Akademi at Dialled In Festival

Events | 6 September 2022

Bharatanatyam, Bollywood and Breakdance…

Akademi is delighted to participate in the Dialled In Festival on 10 September 2022. The festival is a fresh take on showcasing South Asian talent and making it relevant to the younger generation of audience. They have had performances from the likes of Anoushka Shankar (who by the way is also our wonderful patron!) last year.

This time, the festival will feature 30+ artists across 5 stages, including DJs, live acts, art installations, market stalls.

Dialled In Festival 2022 poster — Dialled In Festival 2022, the full line-up

About the session

We are presenting a one-hour session on Bharatanatyam, Bollywood and Breaking including performance and workshop for audience. The session will be led by artist Shreya Vadnerkar from Leicester.

Breakin’ Boundaries performance

A British Indian experience showcased through Bharatanatyam and Breakin’ (Breakdance)

“So like, where you from?” – How many times have you heard that one? Have you ever felt stereotyped, boxed-in or labelled? Never Indian enough, nor western enough. But what happens when we remove these labels? This dance piece embraces the journey of finding and accepting one’s’ true self, a journey filled with excitement, self-doubt & resolution.

Choreography & Dance Artist: Shreya Vadnerkar
Mentor: Kamala Devam
Project Emerge curated by: Nupur Arts Youth Association & Artistic Director Smita Vadnerkar
Music credit: Riz Ahmed- Where you from (live from The Big Narstie show) & Ólafur Arnalds- Til Enda
Music Editing: Ben Henry Edwards & Shreya Vadnerkar

Akademi Dance Workshop by Shreya

This multi styles dance workshop will give you a little insight into Bollywood, Bharatanatyam (Indian Classical) and Breaking (Break dance). Shreya will lead a 45 minute workshop starting off with upbeat Bollywood dance to get the heart racing, followed by the intricacy of South Indian classical dance known for its expressions, hand gestures and architectural shapes, and rounding it up with a bit of Breaking fundamentals. Suitable for beginners or anyone who hasn’t danced before.

Bharatanatyam solo

The session will end with another Solo performance on a semi-classical Bharatanatyam dance piece.

Choregrapher: Bhagya Lakshmi Thyagarajan
Music: EDM Thillana- Indian Raga

About the artists

Shreya Vadnerkar is a British-Indian dancer specialising in Bharatanatyam and Bollywood dance as well as having trained Folk, Tap, Modern and a newfound passion for Breaking (Breakdance) over the years. With 18 years of training, she regularly performs Bharatanatyam and Bollywood around the country and competes in Breaking battles nationally. Some of her recent achievements include featuring in the 2021 Marvel Eternals film as a Bollywood dancer, being the sole representative of b-girls (female breakdancers) in the BBC Women in Sports campaign, performing for the BBC Young Dancer 2019 as duet partner, and being an invited artist at Latitude festival as part of Sadlers Wells BBC Young Dancer cohort. As well as this Shreya also delves into other sectors in the Arts through her work as Associate Director of Nupur Arts Dance Academy.

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