Dear friends, we are presenting other participants of the Festival-2023. Aditi Mangaldas Dance Company is coming to “Diaghilev P.S.” from India. The group is already well-known in Russia: it was on a tour in Moscow at the Chekhov Festival and in Voronezh at the Platonov Festival. The company will come to St. Petersburg for the first time. The audience will see the WITHIN performance on 16 November at the Baltic House Theater.

Aditi Mangaldas Company explores and develops the tradition of the old Indian Kathak dance. It is a form of the national classical dance that contemporary artists are actively working with. St. Petersburg dance lovers became acquainted with Akram Khan, the famous choreographer who brings Kathak into the present day, owing to “Diaghilev P. S.”. His “Torobaka” performance took the fancy of the audience and opened a new page in the Festival programs: a dialogue between the contemporary dance and ethnics.

As a dancer and choreographer, Aditi Mangaldas, a guest at the Festival 2023, has combined the classical Kathak with a modern view on it. In her productions one can see both the traditional Kathak – with recognizable spins, indispensable gungru-bells on ankles and national musical instruments – and the Kathak which becomes the basis for contemporary dance.

In the WITHIN performance, the company, led by its founder, turned to eternal mythological themes to understand the contemporary events through them.

Aditi Mangaldas spoke about the production process of the WITHIN:

Working on the WITHIN was different from my previous works. I turned in upon myself and explored the deepest emotions. The process was not always comfortable. It turned out to be a journey that I invite all viewers to take.

Critics highly praised the performance. The Main Post German edition described the performance as follows:

Aditi Mangaldas again impresses with her solo performance full of virtuosity, but her dance conveys much more: pride, passion, happiness, tenderness, concentration, musicality and the great delight from of expressing herself in a dance.

To get to the performance by Aditi Mangaldas Company and see what the contemporary Kathak is, follow our announcements. Ticket to all the Festival events will be on sale starting from 20 September.