Dr Anwesa Mahanta: Sattriya Recital

Drive East presents Dr. Anwesa Mahanta, who will be giving a Sattriya performance on Wednesday, August 15th at 8:30 p.m. DRIVE EAST: Drive East (driveeastnyc.org) is an expansive Indian dance and music festival that features 30+ concerts in just two week. In its sixth year, our week long festival will be in New York from August 13 - 19 and San Francisco from August 22 - 26. It is a festival that regularly features some of the best artists of the year from all over the globe(last year The New York Times mentioned two Drive East artists as the top 10 of 2017) and is an immersive experience into the world of Indian classical arts. Whether you are a seasoned patron or interested in learning more, there is an experience for everyone in this extraordinary festival. Dr. Anwesa Mahanta: A dedicated young exponent of Sattriya Dance, Dr. Anwesa Mahanta has received accolades from the art connoisseurs and scholars for the grace and liveliness of her dance and the expressiveness of her abhinaya. She has been honoured with the national award Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar from Sangeet Natak Akademi for the year 2013-14 for her contributions in the field. She has also received the coveted "Charles Wallace Fellowship" from Charles Wallace India Trust and British Council to conduct post-doctoral research in Queen's University Belfast. Belonging to the Vaisnava monastery of Assam, Sattra, Anwesa learnt her formal lessons in Sattriya under the guidance of the eminent maestro Ghanakanta Bora, Padmashri. She has been learning, researching and interpreting Sattriya dance, music and theatre since last 25 years. She has been an active performer since 2001, presenting Sattriya in its solo form and has also worked on many choreographic presentations of her own. She has performed extensively across India and also abroad (Malaysia, Hong Kong, England, Japan, Northern Ireland, Canada, Sri Lanka, France, New Zealand etc.) appearing at many prestigious dance festivals. She has also been conducting workshops and also presented scholarly research papers in various prestigious symposiums and conferences of the country and outside sharing the aesthetics and poetics of Sattriya Dance, Music Theatre and Allied traditions. She is an ‘A’ grade artist in Sattriya dance of National Broadcasting Channel of India, Doordarshan and an empanelled artist of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and India International Rural Cultural Centre (IRCEN). She has also received Unique You Award for International Women's Day, Sankaradeva YuvaNritya Samman, 2015 for her contributions in the field. Currently, she is a Visiting Artist in Residence in IIT Guwahati and is teaching the students about Dance Aesthetics. She is also the Artistic Director of Kalpa, A Society for Promotion of Literature, Art, Culture and Social Harmony Pragjyoti International Dance Festival. Drive East 2018 Featuring: Arushi Mudgal (odissi), Shijith N Parvathy (Bharatanatyam), Shruthi Kezhakepuram Purushotham (Mohiniyattam), Dr. Anwesa Mahanta (Sattriya), Mesma S. Belsare (Bharatanatyam), Sujit Vaidya and group (Contemporary), Kiran Rajagopalan (Contemporary), Navatman Dance (Bharatanatyam), Anuj Mishra and group (Kathak), Sandip Mallick and Group (Kathak), Preeti and Piyush (Kathak), Abhinaya Dance Company of San Jose (Bharatanatyam), Prabal Gupta (Kathakali), Dr. Ragunath Manet, Nehaa Mondal Chakravarty (Bharatanatyam), Bhavana Reddy (Kuchipudi), Alam Khan (Sarode), Vishal Vaid (Ghazals), Vinay Desai (Santoor), Navatman Music Collective (Carnatic Vocal Choir), Nirmala Rajasekar and Group (Saraswati Veena), Flute Raman Trio, Pt. Rattan Mohan Sharma