A dance piece in the staircase? Poetry on a roof top? A concert next to the printer? Join us for the first Performance Festival of the Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Pune and discover its many facets! See, hear and feel how the building of the Institut and its many public and secret rooms become alive, from the offices to the classrooms to the roof top!
Ankita is a dancer and choreographer who started her dancing career as a contemporary dancer in 2012. She has been learning contemporary dancing for 10 years now. She started her training as a contemporary dancer with the Hrishikesh's Centre of Contemporary Dance Academy, Pune. In this span of 10 years, she has shown keen interest in embodying dance and theater along with different art forms. She has attended different dance festivals across the globe and has also been part of various workshops conducted by well known dance and theater practitioners.
A young musician from Pune, India, Gandhaar started intensive training in Indian classical music with his father, at the age of 4. With this strong base of a codified form of music, Gandhaar decided to apply the melodic depth of Indian classical music to a modern, urban setting.
He started creating music that was difficult to define at the time. A strong Indian melodic identity, combined with the finesse of electronic music production. This soon became his signature sound, and he started getting invited to create music for applications that needed this modern and global take on Indian music.
From BGM and songs for TV and film, to advertising jingles and corporate presentations, Gandhaar has been creating music for a wide range of applications for a decade and a half. He also composes and produces independently released music under his own name, while producing music for indie song writers from around the world. Notably, he recorded and was a co-composer on Inner World, a music album by The Dalai Lama, in 2020.
Gandhaar has also been performing his own music, and has played with musicians like Ehsaan Noorani, Taufiq Qureshi, Gino Banks, Sanjay Divecha, and many more. He has also been touring with the Karsh Kale Collective since 2022, playing at private events and festivals around the country.
Gia ist eine multidisziplinäre Künstlerin. Geboren und aufgewachsen in Mumbai, umfasst ihre Praxis das Machen von Filmen, die Performancekunst und somatische Bewegung. Es ist ihre Leidenschaft, körperliche und sinnliche Erfahrungen zu untersuchen und sie mit anderen zu teilen. Ihr Interesse an Tanz und Körper hat ihre Herangehensweise ansKunstschaffen geprägt. Für die ist Kunst eine körperliche und sinnliche Erfahrung, auch wenn sie nur auf einem Bildschirm betrachtet wird. In ihren Filmen versucht sie oft, verschiedene Medien und Genres zu kombinieren. Ob es sich um einen Spielfilm, einen Dokumentarfilm, ein Musikvideo oder einen Modefilm handelt, ihre Arbeit zielt immer darauf ab, eine einzigartige und sinnliche Erfahrung zu schaffen.
Von klein auf auch eine ausgebildete Odissi-Tänzerin, setzte sie ihre Ausbildung in englischer Literatur und Darstellender Kunst an der Ashoka-Universität fort. Heute performt sie, kreiert und gibt Workshops, um ihrer Leidenschaft treu bleiben zu können. Ihre Performances sind eine hybride Mischung aus Theater, klassischem Tanz, Somatik und Performancekunst.
Maitreyee has multiple caps she adorns through out the day as artist manager, studio co-founder, artist and performer. As she navigates her own unique journey through the world of Contemporary Art she keeps one firm foot in the world of contemporary dance and manages to step into the world of Arts Management and Arts Curation with the other.
In 2021 Maitreyee and her colleagues at Citizens of Stage co-lab self-funded, crowd sourced & produced a full length ensemble piece titled How Long Is Forever, which has been 3 years in the making. In 2022, Maitreyee was invited to collaborate as co-choreographer and performer with her colleague Damini Gairola, as a part of K3 Tanzplan, Limited Edition Residency.
As a dedicated and passionate performing artist with extensive training in contemporary forms, she have honed her craft to create captivating and innovative experiences for audiences worldwide. Her journey in the world of performance has not only enriched her own artistic expression but has also allowed her to inspire and nurture the talents of others through coaching and training.
As a movement artist and a researcher, questions the role and relevance of dance in the society, Sayli practice is a combination of dance and socio-political discourse with intense physicality. Her work emerges from a very strong feminist perspective and the
aesthetics is inspired by the culture, emotions, activism, movies, visual art and day to day life. She exhibits a strong sense of control and precision in her dancing, while still maintaining a sense of fluidity and ease. Her dancing is expressive and poignant, she has the ability to create work that is both technically impressive and emotionally resonant.
