Sapphire Creations is Eastern India’s only experimental dance company striving to develop an organic, radical, dynamic and alternative idiom of movement under the able direction of the young and dynamic choreographer and Artistic Director Sudarshan Chakravorty. With a forte for innovation the ensemble is fresh, young and exudes a ready awareness of contemporary global concerns. Sapphire have been performing with a new idiom for the last 16 years in 12 countires across 5 continents, namely, Malaysia, Spain, Singapore, Australia, Thailand, Italy, Bangladesh, Canada, Sri Lanka, USA and India.
Sapphire’s work approaches issues of gender, art, relationships, society, polity, consumerism and HIV through a global perspective, South Asian sensitivity and an experimental body stylistic.
The Sapphire movement technique imbibes from ancient Indian body history to relevant Western breathing techniques to modern contact, improvisatory and tuning solo and group work methods. The very curious and organic idiom that evolves from this presents itself in the proscenium, as site-specific explorations, improvisations, installations, multimedia presentations, in the fields of contemporary dance, theatre, television, film as well as fashion.
Pioneer of the LINK THE ARTS movement, Sapphire intends to bind all arts and artists in healthy creative syntheses.
This unique movement is celebrated biennially through INTERFACE, the International Festival of Alternative and Contemporary Expressions.
SUDARSHAN CHAKRAVORTY Artistic Director
Dancing right from the cradle, Sudarshan's early career in this art form offered him sustenance to live and the inspiration to create Sapphire at the tender age of 19.
His training in the classical Indian forms of dance gave him roots and understanding of the technical patterns of movement, but his genius and dynamic vision gave him motivation to explore the given, discover the hidden and create the unknown.
His training in Bharat Natyam(Guru Bandana Dasgupta), Kathakali(Guru Govindan Kutty) and Thang ta was further honed by the skills the he acquired in modern dance and jazz from France-based Nana Gleason, Improvisation and Mind Body Centering from Christopher Lechner from Germany, Contemporary dance from Michel Casanovas from Switzerland.
An organic and radical form of modern dance resulting from individual and ensemble mind-body improvisations along with a rigorous body training methodology were his focus and today Sapphire is now marked for its distinctive style of movement and experimental bent of treatment.Using his innovative form to speak of unsaid and sensitive contemporary issues has been Sudarshan's forte and Sapphire has explored the issues of same-gender love, the history of Indian sexuality, HIV/AIDS, consumerism, Tagore in its productions.
Presenting abstracts on the use of contemporary dance as medium and therapy in dealing with HIV, Sudarshan has traveled to Asia Pacific AIDS Conferences in Malaysia andMelbourne. He has also led the troupe as director-choreographer to its numerous performances in prestigious arts festivals and art events in different parts of India and abroad in around12 countries accross 5 Continents namely Malaysia, Australia, Spain, Thailand, Bangladesh, Canada, Italy, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Poland and India.
Sudarshan also presented papers and have been part of panels on contemporary dance and its evolution in India in major art conferences in India and abroad organised by Sangeet Natak Akademi and other prestigious organisations. He has also been a workshop leader, art consultant and have worked in the field of stage, film and television in popular movies like Ek Ekke Teen by Partha Sen, Tomar Jonye by Zee Motion Pictures and in tele serials like Durga, Khona, and so on.
He has been awarded by Oniel De Fellowship by Kalabharati, Canada in 2005 and Shyamal Sen Smriti Purashkar by Swapnasandhani in Kolkata in 2008.
Pioneering in 1992 a radical dance form less known and lesser accepted, Sudarshan has led Sapphire Creations Dance workshop from being a youthful endeavor to becoming a premier experimental dance group of the country and the only one of its kind in eastern India.
In its 10th anniversary year Sudarshan conceptualized a movement to integrate, bring together the arts and through them people. Part of the LINK THE ARTS movement, Sapphire brought to the city of joy a gala national and international fare of creativity, the first ever international arts festival in Eastern India and only the third of the country. A common yet non-mainstream platform where the arts can interact and bring to us expressions of another kind, INTERFACE , the INTERnational Festival of Alternative and Contemporary Expressions, happened where premier artists from India, Malaysia, Ukraine and USA interacted with the common public of Kolkata, media and connoisseurs looking on. After successful execution of four awesome editions,INTERFACE is ready with its fifth edition in September 2010.
Sudarshan now stands at a crux of his career where he looks forward to Sapphire becoming one of the premier contemporary dance companies of the world with semblance of an academy which can be a whirl of young ideas, growth and experimentation giving birth to performers, productions and art events and together with his newly founded SUBIJOYA DANCE FOUNDATION can create a whole new renaissance for the arts in India.
PARAMITA SAHA Co - Director
Trained in the age-old traditions of Indian classical music and yoga, the ancient Indian science of living, Paramita had never known dance till she joined Sapphire in 1998. A Gemini with a deep urge to communicate and with flair in doing it well, she has a 1st class post graduate degree in English literature. Literature indeed forms the truest part of Paramita's life, her methods of perception and visualization often moulded in literary light.
Sapphire discovered to Paramita a new world of experimentation free from dictates and encumbrances. Here she could dance and dance could be an extension of her personality, her attitude and her whole experience as an urban human being, and an aware intellectual.
Paramita's sensitivities were further honed by Sudarshan and she attributes her whole grounding in contemporary dance to him. Also trained in modern dance and jazz from France-based Nana Gleason, she has trained in dance and Movement Therapy under Janet Kaylo and Laurence Higgens from Laban Center, London.
She is also trained in modern dance and jazz from France-based Nana Gleason, she has worked closely on improvisation work residencies with text-body work with Michel Casanovas (Switzerland), Christopher Lechner (Germany). Performing as the lead female dancer from 1999 and leading the company as co-director since 2002 her role in the group includes handling conceptualization, improvisation training and mind body conditioning for school and repertory dancers, documentation, management, copy writing, costume design, and public relations. With her expertise in event concept and marketing, branding, lifestyle management, marketing strategy and brand communication she also runs India’s only arts management company Arts Forward promoting novel arts ideas and concepts. Paramita has received the Bharat Nirman Award for Dance in 2007.
DIBYENDU NATH
Principal Dancer
Growing up close to nature was a boon for Dibyendu who has been part of Sapphire for the last 9 years. Brought up in a remote district of West Bengal, the earth and the sky are part of his understanding of the world around him.
His athletic frame and open mind has a natural strength and takes to contemporary movements and ideas as a fish takes to water. Music, chalk sculpture, caricature, magic are among his versatile talents, and he is also a computer graphics expert in the making.
Besides being trained in the martial arts of Bengal, Dibyendu is trained in contemporary dance and jazz from Nana Gleason, and in Thang ta, the martial art of Manipur from Ranjeet Chingtham. He is adept in improvisory techniques and specializes in rope malkhamb, an adaptation of aerial ballet.
Dibyendu has also begun his centre for nurturing local talent in his village at Burdwan, where he emphasizes on body training and dance improvisations for young enthusiasts. Those showing promise are absorbed into the repertoire of Sapphire.
Showing promise of developing into a world class performer, Dibyendu looks forward to a residency training stint abroad, and working for AIDS awareness while continuing his experimentations at Sapphire.
