Three Days with Ileana and Saswat: Odissi in Rome (Part One)

Colosseum. Rome, 26 July 2017

Photo session dancing in Imperial Old City of Rome and in front of Colosseum, photo session in saree long the Tevere River: Odissi in Rome with Ileana Citaristi, Saswat Joshi and their young Indian dancers.

Let's travel into the beauty and culture of India!

Art Vision

 

Colosseum. Rome, 26 July 2017

Colosseum. Rome, 26 July 2017

From Wikipedia:

Ileana Citaristi is an Italian-born Odissi and Chhau dancer, and dance instructor based in Bhubaneswar, India. She was awarded the 43rd National Film Awards for Best Choreography for Yugant in 1995 and became, in 2006, the first dancer of foreign origin to be conferred the Padma Shri for her contributions to Odissi.
She spent five years as an actress in traditional and experimental theatre in Italy before deciding to learn Kathakali. She went to Kerala, where she spent three rigorous months studying Kathakali before she went to Odisha on the advice of her Kathakali guru, Krishnan Namboodari. Since 1979, she has been living in Odisha. She holds a Doctorate of Philosophy with a thesis on 'Psychoanalysis and Eastern Mythology'.
Citaristi studied Odissi under Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra and started her own school of dance in 1994. Citaristi is also an exponent of the Mayurbhanj Chhau, which she learnt under the tutelage of Guru Hari Nayak and holds the title of an acharya of Chhau from the Sangeet Mahavidyalya of Bhubaneswar. She founded the Art Vision Academy in 1996, which acts as a platform for sharing ideas between various artistic forms such as theatre, music, dance and painting. The Academy also conducts classes in Odissi and Chhau.
Citaristi is an “A” grade artist of Doordarshan. She was conferred the title of 'Leonide Massine for the art of dance' in 1992. In 1996, she won the National Film Award for Best Choreography for her work in Aparna Sen's Bengali film Yugant (1995). She is empaneled as ‘outstanding artist’ in ICCR. She is also a recipient of the 'Raseshwar Award' given by the Sur Singar Sansad, Mumbai. For her contributions to Odissi, she was conferred the Padma Shri by Government of India in 2006.The Italian government made her a member of the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity in 2008.

Saswat Joshi was born in Titlagarh on 18 December 1984. Saswat started his journey as a dancer when he was five years old under the able guidance of Guru Prasanta Patnaik and Guru Shantanu Behera at his native village Titlagarh, Bolangir. He learned the basics of dance and postures of Odissi dance with great interest and dedication as a child artist.
Saswat started his professional Odissi training under Guru Padma Shri Kumkum Mohanty in 2000. He has been an exponent of Padma Bibhusan Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Odissi style. Under the tutelage of Guru Padma Shri Ileana Citaristi, his dancing flourished into its perfection. He is the recipient of a national scholarship from Ministry of Culture Government of India. He did his Visharad from Chandigarh University and was awarded Sangeet Ratna from Rabindra Bharati University. He has performed in world's biggest museum of Asian painting Musée Guimet at Paris, France in 2012. He has given many lecture demonstrations of Odissi in various universities worldwide. He is the only male dancer who performed in front of world wonders Eiffel Tower, Paris, France; and The Colosseum, Rome, Italy.
To popularize Odissi as Indian classical dance, he traveled and performed Odissi in many European and Asian countries such as Italy, France, Hungary, Finland, Japan, South Korea, Thailand etc.. He had shared the stage with many international celebrities of dance like Carla Fracci, Luciana Savignano, Giuseppe Picone, Beppe Menegatti, Rossella Brescia and Luciano Mattia Cannito in a production called “I Have a Dream” at Palermo city, Sicily of Insular Italy.

Tevere River. Rome, 27 July 2017

 

With all group before going on stage. Rome, 29 July 2017

 

My Photos on Indian newspapers

Continued in Part Two