Diwali – Hindu Festival of Lights
October 6, 2019
2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Free and open to all!
Pelham Art Center will celebrate Diwali on Sunday, October 6th during ArtsFest Weekend. Diwali is a major festival for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Jains, who believe that light is a metaphor for knowledge and signifies health, wealth and peace. Madhusmita Bora & Prerona Bhuyan of the Sattriya Dance Company will perform Sattriya. Sattriya is a 500-year-old living dance tradition from the Hindu (Vaishnav) monasteries of Assam in Northeast India. The dance, practiced by celibate monks, remained confined to monastic rituals until the 1960s. In 2000, the Indian government inducted Sattriya into the pantheon of major Indian classical dances. Guests will enjoy audience participation, traditional hands-on art workshops and henna body art.
Sattriya Dance Company is a labor of love for sisters-in-law Madhusmita Bora and Prerona Bhuyan. The company’s mission is to promote, document and spread awareness about Sattriya. The company has performed at festivals such as World Music Institute’s Dancing the Gods, Battery Dance Company’s Erasing Borders, the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival and Kalaghoda Festival in Mumbai . The company’s effort is always to make Sattriya relevant and accessible to a contemporary and diverse audience.
