New York City’s longest-running public dance festival will mark India’s Independence Day on August 15 with the celebration of “Shakti”, the divine female energy. The 44th Annual Battery Dance Festival, which features diverse dance companies from around the world, will run from August 12 to 16, as per the news agency PTI.As part of the festivities, August 15 will be observed as “India Day” presenting “Shakti” a mixed programme of dance and cultural performances by international artists, honoring the female essence and creativity.Highlighting the theme of the “India Day” performance, Jonathan Hollander, the founder and director of Battery Dance, said, that on both political and social levels, women’s rights, respect for women and the way “we all relate to the women in our lives” are issues that “can never have too much attention.”“Mother and the female essence is something that we all can relate to,” said Hollander, as quoted by PTI. “The last two years we had a very strong focus on ‘Purush’, male dancers, and this year we have switched it around and we will have a strong focus on ‘Shakti, divine energy,” Hollander told PTI.The specially curated day will feature seven groups presenting their “creative take on the essence of the feminine principle in creativity and in life itself,” Hollander said. “It’s a really important theme for today’s world, where there’s so much conflict, fracture and unknowns.”The programme will include the Nandanik Dance Troupe from Pittsburgh, joined by Kolkata-based choreographer and soloist Subhajit Khush Das, in a new work centered around Goddess Kali. Other performances celebrating the female essence will feature works by choreographers Bijayini Satpathy, Maya Kulkarni, Lada Pada, Sonali Skandan, Swathi Gundapuneedi-Atluri, Subhajit Khush Das, Renjith Babu, and Malini Srinivasan.Dancers and companies from Kolkata, Pittsburgh, New Jersey, and New York will present pieces in Odissi, Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Kathakali, and the Uday Shankar style.The Battery Dance Festival is considered to be New York City’s longest-running dance festival and attracts more than 12,000 in-person attendees and over 10,000 virtual viewers each year. “We are all seeking a moment of refreshing ourselves, refreshing our minds,” said Hollander, referring to the festival’s message. “And when you’re sitting at the park, in a community of people that many of whom you don’t know, and you are shoulder to shoulder with people of all cultures, ethnicities, ages, I think there’s a sense of celebrating human nature and celebrating what we have in common,” he added, reported PTI.
