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Sattriya troupe enthrals Oceanic countries

By Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, Nov 12 � Dr Menaka PP Bora, a national awardee of Sangeet Natak Yuva Puraskar and Guru Indira PP Bora, an awardee of Sangeet Natak Akademi, who led a six-member group of artistes in an exclusive Sattriya Dance Oceanic Tour to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji Islands for a month from October 2014 won the hearts of an international audience through fusion of the traditional and the experimental.

The young danseuse Dr Menaka PP Bora, while interacting with the media on Wednesday, said that presentation is an important aspect of all dance forms if a crowd has to be wooed.

�The trip convinced us that the international audience is more keen about presentation and they also want some innovativeness to be thrown in,� said Dr Menaka PP Bora adding that it was really a memorable experience for the entire team, particularly when they were interacting with school children.

It needs to be mentioned here that around 2,000 school children interacted with the team in a series of workshops.

In order to promote the rich heritage of the sattras of Assam, Dr Menaka PP Bora had chosen artistes from Barpeta Sattra. The guest artistes include Aswini Kumar Bayan and Bipul Ojah from Barpeta Sattra and Rijumoni Pathak.

This extensive dance tour was sponsored by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), Government of India, Asia New Zealand Foundation and Air New Zealand and comprised of a series of live performances, lectures and workshops in several major venues and festivals, including the prestigious Te Papa National Museum of New Zealand in Wellington, Swan Festival of Lights in Perth, Australia, Festival of Lights in Auckland, etc.

In the inauguration ceremony of the festival in Auckland, New Zealand, Dr Menaka PP Bora, Indira PP Bora and their group were specially invited by the Indian High Commissioner of New Zealand, Ravi Thapar, to perform a Sattriya dance for the Prime Minister of New Zealand, John Key who inaugurated the festival and highly applauded the performances of the artists.

On the other hand, Indira PP Bora stressed the importance to take Sattriya and the other traditional dance forms to a bigger international audience mentioning that the different aspects of culture have to be preserved and promoted.

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