‘An Artist with a Vision’
Sudarshan Chakravorty .
Dancer – Choreographer - Art Activist
Artistic Director and Choreographer Sudarshan Chakravorty was a child prodigy started to dance in his cradle and took stage at the age of 4. Although his initial grounding was in classical dance with training in Bharat Natyam(Guru Bandana Dasgupta) and Kathakali(Guru Govindan Kutty), his strive to exlplore and expand his physical vocabulory to tell his own story made him seek further. He took training in Thang ta , Modern dance and Jazz by France-based Nana Gleason, And later enhanced his experience in mind-body centering and explorations in Contemporary dance from various European choreographers through exchanges and collaborations.
Pioneer of a dynamic experimental form resulting from individual and ensemble mind-body improvisations, his innovative form raises sensitive contemporary issues of global concerns like gender, art, relationships, society, polity, HIV, Consumerism, Ecology, global warming and the likes. Sudarshan founded SAPPHIRE CREATIONS DANCE COMPANY in 1992 and has led the troupe as director-choreographer to performances in India and abroad in more than 22 countries across 5 continents all over the world namely, Malaysia, Canada , Australia , Thailand , Italy , Singapore , Sri Lanka , Poland , Bangladesh , United States of America , Austria , Spain, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Israel , Nepal, Indonesia and India in major venues like Teatri Di Vita (Bologna), Kampnaggel (Hamburg), Impact Arena (Bangkok), John Batman Theatre (Melbourne), Bandarnaike Audotorium (Colombo), Santa Clara Convention Centre (San Francisco) WareHouse (Tel Aviv), Dance Theatre Workshop (New York), to name a few.
He also started Kolkata’s FIRST International Dance Binneial INTERFACE in 2002 bringing together artists from USA, Malaysia, Ukaraine and India to share and showcase experimental , avant garde work with art conneuiurs of Kolkata which has been successfuly presented for eight editions in Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh & New Delhi.
He is a writer, workshop-leader, mentor, teacher and collaborator He has presented papers on Contemporary dance in various art forums inclduing Sangeet Natak Akademi, TATA Kolkata Literary Meet, Times of India Lit Fest and in International dance conferences. He has also been a delegate to Dance Platforms in Czek Republic and Germany and initaited different allied dance collaborations through Sapphire.
He has worked as choreographer in the fields of fashion, film, theatre and television. He has been awarded by Oniel De Fellowship by Kalabharati , Canada in 2005 and Shyamal Sen Smriti Purashkar by Swapnasandhani in Kolkata in 2008, Stagcraft Award for Best Choreographer in 2015 and 2018. Sudarshan nurtures Sapphire as an academy of young ideas, growth and experimentation giving birth to performers, productions and art events creating a whole new renaissance for the arts in India .
He recently founded SUBIJOYA DANCE FOUNDATION for a holistic forum to promote, propagate and endorse dance, music and arts as a whole in Eastern India. Sudarshan has also choreographed for more than 16 films and number of plays by eminent directors like Srijit Mukherjee, Mainak Bhaumick, Anik Dutta, Koushik Sen, Debesh Chattapadhyay, and the likes. His production EKONAMA premiered in 2016 and performed in Seattle International Dance Festival in 2017 was recognised by UNESCO Newsroom as the only presentation in Asia on global warming and climate change.
His work ALIEN FLOWER was Asia’s first LGBTQ+ dance production way back in 1996 and POSITIVE LIVES (on people living with HIV) funded by Elton John AIDS Foundation was premiered as Opening act of Silabha Cultural Programme, as part of World AIDS Congress in Bangkok in 2004 which also became subject of research in University of California (UCLA, USA) and part of MAKE ART STOP AIDS (MASA) supported by Richard Gere Foundation and later presented as a paper by Dr. David Gere, Prof in UCLA in CHORD Conference in 2006 in Montreal.
He has also choreographed and acted in several bengali films like Charulata 2011, Aschorjyo Pradip, Nirbaak and plays like Debi Sarpomosta, Macbeth, Ghasiram Kotwal and worked closely with national and international dance icons and scholars.