Education

At Annapurna Indian Dance we are passionate about sharing the rich artistic heritage of India, and its inspiring culture and traditions through performances and workshops.

We specialise in bringing alive the well loved stories from the ancient epics and mythology of India, using the vibrant traditional dances with storytelling, music, drumming, puppets and masks along with beautiful costumes. Our workshops help you to explore the rhythms of dance, with its many fascinating hand gestures and stylised facial expressions for communicating ideas and feelings.

Annapurna Indian Dance has a strong and unrivalled record of dance work in Education especially in Yorkshire.

In Education all our projects aim to promote a greater understanding and appreciation of the cultural traditions from India through innovative ways and increase awareness of racial, cultural and social issues.

"I am delighted that Leeds schools have had the opportunity to work with this wonderful company. Annapurna Indian Dance are truly professional and they bring all the vibrancy and magic of Indian culture into school. The company use dance, masks and drumming to tell very powerful traditional stories that engage both children and adults. Teachers have really benefited from the company's training sessions, learning new ideas and simple techniques which they can use in the classroom. The feedback from teachers has always been extremely positive. For anyone who hasn’t worked with this company – I recommend they do."

Sarah Westaway
Arts Manager
ArtForms – Education Leeds

Current Education Project

MONSOON TALES -A journey to colourful and mystic India!

Annapurna Indian Dancers present a rich garland of traditional dances and ancient stories from India with stunning costumes and original music .

Now available for bookings

For more information and bookings please contact;

Education Officer, Navya Rattehalli on 01422 365103 or 07737 759 783 or email: info@annapurnadance.com

Archive

DANCES FROM THE DISTANT LANDS - 2009 Education Project

"What a super afternoon we had with the dancers from the Annapurna Indian Dance Company. They talked us through each of the dances explaining the signs they used to represent the different animals and birds of the jungle before performing each dance. At the end of their performance they asked me if they could have some more time and of course I said “Yes”. Little did I realise that the consequence of that reply was that I would be dancing an Indian Dance with the other teachers! The children thought it was hilarious and I have to confess we all enjoyed doing the dance. After the performance Mr Poppleton’s and Miss Catalfamo’s children had hour long Indian dance workshops which they were really enthusiastic about." - David Wright, Headteacher, SHAY LANE PRIMARY SCHOOL, WAKEFIELD.

TWILIGHT RHYTHMS - 2008 Education Project

Annapurna was very fortunate to have invited dancers Vidwan Chandra Shekhar Navda and Anjali Khandige along with storyteller Sumathi Niranjan from India for this unique project which explored the use of classical Bharatha Natyam with Yakshagana folk dance and the use of masks and puppetry for the story of Diwali .

Principal dancer was Devika Narendran Rao, other dancers involved were Santosh Mennon and Priya Sundar.

Anjali Khandige