9th Edition of Bal Sangam kicks off in the capital, entertains till 25th November
9th Edition of Bal Sangam kicks off in the capital, entertains till 25th November
– Traditional & Folk Theatre for Children to be a highlight of this edition of festival
– Folk performances from 13 states of India to be staged by 18 groups during Bal Sangam
– 500 folk & traditional artist perform ‘KHELA’ choreographed by Dr. Laique Hussain at the inauguration
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New Delhi, 21st November, 2015: National School of Drama’s TIE Co. 9th Bal Sangam has commenced today. Inaugurated by Shri B.P Singh, Former Governor of Sikkim, Mrs. Krishna Kumari Mathur ,Renowned Nautanki Director & Actress and Shri Sanjiv Mittal , Joint Sectary, Ministry of Culture, Govt of India in the presence of Prof. Waman Kendre and TIE Co. Chief Abdul Latif Khatana at NSD Campus New Delhi.
The inaugural performance Khela saw the performance by 500 folk and traditional child artists of India. Choreographed by Dr. Laique Hussain the performance saw and mash up of folk, martial arts and songs from states likeRajasthan,Manipur,Assam,Jharkhand,WestBengal,Tamil,Nadu,Kerala,Odisha,Kashmir,ArunachalPradesh,Gujarat,Mizoram and Delhi. The National School of Drama’s campus is nothing less than a mela for the next 5 days. The free-entry, five day festival will present performances from 4:00PM to 8:00PM everyday at the National School of Drama campus at Mandi House, New Delhi.
To add to the festivities, longmans, clowns, dhol drummers, tight rope walker, jugaad band performers, acrobats, jugglers, behrupiyas, magicians, kacchi-ghodi performers, kathputli exponents, and many more will converge on the campus of National School of Drama to present to the young minds the cultural heritage of the country which is fast depleting and need to be showcased to the young urban Indians.
A highlight of this year’s Bal Sangam will be the regional folk performances, like Chhou from West Bengal, Yakshagana from Karanataka, Bhand Pather from Jammu & Kashmir and Rass Leela from Manipur. This together with five workshops on Paper Puppet making, Origami, Madhubani paintings, Mask Making, Potter Craft will prove to be very educating and enriching experience for the young children of Delhi.
Talking more about this year’s edition of Bal Sangam, Abdul Latif Khatana, Chief, TIE Co. said, “Bal Sangam is an effort to bring folk and urban face to face. Where there are children today lost in the internet and technology, TIE festival brings the open and varied folk to the kids of today, amalgamating the past and the future in the present.”
Many schoolboys and schoolgirls of Delhi, including those from Mayoor Public School, Jamia Middle School, Red Rosses Public School, Bengali Boys Sr. Secondary, Hingli Foundation, Andhra Society, will be bringing different components of folk culture to stage to this year’s festival.
Prof. Waman Kendre, Director, National School of Drama said, “This Bal Sangam is an unique effort to expose the children and young citizens to real strength of Indian folk and traditional performing arts. It is also an effort to understand the roots of our heritage and cultural treasure. Understanding of Indian value system and way of leading life only will help us mark our presence on the global platform. Bal Sangam is about sharing, learning, teaching, enriching and gaining confidence for showing our indigenous cultural identity while facing the globe.”
Also during this year’s Bal Sangam, the NSD authorities will be making special arrangements through various NGO working with underprivileged children and social organisations to reach out and invite children from the not so privileged class so as to give them the due privilege to experience and be enriched by this long awaited festival of National School of Drama for children.
About TIE Co.
Sanskaar Rang Toli is the only theatre education resource center in the country and has worked with around 10 thousand children till date through various workshops. It consists of a group of actor-teachers working with and performing for children. The major focus of the TIE Company is to perform creative, curriculum-based and participatory plays in schools, specially designed and prepared for children. The major thrust of the plays is to create an atmosphere that encourages children to raise questions, take decisions and make choices with an awareness of themselves within the larger social context.
The TIE Company has done more than 1400 performances of 32 plays in various parts of the country. More than 10 lakh children, apart from college students, teachers, parents and theatre lovers, have witnessed these plays in approximately all states in the country and even in countries such as Poland, China, Philippines and Japan.
The Toli began with an objective of bridging the gap between passive education and an active method of learning by doing through its performances of varied plays, Summer Workshops on self development and social integration, Sunday Club for devising original performances with children, workshops with teachers on effective teaching-learning process. All these activities are practiced round the year as per the children’s annual school calendar in Delhi and other parts of the country.
About Bal Sangam:
With the start of new millennium, TIE Co. started a new bi-annual event “Bal Sangam”, a festival of Indian performing folk and traditional arts presented by children practicing these arts from different regions of the country.
Around 2 lakh people, mostly children, have witnessed Bal Sangam till date in the last 8 Bal Sangams. Around 85 groups have participated and showcased around 672 performances till date.
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