We presented the Bharatanatyam dancer Aniruddha Knight and his musicians in a live performance and conversation session with the FEA team at a Diversity conference organised by Godrej & Boyce and a cross company Diversity and Inclusion forum in March, to celebrate International Women’s Day.

Our session titled Through the Looking Glass, Losing the Gender Stereotyping Habit, was very well received by audiences comprising mainly corporate managers from companies like Philips, Cummins, Sodexho, Asian Paints, HUL, Tata, Wipro, Mondelez, Monsanto and Godrej. The unusual experience of learning about biases and gender stereotypes through the prism of a striking classical art form like Bharatanatyam and its live energy drew a full house. Deconstructing the art form, layering it with the dancer’s personal narrative as a male dancer who chose to present the traditional shringaar rasa (love and beauty) and ensuring that the theme of gender and biases was examined from all angles seamlessly, elicited warm responses from several managers who appreciated the effectiveness of the approach.

The session examines the subject of biases and the habit of gender stereotyping that is embedded deep within each one of us. We had teamed up with Bharatanatyam dancer Aniruddha Knight, grandson of the legendary Bharatanatyam dancer T. Balasaraswati, and his musicians. We curated and developed the session drawing from the live performance, the art form and the creative process and journey to take a closer look at gender in the workplace.

The session is part of our Perspectives series where we explore issues linked to the culture of organisations and institutions. Drawing from the works of diverse performing artistes, the resources of their forms and their creative processes, we attempt to create experiential workshops that can start off a new thought process and a more effective, spontaneous change of heart; essential for building an engaging work space and learning environment.

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Alex Machacek, the Austria-born, LA-based jazz guitarist performed in concerts in Mumbai and Bangalore. Influenced by guitar greats like Allan Holdsworth and Frank Zappa, Alex’s technique is both formidable and exciting. Underlying the complexity of his music is a wit and fluidity that is unmatched in the world of contemporary jazz guitar.

The Diwali concert in 2014 brought Pt. Venkatesh Kumar and Shashwati Mandal together in a concert that highlighted the achievements of the Gwalior and Kirana gharanas and their traditional bandishes. Pt. Venkatesh Kumar’s artistry as a classical musician is widely acknowledged and his presentation of the raags Shuddh Kalyan, Durga and Kaushi Kanada were excellent. He was accompanied by Pt. Raghunath Nakod, also from Dharwad on tabla and Ajay Joglekar on harmonium. Shashwati Mandal, a young musician with a mature and individual style presented the raags Poorvi and Jhinjhoti before ending with two tappas, a form she has specialized in. She was accompanied by Pt. Vishwanath Shirodkar on tabla and Seema Shirodkar on harmonium.

This series looks at Classical Dance, Odishi: Kolkata based Odishi dancer Sharmila Biswas and her students presented a performance and a talk titled “Thinking with a Dancer”. Sharmila Biswas is known for her ability to create new choreographies in Odishi using her personal research and wide reading into the form.

FEA presented the finalé concert for the Asia tour of jazz guitar legend John McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension with Ranjit Barot, Gary Husband and Etienne M’Bappé. A palpable excitement permeated the air from the very first notes that the master squeezed out of his guitar, right through to the final bow that the band took to a standing ovation that lasted a full ten minutes. An experience that everyone present would not forget for a long time to come.

The Diwali concert 2013 was held at the Ravindra Natya Mandir, Mumbai and featured two artistes. Kumar Mardur from Dharwad, a junior guru at ITC Sangeet Research Akademy in Kolkata opened the concert. The main recital was presented by well-known Jaipur Atrauli gharana vocalist Ashwini Bhide Deshpande who presented Raag Jaijaiwanti and the rarely performed Raag Deepawali composed by Pt. Pannalal Ghosh. Keeping the classical mood of the evening and the festival intact Ashwini Bhide Deshpande ended with a tarana in Raag Bhairavi. She was accompanied by Vishwanath Shirodkar on tabla and Seema Shirodkar on harmonium.

The first Diwali concert was organized in 2012 at the Cama Oriental Institute in Fort, Mumbai. It was conceptualised by Shubha Mudgal who presented a set of exquisite and rare songs composed by her in genres ranging from the classical to the semi-classical. The texts for these songs were part of the intimate worship rituals and the adoration of Radha and Krishna in the Vaishnav temples of Vrindavan on the occasion of Diwali, which Shubha had followed and gathered over the years.

Shubha was accompanied by Aneesh Pradhan (tabla), Sudhir Nayak (harmonium), Prakash Shejwal (pakhawaj) and Pratap Rath (jaanjh/manjeera).

Master Craftsman Ram Soni’s creations of Sanjhi Art (with its roots in Vrindavan) exhibited in the foyer added another layer to the concert experience.