Though the Kendra began its journey on the eve of India’s Independence in 1947, its entry into the field of imparting quality education in Classical Dance and Music took place from 1952 onwards. Over the decades, the Kendra has produced thousands of students who have become eminent performers and teachers in their own right, both in India and abroad. The Kendra’s Diploma and Certificate courses are widely sought after and are a passport both for higher education as well as employment.

The Kendra has had the privilege of drawing upon exceptional faculty over the years, who are reputed and celebrated in their respective fields. The Indian Council for Cultural Relation

(ICCR) of the Government of India recognises Kendra’s College as an eminent institution and provides scholarships to students from several overseas countries to study classical dance and music at the Kendra.

The Kendra has had the privilege of drawing upon exceptional faculty over the years, who are reputed and celebrated in their respective fields. The Indian Council for Cultural Relation (ICCR) of the Government of India recognises Kendra’s College as an eminent institution and provides scholarships to students from several overseas countries to study classical dance and music at the Kendra.

Notwithstanding these past achievements, the Kendra now feels that the time has come for a substantial upgradation of its facilities. Towards this end, the Kendra is planning to undertake the following initiatives:

1. To raise the teaching standards of the various courses being offered at the College by inducting talented Gurus where needed and by increasing the number of classes to reduce the teacher-student ratio.
2. To give Fellowships and Scholarships to deserving students, especially from socially-deprived sections of society, to enable them to take up Performing Arts as a profession.
3. To develop web-based courses in different disciplines for the benefit of the Indian diaspora in various parts of the world. This would be accompanied by appropriate transmission facilities.
4. To conduct regular series of short workshops by eminent dancers and musicians to motivate and guide students who are keen to enhance their skills. This programme will be applicable to the Advanced Courses.
5. To invite eminent overseas artists from the United Kingdom, South Asia and South-East Asia, such as The Akram Khan Dance Company, Sri Lanka’s Kandyan Dance and Indonesia’s Balinese Dance for conducting short-term courses and workshops.

One of the principal activities of the Kendra, almost from the date of its inception, has been the staging of dance-dramas essentially based on the country’s rich folklore and its epics. During the past six decades, the Kendra has presented over 40 productions, including the iconic ‘Ramlila’, currently being presented as ‘Shri Ram’, ‘Krishna Leela’ currently being presented as ‘Shri Krishna’ and a host of other productions such as ‘Meera’, ‘Karna’, ‘Abhimanyu’, ‘Durga’ etc. An important factor which binds all these productions together is the unique choreographic style that the Kendra has developed along with a sophisticated system of themes, music composition, craftwork, costume design, stage décor etc.

Till now, the Kendra’s repertory consisted of a set of permanent artists supplemented from time to time with short-term contract artists. The training was essentially restricted to teaching the artists to put up the next forthcoming show. Though the Kendra’s current training system has enabled it to mount excellent productions, the management now feels that the time has come for a drastic overhaul with the introduction of a holistic training schedule.

With this end in view, the Kendra’s Dance Drama/Ballet Unit was re-named ‘In House Productions & Programs (KDC). Advertisements were released on social media and applications were received from full-time male and female dancers. Recruitment of dancers was thereafter carried out based on auditio’s conducted at the campus.

It is now proposed to devise a training programme with the following objectives:

1. Train the newly recruited troupe in several Indian Dance styles; train them in Kendra’s unique dance style; this would include courses in technique, improvisation, and composition.
2. Provide inputs to dancers in allied fields such as costume-making, craft-work, set design, lighting, and sound design.
3. Integrate teachers’ training programmes within the course to train quality dance teachers for schools, colleges, etc.

It would thus be observed that apart from building up a highly trained repertory capable of putting up world-class shows, the programme would also turn out dancers equipped to seek gainful employment in other dance troupes, schools, etc

The Kendra has a vast repository of recorded Music Tapes, Video Tapes, Films, and Photographs, some of them dating back to almost 60-70 years. Many of the recordings are invaluable and do not probably exist with any other organisation. It would not be wrong to say that they represent the heritage of the country. The Kendra has been involved, over the past couple of years, in digitising some of this material. However, the work needs to be taken up more systematically and aggressively. A brief inventory of the range of archival material is as follows:

SHRIRAM BHARATIYA KALA KENDRA