HMDA presents Hyderabad Dance Festival

Hyderabad: The city is soon to witness a first-of-its-kind celebration of the art without any boundaries, Hyderabad Dance Festival. The announcement was made on Thursday morning by the happening Telugu actress – Faria Abdullah - of Jaathiratnalu fame at State Gallery of Art.                      

A Hyderabad-held dance festival, a first-of-its-kind celebration of the art, without any boundaries of inclusivity, participation and genre, the Hyderabad Dance Festival is a 9-day intensive festival, charted from 3rd through 11th April 2021. Participants across the country are invited to choose from two unique workshops. One could look forward to a unique and unforeseen 7-day dance camp facilitated together by Ryan Martyr, a freestyle contemporary dancer and Mohit Shridhar, an upcoming and much respected Kathak icon. Also including a rap workshop, this camp runs from 3rd April through 9th April 2021 at The State Art Gallery, who are the venue partners with the festival for both their camps and for showcases and panel discussions. The second camp at HDF this year is an exclusive two-day open-to-all Kathak camp being conducted under the personal guidance of Shri Rajendra Ji Gangani, who is not only the scion of the Jaipur Gharana of Kathak but is also a revered Kathak guru. He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2003, the highest performing arts award in India. This camp is on 10th and 11th April 2021 the State Art Gallery.
 
The festival will also be marked by two vital and distinct panel discussions that are aimed to address the narrative behind the faculty and significance of dance. HDF's Board of Directors will be the bench for the first panel discussion, a board that includes Mr B P Acharya IAS, Padmashri Ananda Shankar, Jayant, Pandit Rajendra Gangani Ji Kathak, Shreenath Muthyala - a contemporary dancer and movie maker and Vyjayanthi - a lawyer, trans woman and queer rights activist.
 
The learning is then followed by the execution of participants getting down for a showcase on Saturday, 10th April 2021. The day begins with panel discussions among the prominent artists of the city and in the evening, Sham-e-Hyderabad will take everyone on a journey of storytelling - with Ryan Martyr and Kathak Pt. Rajendra Gangani Ji, supported by Mohit Shridhar, Nishit Gangani and others along with Ananda Shankar Jayant’s ensemble and Deepika Reddy’s ensemble who will be performing too.
 
On Sunday, 11th April 2021, an amalgamation of different forms from Kathak to Cyphers; belly dance to ballet; Salsa to Bharatnatyam; Rap to breaking, the city will witness the 10th edition of CYPHER HOURS, where the entire dance community comes together to jam, grow through cyphers and challenge each other by battling and expressing without any inhibitions. 

The Hyderabad Dance Festival was a jam when it was a baby sapling. In its past nine volumes, it has morphed from being a Cypher Hours do in 2016 to including the dance camp ceLIBERATE from 2019 and moving to a multiple dance camp - Indian classical forms included, a gala evening and a cypher hours cum showcase evening in 2021 in its current volume 10. The tribe that got used to this celebration after months, if not weeks, is returning after an unprecedented gap of a year and a half due to the pandemic.
 
Speaking about the event, Faria Abdullah said “My association with Cypher Hours goes back to its earlier volumes. This is like seeing a dream grow and thrive into a gorgeous tree which has deep roots and is laden with fruit! I cannot express my gratitude enough for everyone who has contributed for it to reach this stage and I look forward to the festival eagerly. I wish the festival success today and always!”

Adding to Faria’s excitement the organisers Vaibhav Kumar Modi and Harsha Maheshwari expressed their privilege to host such a prestigious project in Hyderabad.

Sharing her views Harsha said “To create something grand, it takes energies from a lot of people, brands and communities to come together. I have been grateful to see that growth with each year in this beautiful city and the support Hyderabad Dance Festival is getting is exciting ‘coz it’s gonna be the most powerful platform ever! - I’m excited and extremely grateful.”

Vaibhav added “Hyderabad is a global city and this dance festival is poised to project Hyderabad as the next world stage where year on year the best can come forward to celebrate the spirit of Hyderabad. It was a dream to have a festival of this nature and it is heartwarming that the entire Hyderabad community of businesses and individuals have come forward to support this festival.”

Hyderabad Dance Festival believes that it would not have been possible without its solid core team, partners like The Whole Shebang, Heart Cup Coffee, Happy Hours Dance Place, Concierge, State Art Gallery, Shilpakala Vedika, Lime Boutique and Squeeze, Octopus and most importantly the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority, also known as HMDA.

City’s popular theatre artist and founder of Octopus Group expressed his joy of partnering as a MARCOM Consultant with the Hyderabad Dance Festival. He said “ It’s such a proud moment for the city to host such a one of its kind dance festival. I want to congratulate the organisers Vaibhav and Harsha all the very best for such an initiative and I believe that this will be a great platform for many upcoming artists to showcase their talent”.