Special school shows of Andhar Nogori Choupot Raja: July 2015

There is a special thrill one gets in an auditorium filled with one's friends

Ranan presents a school trip to the theatre!

Special school shows of    Andhar Nogori Choupot Raja

A play in Bengali and English based on the Hindi play by Bhartendu Harishchandra and A. K. Ramanujan’s translation of a folk tale.

“Once upon a time in the Kingdom of Foolishnessthe king and the minister were both idiots”

Provocation: Responses to Violence Against Women

Provocation: Responses to Violence Against Women View this email in your browser This two day journey explores social consciousness through the arts. This programme is designed to engage with senior students to address some of our responses to the violence against women. Every time an atrocity like December 16 or Badaun takes place, we respond with outrage and anger. As we should. We join marches and demonstrations. As we should. We sign petitions. As we should. We lobby for better laws and better enforcement. As we should. But what about art and artistic interventions? Join us for an artistic response to the increasingly ever more brutal attacks on women. Day 1, December 8, 2014: A response through poetry: Performers from Ranan along with actor/poet Baisali Chatterjee Dutt will read, perform and facilitate students responses to news about acts of violence. Day 2, December 9 / 10, 2014: A response though theatre: Actors from Jana Natya Manch, Delhi will do a series of improvisations around the theme of the violence against women. These improvisations, it is hoped, will act as 'provocations' for us to talk, share, think through, and articulate our responses. Venue: School premises Requirements for play: General lights. A hall or large room. Seven stools or chairs or four benches or three durries. Duration: 90 minutes each day. This journey is meant for students of Classes 11 and 12 only. Please note that the improvisations are done without a script and around a difficult theme. Please book the slot your school would like. The time given is inclusive of set up. One school may book multiple slots for different batches. 8:30 am – 10:30 am 11:00 am – 1:00 pm 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm (please note: slot timings may change slightly depending on bookings made in mutual agreement with the school) Each slot is meant for 100 students in the audience. It is advisable that the same students attend both days We hope to provoke discussion, debate, dialogue around these issues and therefore we hope to provoke change. For more details contact: 9831437314 rananartsengage@gmail.com “In a world of lies and liars, an honest work of art is always an act of social responsibility.”

Ranan's Scottish Connection

Ranan was delighted to have Scottish Dance Theatre back with us again for many engagements between 10 - 20 October, 2014

Here is Dawn, Chris and Nerea of Scottish Dance Theatre conducting two Ranan SchoolConnect integrated workshops with Akshar and Mahadevi Birla World Academy on 10 October, 2014 

Some responses from the students:

I was pretty nervous before coming here, but all of it went away the moment Dawn Ma'am started talking to us. All the warmth and cheer and liveliness and joy in her made me feel super comfortable. It was awesome and amazing. Now I came to know that contemporary dance isn't about learning up steps but expressing your feelings and emotions through movements. Thank you so much. It was amazing. Best of luck for your show tomorrow! 

- Anmol Bharuka, MBWA

It was very unique. It can make a non-dancer enjoy dancing. The music was really melodious. It was really a wonderful time dancing with a different twist  - Malavika, Akshar

My second time with SDT and as amazing as the first (if not even more!) The terrible dancer in me feels a lot more free after today's " Forces of Nature" workshop - I'm glad to have sneaked in and am grateful to Ranan for bringing them back to us again  -Ahon Gooptu, LMB

Saloni Happy - Saloni, Akshar

Really liked it  The group dance was fun. I likes the Chris - Nerea parter dance. It was pretty cool  and the Melting Dance. Awesome stuff:-D - Prakriti Pachisia, Akshar.

This workshop made me realise that you should dance like you are floaring in the air, you stretch to connect and bond and you emote for your companion in dance to understand, and you feel what you show!!  DANCE to be yourself!. This workshop was a really wonderful experience. Thank you!!  - Sneha Malakar, MBWA

'Andhar Nogori Choupot Raja' - stories in the foyer

Click here to view more photos of the foyer activity

At the premiere shows of Andhar Nogori Choupot Raja on 12 and 13 March 2014, the Gyan Manch foyer was transformed into a world where children and adults could encounter, imagine and play with stories. Reading stories, writing stories, drawing stories, telling stories.... all culminating into watching stories come alive on stage.

One activity invited children to write their own stories, triggered by an opening line provided at the top of a sheet of paper. Just a few unedited examples of what can be dreamt up when faced with a cat with a cricket back, the sun and moon as rivals in love, or an ocean in a box!

ENJOY!

