Smaran Dance Festival-2025

Warm welcome to Smaran Dance Festival 2024 

First Segment :  (start time: 2:30 PM)

1. Solo Performances by Bay Area Talents - 2.30pm on wards

Solo performances by Bay Area talents:

• Tanvi Kamath – Kuchipudi
• Srinidhi Srinivasan – Bharatanatyam
• Reva Srivastava – Kathak
• Shreya Kiran – Mohiniyattam
• Namrata Mohanty – Odissi

Group Showcase by 

* Kuchipudi Art Center - Guru Smt. Sunitha PendeKanti

* Chitresh Das Institute of Kathak 

******************** 20 minute break ************************

Second Segment:   (Start time: 5:30 PM)

1. Smaran Awards

2. Dance Production 

A Thousand Years’ Journey: A Bharatanatyam Dance Production on Stolen Antiquities by Ganesh Vasudeva 

Bharata Dance & Allied Arts presents A Thousand Years’ Journey, an original ensemble Bharatanatyam dance-theater production choreographed by Ganesh Vasudeva, that tells the extraordinary story of a thousand-year-old bronze idol of Nataraja from Tamil Nadu, India. Through evocative movement, music, andmultimedia, the production reimagines the idol’s journey across centuries — from its consecration in a temple, to its worship by generations of devotees, to its theft, displacement, and eventual appearance on the global auction block. At once historical and deeply human, A Thousand Years’ Journey is narrated through the voice of the idol itself — an eternal witness to devotion, artistry, violence, longing, and resilience.

About the Production

At once historical and urgent, A Thousand Years’ Journey shines light on the global trafficking of sacred art and its impact on cultural identity. It asks: what happens when a living deity is uprooted from its community and turned into a collectible? Where, truly, does such art belong? Comedy, tenderness, and tragedy intertwine: lovers meet under the idol’s gaze, dancing girls dance in eternal service, untouchables are denied entry into the temple, and collectors commodify the sacred. Through it all, the Nataraja reflects, questions, and endures.

Choreographer’s Note

“A Thousand Years’ Journey is about more than stolen art,” says choreographer Ganesh Vasudeva. “It’s about memory, displacement, and resilience. These bronzes were created as living deities, infused with devotion. What happens when they are uprooted, stripped of ritual, and placed behind glass or under a gavel? The production asks us to reflect on how culture, faith, and identity travel across time and borders — sometimes violently, sometimes beautifully.”