The Park’s The Other Festival - 2004  
    Music. Dance. Drama. Art. You.   
     

    The Chinmaya Heritage Centre, Chennai  
     
    • CRITICS SPEAK 
     
    ON The Park’s THE OTHER FESTIVAL
     
     
    The Other Festival has never looked back since it took off in 1998.  
    Ameeta Agnihotri, JETWINGS, October 2004
     
     
    The Other Festival truly marks the “Other” to the celebrated classical music and dance season of Chennai. Dancer Anita Ratnam and connoisseur Ranvir Shah deserve special applause for bringing in a delectable array of works from the world over.  
    Aniruddh Vasudevan, NARTANAM, Vol.VI, No.4, October-December 2004
     
     
    The mother of all others is here. Other music, dance, drama. Of course, we are all talking about The Other Festival.   
    Express Features, CITYEXPRESS, Chennai, Wednesday, November 17, 2004
     
     
    Another energetic, creative movement to entertain the audience.   
    NEWSTODAY, Chennai, Wednesday, 17 November, 2004
     
     
    The Park’s The Other Festival features the widest range of countries yet, with noted diasporic talent and artistes visiting city colleges, interacting with the community.   
    TRINITY MIRROR, Saturday, 20 November 2004
     
     
    Come December and the various city halls in the city resonate with ragas and the sound of anklets… December is also the time for The Park’s The Other Festival, the annual showcase of contemporary arts.   
    Metroplus, THE HINDU, Wednesday, November 24, 2004
     
     
    The Other Festival, which enters its seventh year of existence, has grown considerably in terms of budget, performances and the geographical area from which artists come.   
    Susan Muthalaly, THE FINANCIAL EXPRESS, Chennai, Sunday, November 28, 2004
     
     
    For the first time, some of the vents of the Other Festival will be taken outside of the hall to ‘other’ performance spaces and alternative audiences.   
    Express Features, The New Sunday Express, November 28, 2004
     
     
    It’s that time of the year again, when Chennai is all set to witness a plethora of cultural activities. And to add to the festivities and celebration of the ‘music season’, The Other Festival…with performers from across the globe…   
    ET Madras Plus, Thursday, December 2, 2004
     
     
    It was not long before the city woke up to the possibilities of infusing other art forms into the spectrum of tradition and realized that the new forum had many charms…nothing is more symbolic of that when the hall is almost full and there is a cross section of audiences waiting to see what the organizers of The Other Festival have for them each evening…the event has become a much-awaited one – an occasion when art and intellect interact…with many more sponsors and with the same finesse and perfection…   
    Chitra Mahesh, Friday Reviews, THE HINDU, Friday, December 3, 2004
     
     
    It was born over a midnight cup of coffee…seven years on, as 15 teams from all over the world get ready to gather at Chennai…”The Other Festival” seems to have got under the city’s cultural skin.   
    Radhika Giri, INDIA TODAY, 6 December, 2004
     
     
    The Other Festival has won its spurs. It is no longer something rich and strange. It has arrived and is a part of the Chennai cultural scene. Rom the beginning the promoters have presented an alternative vision instead of dissipating energy in strident critique of the mainstream festival. And now we have two sets of values, a win-win situation.   
    N, Vaidyanathan, The Arts Column, CITYEXPRESS, Chennai, December 9, 2004
     
     
    From ideas, to form, from form to abstraction, from intensity to humour, The Park’s The Other Festival without question is a forum to air your views…Both the Arangham Trust and the Prakriti Foundation with all their members made the event warmly personal and interactive enough for you to want to go back the next year.   
    Chitra Mahesh, Friday Reviews, THE HINDU, Friday, December 10, 2004
     
     
    The festival is a carnival…With all this going-on, the two front-runners and heralds of the festival – The Other Festival and Jay TV’s Marghazi Mahotsavam led the way smartly. Nothing  tentative about their moves. By just being themselves, they held the mirror up to the face of the mainstream festival, letting them take a long cool look at themselves if they should wish to do so. But the vital objectives they have achieved is to bring other cultures closer to ours. Blessed be the bridge-builders.   
    N, Vaidyanathan, CITYEXPRESS, Chennai, Saturday, December 11, 2004
     
     
    The organization of The Other Festival has always been superb. The hospitality, the arrangements for accommodation, transportation for artistes, the choice of venue, the artistic arrangements on stage and even the ushering of visitors to the venue have always been of a high standard...Every year “The Other Festival” tries to do different things. This year they have included a film package into their schedule, …outreach programmes…and working towards sensitizing the audience about the significance of the “otherness” of The Other Festival.   
    Vasanthi Shankaranarayanan, DECCAN HERALD, Bangalore, December 12, 2004
     
     
    The blossoming of the festival into a cluster of thematic mini-festivals is welcome… So is the stimulus of challenge, the phoren look at our desi ways posed by The Other Festival.   
    N. Vaidyanathan, CITYEXPRESS, Chennai, Saturday, January 10, 2005
     
     
    ON  EERO HAMEENNIEMI (Finland) & INDIAN COLLABORATION “Mylapore Variations”, Music 
    December 1, 2004 
     