TELLING STORIES, SINGING SONGS: Ranan SchoolConnect programme - March 2014

telling stories ~ singing songs A two day journey opening the imagination and exploring the joys of storytelling People did not wait until there was writingbefore they told stories and sang songs. Albert Bates Lord “Once upon a time in the Kingdom of Foolishness the king and the minister  were both idiots” Click here for details

Looking back at the 3-Day programme of August 2013

Roopkatha Banerjee of Mahadevi Birla World Academy was one of the students on Ranan's 3-day

Day 1 workshop at MBWA

SchoolConnect journey 'Music-Movement-Madness', which explored music, sound and the lack of it through a workshop, an interaction and a performance.

Here is a poem she sent us on the Ranan SchoolConnect Hangout on Facebook after the performance on the third day...

The Sombre Silence.

26 August 2013 at 18:50

Today, I am no longer whole.
I have been wounded,

And thrust in this cage for all eternity;

They have taken away my music.

They have stripped me of my soul,

They have torn apart my limbs,

Piece by piece. Yet; I am ashamed to face them.

"Speak a little louder, for I am deaf."

Despair and denial sets in,

Like a noose around my neck.

I am choking; I cannot breathe

....do I truly deserve this?

The robin's happy chirp,

The beat of their tiny wings;

Absorbed. Like blotting paper.

This thundering quiet; is all I have left.

And this is truly, the worst fate,

He has an embittered sense of humour.

The last strains of those faint notes,

I can still taste on my lips; it is like nicotine to me.

I pray fervently, for a miracle.

I desperately hold on, in search of redemption.

Suddenly, I realized why he looked that way;

He had retreated into his own noiseless world.

I writhe in mortal agony,

But there is no pain

It is only;

Silence.

My own self fights back,

It claws at me from within.

Self-acceptance; the one thing

That I dread more than life itself.

I am ready.

Ready to face death, head on.

But; I am not ready.

I must first express all, that is within.

Those furious scribbles on the worn out parchment,

The faded grooves on the old record,

These, are what I live for.

Yet; these are what I die for..

Here are some glimpses of the 3 days, which ultimately inspired Roopkatha to write.

Thank you to all the students and staff of Mahadevi Birla World Academy, La Martiniere for Girls and Ballygunge Shiksha Sadan for being part of this amazing journey.

Beethoven, music and deafness: Ranan SchoolConnect programme in August

Music 

Movement 

Madness

How do you hear?

A 3 day journey that explores music,sound and the lack of it.

How do you listen to music with your whole body?

SchoolConnect - 10 January 2013

33 Students from Mahadevi Birla World Academy attended the first of the 2 day SchoolConnect programme. After a fun game of moving house, the session began with students giving an adjective for a House - responses ranged from crazy to haunted to Chocolate !

This was followed by a short discussion, led by Vikram - on adjectives for Home versus House and which of those could be applied to dance.


Then came the fun part of building houses !
The girls soon transformed into pillars and swings and clocks - and some shoes turned into a rangoli ! Other students were invited to visit these houses.



Before the students watched excerpts from Dialoge 09-Neues Museum, Vikram gave them a short introduction to Sasha Waltz - especially her international Dialoge projects.







All these students were witness to an exclusive show of Dialoge 2013 - Kolkata followed by a question-answer session with Sasha Waltz herself on 11.Jan .

Once in a lifetime encounter for school students.

Happy New Year!  We are truly delighted to begin the year with a tremendously exciting SchoolConnect opportunity. Sasha Waltz one of the most sought after choreographers in the world today, will be in Calcutta to create a unique site specific performance piece as part of her international Dialoge projects. The Dialoge projects have become her trademark “they demonstrate the boldness and pioneering spirit of a choreographer who has given dance new meaning and popularity.” It is her first Dialoge piece in India created specifically in and with an architectural Calcutta location, so it will not be seen again anywhere else in the world. It is also her first collaboration with Padmini Chettur, one of the foremost contemporary choreographers in India. Sasha Waltz has repeatedly conquered new spaces for dance – and repeatedly reinvented herself as a choreographer. From the start, her creations evolved in confrontation with other art forms and were mainly characterised by the influence of architecture and the visual arts. Ranan is pleased to present an opportunity for school students to be part of this once in a life-time experience. The SchoolConnect programme will be on two days – 10th & 11th January 2013 Please contact ranan.artsengage@gmail.com or  9831256730 for any queries or confirmations. For full address of venue and details on the public shows from 12th to 14th please click here