Tanvi is a performance artiste and German translator. Having spent the last 12 years training and performing in contemporary dance and physical theatre, these experiences now serve as a foundation for her to explore the myriad possibilities of expression using the body. As a dance movement therapy practitioner, she facilitates dance therapy sessions as part of a community project for persons with Parkinson’s Disease, and now works with non-clinical populations as well.
She is the Secretary of West Zone of the Creative Movement Therapy Association of India (CMTAI) and Head of Dance in Education at the Avartan Dance Foundation. She is presently indulging in her interest in the workings of the mind-body connection and kinesthetic approaches for rehabilitation, and is exploring the possibilities of using art and language to create social impact. She has recently been awarded the Compassion & Resilience Fellowship by The Red Door India, and the Arts for Good Fellowship by the Singapore International Foundation.
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Vinay is a Composer, Guitar Player and Music Educator based in India. He officially endorses Fender Musical Instruments and Ernie Ball Strings in India and has been affiliated with both since 2015. He is an alumnus of the Musician's Institute, Hollywood (GIT). Vinay released his debut album “Naked on a Train” in January 2018. It received accolades from some of the top names in the music industry. Vinay is all about writing and composing original music and is associated with quite a few popular acts. He is the principal songwriter for the well-known Fusion act Empty Café and the high adrenaline funk band Funkatrix, along with his independent projects. He is also affiliated with a number of other projects in varying capacities.
Medha is a contemporary dancer and Yoga teacher. She trained extensively in Bharatnatyam for 8 years before specializing in contemporary dance.
In December 2022, she performed a full length ensemble piece ' How Long Is Forever ' at the Serendipity Arts Festival ,Goa. Earlier this year she collaborated with Vishwakiran Nambi Dance Company and performed a double bill 'Jaaga Illa' and ' Yele Oota' at Exordium-23 in Bangalore.
In addition to her performing endeavour, she works in educational institutions as a guest faculty, inspiring others to embrace their own creativity and push the boundaries of movement.
Group project with students with support of language teachers
A contemporary dance performance based on original works by the community at Goethe Institute, and deconstructing these into a movement-based! choreographic work, set in various locations within the institute 's architecture. The performance aims to showcase the interplay between literature, architecture, and the human body, blurring the boundaries between fiction and reality. Dancers will interact with staircases, walls, doors, and windows, blurring the boundaries between the performance space and the narrative. The audience can move freely between locations, creating an immersive experience. This interaction can emphasize the idea that literature, like dance, is a form of exploration and self-discovery.
In this existing solo dance piece, the focus centers on the relentless guidance that women receive, as society and various groups endeavor to shape their thoughts and beliefs, ultimately conditioning them. It vividly portrays the exasperation that arises from the ceaseless battle within one's mind and explores the extent to which this struggle can extend.
How do bodies, movement and architecture relate? This movement performance is the outcome of a 5-day residency of choreographer Mira Hirtz in which she explored the Goethe-Institut together with Pune based contemporary movement artists. Working mainly with improvisation, sensorial experiments and playful gestures, they wondered about how we dwell, move and feel within a build structure. Which perspectives do we find? And can we make the building itself speak?
Improvisations with Empty Cafe
Music by Empty Café
Performers: Vinay Kaushal, Gandhaar Amin, Varun Venkit
In a world that’s moving towards electronically produced music and writing hooks to impress the algorithm, Empty Cafe finds the courage to create instrumental acoustic music, with the hope that there are people out there that still value honest expression over meticulously curated, social media driven image building.
Join Empty Cafe (Gandhaar Amin, Vinay Kaushal, Varun Venkit) explore an improvised instrumental set drawing from Indian Classical roots, western contemporary harmony, with hints of west african percussive elements.
Dekho...Main Hoon | Look…it’s me
Directed and produced by Gia Singh Arora
Director of Photography: Anhjin Kakar & Rahul Gautam
Editor: Shubhika Sharma
Workshop Facilitator: Navtej Singh Johar
Observing the poetic world of teacher Navtej Singh Johar’s workshop, where participants are taken upon an introspective journey through movement exploring touch, intimacy and expression. As deeper questions emerge in the space, the border between thinking and acting upon merge.
© Karolina Sobel
Basing her work on performative tools and somatic techniques, Mira Hirtz explores multi-sensory experiences and articulations of our being-in-the-world. Looking at the intersections of art, health, ecology and science, her practice embraces the messiness of navigating life and dives into concepts of body, care as well as human and non-human interdependencies. Her work takes many different formats, from performance, installation and painting to curation and mediation.