Come celebrate Indian dance! In its second year, Perles d’ailleurs, Festival Accès Asie`s feature international arts component, will continue Montreal`s Asian Heritage Month celebrations. This four-day extravaganza of discovery and exchange features an exciting program of performances, meetings, and dance workshops from Thursday, May 25th to Sunday, May 28th 2017.
This year`s international arts component includes three main events. First, on Thursday, May 25th at 8 pm at Gesù – Centre de créativité, the American dancer Colleena Shakti and the Montreal prodigy Tanveer Alam will present the performance Perles d’ailleurs highlighting an array of dances from India. Sure to be an engaging experience, participants will have an occasion to meet with the artists. Colleena Shakti and Tanveer Alam will be onsite for this special event on Friday, May 26th from 5 pm to 7 pm at Gesù – Centre de créativité.
Perles d’ailleurs will wrap up Saturday, May 27th and Sunday, May 28th with a series of Indian dance workshops that fuse the traditional and the contemporary led by dancer Colleena Shakti. Don`t miss an opportunity to learn from this great international artist.
Colleena Shakti moved to India in 2001 to train in Odissi Classical Indian Dance and to study the folkloric dances of Rajasthan. Shakti established her own dance school, Shakti School of Dance, in the historic temple Rang Nath in the sacred city of Pushkar. Every summer, she tours and teaches around the world to pass on and preserve traditional Indian dance forms. In 2007, she was honoured by Pratibha Patil (India`s President, 2007-2012) for her work in Rajasthan’s popular arts. Her Rajasthani style is now famous in the north of India. Recently, Shakti collaborated with choreographers Miriam Peretz, Aliah Najmabadi, and Stellamara in Pranam in White, a project described as a contemporary meeting of mystic dance lineages. (www.colleenashakti.com)
Born in Montreal, Tanveer Alam showed a deep interest in performing arts from a young age. His early training was under Sudeshna Maulik. Later he studied ballet at Collège Jean-Eudes and contemporary dance at L’Espace du mouvement. In 2016, he joined the Professional Training Program at the School of Toronto Dance Theatre. Since 2009, he has toured all across Canada: Festival QuébéAsia, Festival de Traditions du Monde de Sherbrooke, and Rina Singha’s Kathak Mahotsav. Tanveer has also attended various workshops with kathak masters such as Pandit Birju Maharaj ji, Padmabhushan Kumudini Lakhia, and Smt. Nahid Siddiqui. He is currently studying Kathak under the tutelage of Smt. Sandhya Desai (disciple of Padmabhushan Kumudini Lakhia). A passionate and charismatic dancer, his performances demonstrate his love for dance.
Colleena Shakti – Dancer
Tanveer Alam – Dancer