Ranan SchoolConnect 10th January:  1pm: registration and payment 1:30 to 3 pm: An introduction to contemporary dance, and the work of Sasha Waltz. Venue: Max Mueller Bhavan auditorium 11th January: (evening) Exclusive show for students the day before the official premiere of the show, followed by a question-answer session with Sasha Waltz herself and her company. Venue: Jorasanko Rajbati on Chitpur Road Large numbers are welcome, but kindly confirm numbers to reserve slots, and avoid disappointment. Charges are Rs 200 per child for the 2 day programme. Accompanying teachers are free. Accompanying parents are welcome on the 11th with advance booking

Ranan SchoolConnect Week Day 3: Rhythm Workhshop with Ranan

The third day of the Ranan SchoolConnect Week with students of La Martiniere for Boys and Akshar saw a Rhythm Workshop by Debashree Bhattacharya and Vikram Iyengar of Ranan. Playing with numbers, beats and beats within beats, tried to develop a sense of how dance forms like Kathak use rhythm, and also how playing with rhythm can be the base for a range of performance.

Continue reading for video excerpts and students' comments:

SchoolConnect Week Day 1: lecture demonstration by Scottish Dance Theatre

The first Ranan SchoolConnect Week kicked off on 1 November 2012 with a lecture demonstration by Scottish Dance Theatre at La Martiniere for Boys, Calcutta. Students from LMB and Akshar attended. SDT was represented by Artistic Director James MacGillivray, and dancers Natalie, Em, Matthew and Lewis. Beginning with a fun 'shaking out the body' session involving all the students, SDT took us through insights into their work - talking a little about Contemporary Dance followed by excerpts from their performance tomorrow, and examples of their improvisatory creative process. Throughout, the students were asked for responses to pieces - what did they read, feel, respond to. No proper stage or facilities, no technical support, no proper costumes ... and yet SDT made us all feel the magic, joy and power of dance every step of the way.

Continue reading for video excerpts and comments from the students:

Ranan SchoolConnect Week

In November 2011, we invited a group of educationists - teachers, headmistresses,vice principals and others - to the Ranan Workspace for an adda. The adda was to talk about the position and perception of arts in schools. The suggestions, feedback and valuable inputs and ideas from this adda have now evolved and led to the creation of the Ranan SchoolConnect programme. The programme aims to build value and appreciation for the arts in the youth of today.

Our first endeavour is the Ranan SchoolConnect Week:
7 days between 1 and 9 NOvember 2012, full of rich, exciting opportunities for students and teachers to delve into the world of performing arts and artistic expression.

Schools who have signed up for this programme are La Martiniere for Boys and Akshar. Students of both will be taking an exciting and varied journey with three companies:
Scottish Dance Theatre from Dundee, Scotland
Jana Natya Manch from Delhi
Ranan from Calcutta

Details of the schedule are given below
[please note: the programmes (except for the public performances by SDT and Janam) are open to a group of students from the aforementioned schools only. For more details on future SchoolConnect programmes, please email ranan.artsengage@gmail.com]

Thursday, 1 November: 
at La Martiniere for Boys
2pm to 3:30pm : Lecture Demonstration with Scottish Dance Theatre

Friday, 2 November: 
at Kala Mandir
2pm to 3pm : Technical Rehearsal with Scottish Dance Theatre for LMB students
4pm to 5pm : Technical Rehearsal with Scottish Dance Theatre for Akshar students
6.15pm (reporting time) to 8.30pm : Performance by Scottish Dance Theatre

Saturday, 3 November: 
at La Martiniere for Boys
10:30am to 12 noon : Workshop with Ranan on Rhythm and Movement

Monday, 5 November: 
at La Martiniere for Boys
2pm to 3.30pm  :Workshop with Ranan on Performing Text

Tuesday, 6 November: 
at Indian Council for Cultural Relations
6.15pm (reporting time) to 8.30pm : Performance of Jana Natya Manch’s Char Rang

Wednesday, 7 November: 
at Akshar
1.30pm to 2.45pm : Short play and discussion with Jana Natya Manch

Thursday, 8 November: 
venue to be confirmed
2pm to 3.30pm : Wrap up session with Ranan

Extras with the School Connect All Access Pass!
2 to 9 November - discounted tickets to all Rabindra Utsav shows
3 November – an adda with Scottish Dance Theatre at the Ranan Workspace
9 November – Ujle Safed Kabootar, a dramatized reading of poems for Palestine by Jana Natya Manch at the Ranan Workspace
till 31 March 2013 - free / discounted entry to Ranan programmes

For further details contact Dana Roy at 98314 37314 or send us an email at ranan.artsengage@gmail.com