Nestled in the heart of Chennai, in the beautiful terrace studio of Kavya Ganesh’s home, Shambhavi Soirées is an intimate curatorial venture by Kavya Ganesh Company. These gatherings are designed to bring audiences closer to the evolving language of Indian dance and performance through sessions that are reflective, innovative, and deeply personal.
Each soirée features performers from both Chennai and beyond, responding to a unique theme/prompt curated by Kavya. “I wanted this to be a space that is more than a performer simply dancing their work and leaving. I wanted to foster dialogue, new thought and active collaboration amongst the community”, says Kavya. These carefully crafted themes serve as starting points – encouraging artists to explore new creative ground and inviting new and old audiences to engage with classical dance in thought-provoking ways.
Scroll below to explore some of our past soirées.
Two way mirror
A work-in-progress sharing is opened up to thoughtful reflection from observers who come from polar opposite standpoints. This invites fresh, layered insights into a dancer’s work and process by holding space for multiple ways of seeing the same work.
The Switch
A process driven series where 2 dancers are tasked with swapping styles and vocabulary. Classical training reinforces the practice of repetition and rigour, and The Switch invites dancers to consciously unlearn, adapt, and reinterpret.
What happens when a familiar step is approached with an unfamiliar sensibility? When form meets flexibility? In this shared space of exchange and vulnerability, audiences witness not just a performance, but the unfolding of collaboration and discovery through live talkbacks and open discussion.
Yin Yang
This episode was characterised by a deep dive into the archetypal heroes and heroines of Bharatanatyam – the Nayaka and the Nayika. Through a series of prompts and improv segments, stellar dancers Bhavajan kumar and Swarada Bhave travelled beyond familiar body language, challenged gendered notions and brought the nayikas and nayakas into exciting, unconventional realms.
The Minute After Midnight
A quiet, reflective curation held late at night under the glow of naturally lit diyas and the magic of live music, featuring none other than abhinaya master Mavin Khoo. Audiences were encouraged to slow down and experience abhinaya in its most intimate form, through an extended baithak style performance that journeyed through personal memory, spirituality and classical artistry at its finest.
