Dance performance greets Prime Minister of India and HRH The Prince of Wales

group of South Asian dancers meeting dignitaries
Prime Minister Modi and HRH The Prince of Wales meet dancers from Arunima Kumar Dance Company, presented by Akademi

Prime Minister of India Mr. Narendra Modi and HRH The Prince of Wales were greeted by classical Indian dance on their visit to the Science Museum in London on 18 April.

Akademi was invited to curate a special performance ‘Jyotirmay Bharat’ to welcome Prime Minister Modi to the UK, where he is attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

Akademi presented eight leading dance artists from Arunima Kumar Dance Company to showcase traditional dance styles from India including Kuchipudi, Kathak, Bharatanatyam and Odissi.

HRH The Prince of Wales joined Prime Minister Modi at the Science Museum to discuss India-UK collaboration in science and technology.

The high-profile invitation follows recent performances at at Buckingham Palace, London (also in collaboration with Arunima Kumar Dance Company) and Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi in the presence of Her Majesty The Queen and the President of India respectively.

The Science Museum performance was directed and choreographed by Arunima Kumar, with additional artistic direction by Shivani Sethia and Bhagya Lakshmi Thyagarajan. The artists included Arunima Kumar, Bhagya Lakshmi Thyagarajan, Shivani Sethia, Saloni Saraf, Showmi Das, Pracheeti Dange, Archana Shah and Senjuti Das.

Akademi’s Director, Mira Kaushik OBE, who was last year named in the top 100 most influential people in UK-India Relations by India Incorporated, said:

“Akademi is honoured to have been invited to showcase the UK’s South Asian dance talent on this special occasion. The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting is an opportunity to demonstrate that Indian art forms are woven into the British creative DNA, hugely enriching this country’s cultural output.”

Akademi’s next major performance will be the London premiere of its new show ‘The Troth’ (based on the classic Hindi short story Usne Kaha Tha) which commemorates the contribution of Indian soldiers to World War 1. This takes place at 7.30pm on Saturday 5 May at Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre (part of Alchemy Festival) and follows a successful tour of both India and the UK.

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