    The Other Festival opened with very alternative pieces that set the tone for other performances to come. Wednesday evening saw Mylapore Variations and Parijat Desai and Dancers entrall the audience with music and dance respectively.  
    Express Features, CITYEXPRESS, Chennai,Friday,December 3, 2004
     
     
    Aptly titled, “Mylapore Variations”, the composition presented a basic theme and five variations upon it.  
    Aniruddh Vasudevan, NARTANAM, Vol.VI, No.4, October-December 2004
     
     
    The evening saw a gentle representation of what he does with notes, melody and rhythm with the percussion and string instruments.  
    Chitra Mahesh, Friday Reviews, THE HINDU, Friday, December 3, 2004
     
     
    His interesting ensemble, consisting of harmonium, cello, violin, gottuvadhyam and mridangam, played a basic theme and five variations upon it.  
    Aniruddh Vasudevan, www.narthaki.com, December 2004
     
     
     
    ON  PARIJAT DESAI & Dancers (USA), “Quiet/Fire”, Contemporary Dance 
    December 1, 2004 
     
    Their presentation was remarkably fresh and strong. Dressed in elegant cream costumes and executing martial movements, the dancers established the atmosphere of intense physical discipline and austerity.  
    Aniruddh Vasudevan, NARTANAM, Vol.VI, No.4, October-December 2004
     
     
    Though nothing was casual, the movements suggested a practised abandon that comes from hard work and intense coordination….the magnificent thing was the use of space within which the exploration of body and soul crossed many themes and ideas.  
    Chitra Mahesh, Friday Reviews, THE HINDU, Friday, December 3, 2004
     
     
    “Quiet”– a quality of sound…a quality of the absence of sound…”Fire”- the most brilliant visual idea…Quiet/Fire… a simultaneous existence of both…in the consciousness of the warrior…where an absolute quiet must be accompanied by the power and vigour of the fire.  
    Aniruddh Vasudevan, www.narthaki.com, December 2004
     
     
     
    ON  JEAN-LUC PENSO &“Théâtre du Petit Miroir” – “The Fox Story”, Theatre of Shadow Puppets. An Alliance Francaise Collaboration 
    December 2, 2004 
     
    A day for children… Jean Luc-Penso and Theatre du Petit Miroir’s delightful shadow puppetry presentation of “A Fox’s Story” kept all the kids – actual and grown-up – glued to their seats.  
    Aniruddh Vasudevan, NARTANAM, Vol.VI, No.4, October-December 2004
     
     
    An hour of fun and frolic with dashes of dry humour and wisecracks…simple yet filled with many truisms…the delightfully coloured leather puppets acquired a life of their own. The cheery French tale,,,along with a sprinkling of highly accented Tamil dialogue took the viewers on an amusing journey.  
    Chitra Mahesh, Friday Reviews, THE HINDU, Friday, December 10, 2004
     
     
    Jean-Luc Penso and his friends, Eric and Fabrice, had the entire audience roaring in laughter at the totally unanticipated inclusion of witty repartee in Tamil.  
    Aniruddh Vasudevan, www.narthaki.com, December 2004
     
     
    Colourful, funny, fast-moving…the music and narration was particularly appealing.  
    Vasanthi Shankaranarayanan, Deccan Herald, Bangalore, January 9, 2005
     
     
     
    ON  GIL ALON (Israel), “Mr C”, Solo Theatre 
    December 3, 2004 
     
    For about an hour the audience watched as he allowed the idea to sink in and filter through a process of everyday actions like eating, talking – was he just a bit crazy? A series of actions and interaction…And in turn threw up the most searching questions about life – about the ethics of cloning.  
    Chitra Mahesh, Friday Reviews, THE HINDU, Friday, December 10, 2004
     
     
    Gil Alon had the undistracted attention of the entire audience…hitting at the systematized and institutionalized process of mass productions of minds and mentalities that happen even now with our consent.  
    Aniruddh Vasudevan, NARTANAM, Vol.VI, No.4, October-December 2004
     
     
    I have a weakness for single-person acts, the stretching of one’s talent to the last inch and then some more. If Gil Alon’s act appeared to drag in the beginning, it was a deliberate build-up, to let the soul-destroying sameness in the life of a clone sink in. The breakdown at the climax, the passionate cry to be let out was all that could be hoped for…See what I mean about solo theatre?  
    N.Vaidyanathan, The Arts Column, CITYEXPRESS, Chennai, December 9, 2004
     
     
    It was interesting to see that Mr.C, who came from the land of sameness and had acquired the aura of being “different” within seconds after his entry, soon became, somehow, “not-so-different”!  
    Aniruddh Vasudevan, www.narthaki.com, December 2004
     
     
     
    ON  CHITRALEKA BOLAR (UK), “The Story of C”, Contemporary Dance (Group) 
    December 3, 2004
     
    A dramatic splurge of colour, sound, light and rhythm Chitraleka Bolar and her dancers wowed the audience…a very aesthetic experience.  
    Chitra Mahesh, Friday Reviews, THE HINDU, Friday, December 10, 2004
     
