INDIA: Traditional Arts and Contemporary Women

INDIA: TRADITIONAL ARTS and CONTEMPORARY WOMEN

Saturday, March 15:
All Atrium Alive events are included with museum admission unless otherwise stated.

Sunday, March 16:
Check schedule at pem.org/events/calendar.php?m=03&d=16&y=2008

SCHEDULE BELOW for SATURDAY, MARCH 15, from pem.org/events/calendar.php?m=03&d=15&y=2008

ARTIST DEMONSTRATION
11 am-4 pm
Atrium
Siona Benjamin is a painter, originally from Bombay, now living in the United States. Her work reflects her background of being raised Jewish in predominantly Hindu and Muslim India. She combines the imagery of her past with the roles she plays in America today. Watch Benjamin and try painting with watercolors in the miniature painting style. Made possible by the Lowell Institute.

PERFORMANCES

Dance Katha with Anita Ratnam
12:30 and 3:30 pm
Atruim

One of India’s most recognized dance icons, Anita Ratnam has spent the past four decades performing and promoting Indian art and culture. She is an activist, she says, because she believes in her culture. “My culture doesn’t mean just the performing arts. To me it stands for finding out about my roots and knowing who I am. And the classical arts are a very vital part of our culture.” Ratnam explores streams of movement and ritual traditions connected with initial training in Bharatanatyam, classical dance from South India; she uses her own experience and the full canvas of a woman’s world to paint her original dance-scapes. A trained singer in the South Indian classical tradition, Ratnam has conceived, choreographed and performed 10 original full-length dance works. At PEM, she presents Dance Katha, a program that incorporates classical and contemporary storytelling and dance – celebrating and exploring current nuances of Indian art and culture.

DROP-IN ART ACTIVITIES
1-3 pm
Art Studios

Take inspiration from traditional gold leafing techniques and Indian textiles, and create your own work of art to take home!

FILMS
Morse Auditorium
All films are shown in DVD Format

Highway Courtesans
2005, 71 minutes
Directed by Mystelle Babbee
Hindi with subtitles
2 pm
Reservation by March 13
For reservations, please call 978-745-9500 x3011

What happens when an independent-minded young girl is born into a centuries old tradition of prostitution? Against the rich backdrop of rural India, follow Guddi Chauhan from the age of 17 through 23 as she struggles against tradition, family and love in hopes of accomplishing her dreams. Interviews with Bachara community women touch on love, marriage, education and AIDS.

Vanaja
2007, 111 minutes
Produced by Latha R. Domalapalli
Written and Directed by Rajnesh Domalpalli
4:15 pm
Reservations by March 13
For reservations, please call 978-745-9500 x3011

A spirited 14 –year-old rural South Indian girl possesses an uncanny common sense intelligence that she puts to use to improve her own lot and that of her poor fisherman father. Described by the New York Times as “engrossing … absolutely timeless,” Vanaja is a winner of several international awards including the best debut film at the 2007 Berlin Film Festival.