Kala Saathanalaya was established in Bærum (Oslo). This dance is pretty old and based on Hinduism, and it has more than 2500 year's tradition - based in South India.
In 2001 Kala Saathanalaya was started by ‘Bharatha Narthaki’ Kavitha Ravikumar, an institute of fine arts in Norway. Kala Saathanalaya is well focussed and dedicated towards the classical dance and maintains the culture. The main motive of the Kala Saathanalaya is not only to teach dance also it performs some shows and works together with other various organisations.
Kala Saathanalaya was founded in the Summer of 2001 as the ‘Natya Gangai’, to bring together dancers who have a love of classical Indian dance and to increase awareness of this beautiful and enjoyable art form on Natya Gangai's dance school. Our name was changed to Kala Saathanalaya in 2003 to reflect the rich and varied tradition of all the classical dances of India and western dance forms. Our current students, mostly constituting Natya Gangai students and affiliates, already spans quite a range of exposure-but we all have one thing in common: a love of the art.
The Kala Saathanalaya is handled by teacher Kavitha Ravikumar a well known dancer in Oslo. The age of the students ranges mainly from 4 to 25 learn this dance. They are divided into 9 groups. The final grade is called the post diploma grade. The enrolment rose gradually from 1 to nearly 40 in the past 5 years. Students give performances to both Tamil and Norwegian cultural programs Such as conferences, festivals.
We organize several events, classes and workshops that serve to showcase and promote Indian classical dance on dance school. Many of our members also perform regularly in events at Oslo and in the Bærum area. 'Kala Arpana', our annual show presents an evening of classical and modern dance from various parts of India and Srilanka.
We also conduct regular practices (mainly for Bharatha Natyam dancers), which are scheduled either according to the show we are performing in or on a semesterly basis. These are quite informal and are open to anyone with any level of experience. We could also start practice groups for other dance forms if there is sufficient interest. We encourage anyone interested in Indian classical dance to contact us at Kala Saathanalaya or Kavitha Ravikumar. |
