11 Mar 2022
The School of Performing Arts and Indic Studies, REVA University hosted its two-day international conference,"DeśaKāla", on 16 and 17 July 2021. The two-day event was attended by senior as well as budding academicians in the field of performing arts and Indic studies.
The event began on 16 July 20201 with Dr Vidya Kumari the director of SoPA&ISdelivering the concept note on emerging trends in Performing Arts and Indic studies. This was followed by the Keynote address by DrChoodamaniNandagopal. renowned Art Historian of international repute. The inspirational keynote address set the tone for the conference and was followed by multiple paper presentation sessions.
The first day of the conference hosted 20 paper presenters sharing their research on various interdisciplinary topics. Each session was chaired by eminent scholars in the filed such as DrSheela Sridhar HOD of dance at the University of Mysore, Dr Sujatha Mohan HOD of dance at Dr MGR Janaki College, Chennai and Dr Chetana Radhakishna HOD of dance KSGH University, Mysore.
Apart from the paper presentation session the first day also included a panel discussion on the topic “Artiste and Audience: Bridging the Gap” moderated by eminent art critic and senior journalist G Ulaganathan. Panelists such as dancer and choreographer PadmininShreedhar, versatile dancer Sri Janardhan Raju Urs and actor, dancer and choreographer Deepa Pillai made the panel discussion engaging and informative.
The enriching experience of the first day of the conference left most attendees asking for more. Consequently,the second-day of the conference began with an expert lecture by Dr Anuradha V on “Musical Instruments as Included in Hoysala Art”.
17 July 2021 also witnessed an engaging panel discussion on “Shifting Paradigms in Teaching and Learning of Performing Arts During Pandemic” moderated by eminent critic Prof Ashish Khokar. The panel discussion included other eminent personalities like Guru Madhulitha Mahapatra, Dance Hema Sathyanarayan, dancer Meenakshy Bhaskar and danseuse Swapna Rajendrakumar.
The second day of the conference further included close to 40 paper presenters speaking on diverse topics. Each session was chaired by eminent scholars in the field such as Dr Meenakshi principal Tamil Isai Kalluri, Chennai, Dr Anuradha Registrar, Maharani Cluster University, Bangalore,DrHimaja, HOD of Bharatnatyam department Tamil Isai Kalluri, Chennai, DrRumaSheel, Shri Jitesh and Dr Vidya Kumari S, Director School of Performing Arts and Indic Studies, REVA University, Bangalore.
The conference was a learning experience for the department as well as the attendees.
