“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” – Socrates The Covid pandemic and the ensuing lockdown have changed the way we do a lot of things. It has given us time and reason to introspect and examine our commitments to things…
If you come across a group of people in a classroom shaking like a leaf or attempting to be a tree in a forest fire, or a whale on two legs – it might seem like an exorcism in process to your bewildered eyes. However, you are most likely to be witnessing a movement-based class…
Ingmar Bergman, Akira Kurosawa, Francis Ford Coppola, and Federico Fellini. These are just some of the greatest filmmakers of a generation who began telling stories in the theatre. The two mediums, for as long as they have been around, have been inextricably linked to each other. Closer home, actors have always been at the forefront…
Live Art makes space for experimental processes, practices, bodies and identities that are perhaps excluded from conventional contexts. More than being a specific form or discipline, live art is a way of thinking about art, what it can do and how it can be experienced. It can be in a gallery, a theatre, a city…
A new play opens in the city. There is an excited chatter amongst the audience members patiently waiting in line to enter. The bell rings, they stuff the last of the samosas into their mouths and wash it down with cold coffee. As they trickle inside the theatre and find the best seats in the…
Building the New Generation of Theatre-makers… Requires a Communications Consultant, Course Advisor and Fundraising Associate unlike any other. The past year has given us a chance to renew our commitment to the acting and theatre-making community by finding new, more resilient ways to train. The range and reach of our activities have expanded. And…
Artistic expression has long played a crucial role in how we learn, teach, communicate and heal. As per the World Health Organization, health is a “state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” The global body has also funded over 3000 studies investigating the role of…
On 11 May 1997, the world of chess was shaken. Russian grandmaster and world champion Gary Kasparov had just lost a historic match – he cried foul play and accused his opponent of cheating (which is not uncommon). What was uncommon was the victor: IBM’s supercomputer Deep Blue. A few months later, in the same…
Theatre (and the arts as a whole) have the unique ability to connect us in a universal way that few other human endeavours can. This may sound like a tired cliche, but the buzzing bus full of DSM students arriving at the Ninasam Theatre Institute (Nilakanteshwara Natyaseva Sangha) in Heggodu, Karnataka, were about to discover…
In 2021, the Niloufer Sagar Alumni Grant Programme (NSAPG) was established at the Drama Schools Foundation Mumbai (DSFM) in memory of Lt. Niloufer Sagar, a respected theatre, live arts producer and consultant. The programme was instituted as per the wishes of Sagar’s family, who, along with friends, have been funding the grant. Administered and managed…
If you drive 75 km eastwards of Bangalore, towards Kolar, you will likely come across Aadima Culture Centre, a cultural institution co-founded by Dalit poet, playwright and philosopher K. Ramaiah. Over the years, it is where many young theatre actors and directors have experimented with children’s theatre, one that is rooted in caste consciousness. Born…