     
    The formation at the very beginning was stunning and reminded one of the beautiful and picturesque stalagmites…all the dancers had remarkable control over bodylines and nritta.  
    Aniruddh Vasudevan, NARTANAM, Vol.VI, No.4, October-December 2004
     
     
    As the performance went on, a monotony of movements and positions did set in. Also, the multimedia projection, for which the reflector doubled as a screen, was at certain points a distraction more than an aid in enhancing understanding.  
    Aniruddh Vasudevan, www.narthaki.com, December 2004
     
     
     
    ON  DENISE FUJIWARA (Canada), “Sumida River”, Contemporary Dance (Solo) 
    December 4, 2004
     
    The infinite seemed almost tangible as Denise Fujiwara made her presence…the silent but evocative butoh came to the fore to the initiated and uninitiated  alike…the slow meditative movements stilled the heart into understanding this seemingly simple dance form…the whole thing worked at multilevel – the physical, the metaphysical and spiritual.  
    Chitra Mahesh, Friday Reviews, THE HINDU, Friday, December 10, 2004
     
     
    Denise retold the classic drama swathed in a bright innovation of the kimono, her face painted white and her movements slow at one moment, engulfing the next.  
    Sumithra Thangavelu, The New Sunday Express, December 12, 2004
     
     
    The sitting, standing, crouching and gliding were done with such internalized energy that the result was an absolute concentration and tightness. Each step and each small flick of the arm had drama in them.  
    Aniruddh Vasudevan, www.narthaki.com, December 2004
     
     
     
    ON  CONSTANZA MACRAS & Group (Germany), "Back to the Present", Contemporary Dance. A Max Mueller Bhavan Collaboration 
    December 5, 2004
     
    Details the journey into the past…memorabilia that provide glimpses of what could have happened forms the general theme of the production.  
    Chitra Mahesh, Friday Reviews, THE HINDU, Friday, December 10, 2004
     
     
    The performers were at ease with everything they did on stage, including frequent encounters with ‘the absurd’…making sense in snatches.  
    Express Features, CITYEXPRESS, Chennai, Tuesday, December 7, 2004
     
     
    This two hour long production was characterised by absolute frenzy of movement, speech and music… With elaborate stage sets and props, the dancers, musicians and actors of Dorky Park managed brilliantly to communicate the sense of being “in the moment,” responding to it, winning over it, getting victimized by it.  
    Aniruddh Vasudevan, www.narthaki.com, December 2004
     
     
     
    ON  D’LO (USA/Srilanka) – Solo Performance Art 
    December 6, 2004
     
    Three diverse, equally interesting and remarkably entertaining pieces presented themselves at The Other Festival…Charged, spirited and uncompromisingly honest was what D’Lo’s performance was about.  
    CITYEXPRESS, Chennai, Wenesday, December 8, 2004
     
     
    Her artistry lies in hip-hop style she adopts with great élan and uses poetry, drama and music to convey what she wants to say.  
    Chitra Mahesh, Friday Reviews, THE HINDU, Friday, December 10, 2004
     
     
     
    ON  KSR ANIRUDDHA & DANCERS (Chennai), “Spatika – Beyond Doubt & Illusion”, Contemporary Dance 
    December 6, 2004
     
    Exploring new ways of movement and expression, Spatika for the most bit retained its traditional source – that of classical dance. Percussion, words from the Vedas, music and vocals all found their apt place in the performance.  
    CITYEXPRESS, Chennai, Wenesday, December 8, 2004
     
     
    Essentially classical in tempo and moves, the contemporary sweeping movements of exploring space with bodies and spirit in geometric and concentric patterns made Spatika a rather interesting presentation…another insight into the possibilities of ideas being translated into a complete dance production.  
    Chitra Mahesh, Friday Reviews, THE HINDU, Friday, December 10, 2004
     
     
     
    ON  ARJUN RAINA (New Delhi) “A Terrible Beauty is Born” – A stand up tragedy 
    December 6, 2004
     
    The performance stuns you even while making you question…there is hope, separation, alienation and in the end, a huge question of many  things we hold sacred…Raina is brilliant.  
    CITYEXPRESS, Chennai, Wenesday, December 8, 2004
     
     
    Gripping but sad insight into the emerging trend of call centers…The sense of drama dawned with the breathless suffocation of grief. There is alienation, death, rejection and there is an inevitability of life that resonates through the drama.  
    Chitra Mahesh, Friday Reviews, THE HINDU, Friday, December 10, 2004
     
     
     
    ON  RAMU RAMANATHAN (Mumbai) & Out of Context, “The Sanjivani Super Show!”, English Theatre 
    December 7, 2004
     
    The production values were truly joyous and spirited, incorporating flavours of the folk idiom of vernacular theatre…a delightful satire rooted in Indian ethos.  
    Chitra Mahesh, Friday Reviews, THE HINDU, Friday, December 10, 2004
     
     
     

    • What is The Other Festival?   
    • The Other Festival   • 2004   
    • Sponsors Speak on The Other Festival   • 2004  
    • Photo Gallery   • 2004