Ranan

Ranan is a young performance company on an exciting journey of discovery powered by the electric joy, the fascinating ephemerality and the inspired and inspiring moments of live performance.

Ranan Performance Collective grew out of a need to demystify Indian classical dance and make it accessible and enjoyable for larger audiences. This vision has grown into a conviction that performing arts should be an indispensable part of life both for those who practice it and anyone who chooses to enjoy it.

With a thoughtful approach to performance, inventive visual staging, vibrant productions, experimental but rooted creative processes, and a strong focus on facilitating engagement with the arts, Ranan’s variety of work—traditional Kathak, choreography, dance-theatre; workshops, seminars, lec-dems, interaction sessions, collaborations; experimentations with film and live dance—has earned the company a reputation for quality, innovation, commitment, and refreshing energy.

Supported and partnered by a range of public and private organisations from India and abroad, Ranan hopes to be a nodal and nurturing point for the performing arts in India.    

Workshop leader: Vikram Iyengar

Co-founder and Artistic Director of the company, Vikram was initiated into Kathak by Smt. Rani Karnaa, Vikram Iyengar is a dancer, choreographer for stage and film, theatre director and performing arts researcher/writer based in Calcutta, India. A top grade solo artist with Doordarshan (India’s national television channel) with performances across India and abroad, he is registered with several prestigious institutions. He is noted for the conscious bringing together of classical dance, movement and drama to create an experience of total theatre.

He has received the Government of India National Scholarship and National Junior Fellowships and he holds a Sangeet Prabhakar from Prayag Sangit Samiti, Allahabad. An INLAKS scholar with an MA in Performing Arts from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, he has taught Asian and Intercultural Theatre at BA and MA levels in the UK, contributed articles to various national and foreign publications, presented papers at international seminars, conducted a variety of workshops and worked on several arts research projects for institutions in India and abroad.

The workshop will open up the complex world of cyclical rhythm that any performance of Kathak depends on. Playing with beats, sub-beats, tempo, syllables, words, silences, body and voice, we will explore this concept of rhythm as a strong impulse and inspiration for creating any performance.