mainly through Austria and Germany) for 4-6 weeks at a tim and performed several shows on Catholic holidays and even in Vienna's St. Stephen's Cathedral in June 2016.
Nrityavani presents a colourful program under the direction of the senior dance teacher Mr. Nanthakumar from Bangalore and mostly six young women from different parts of India (in a yearly changing occupation).
In addition, they perform classical Indian (Bharata Natya) and religious dances and also modern folk dance à la Bollywood. Apart from evening events and workshops in schools, they also appear in churches and participate in the organisation of worship services.
All women have studied different forms of Indian dance, some are already dance teachers and one is even writing a doctoral thesis on this subject, which underlines the high art and professionalism of this group.
The tours are prepared over the very long-term by the German tour manager Alex Paul Strauss, in order to allow for enough shows to take place during a tour as well as to be able to finance them. Since no entry is charged for the performances, the entire stay of the group (including flights, visa fees, overnight stays, catering, tour bus, etc.), must be financed through donations also in the case of the performances. In 2015, JIK co-financed this tour as the main sponsor within the framework of the intercultural youth exchange in Sankt Augustin and Leverkusen.
Since 2014 Nrityavani has regularly been a guest with us – with evening events in Sankt Augustin - Birlinghoven (last on 27 June 2016), workshops in Leverkusen as well as the organisation of church services, for example in Cologne.
The next tour of Nrityavani will presumably take place in May 2017. You can find out in good time about the performances, insofar as they are organised by JIK, in the Newsletter or under News.
