ANNUAL REPORT
2019-20 . CONTENTS
1. Introduction a. Who We Are b. The Journey So Far
2. Snapshot 2019-20
3. Recurring Programmes a. Overview b. Programme Details
4. Widening Circles: Pickle Factory Season 2 a. Overview b. Facts and Figures c. International Residency summary d. Critical Response e. Repurposing Spaces f. Partners g. Individual Donors
5. Five Million Incidents
6. Pickle Factory Special: cieLaroque in India a. Overview b. Facts and Figures c. Partners
7. Audience Engagement
8. Into the Future a. Focus Areas b. The Covid Factor c. New Partnerships and Programmes d. Continuing Partnerships and Programmes e. Pickle Factory Specials
9. The Team
cover image: top About Ram by Anurupa Roy and Katkatha Puppet Trust (Delhi) at Kolkata Centre for Creativity Photograph by Golam Ashraf bottom Practice of Relations workshop by Alberto Cissello of cieLaroque (Salzburg) at Rabindra Sarobar Image credit - CUSP Introduction
Who We Are Pickle Factory Dance Foundation is a hub for the practice, discourse and presentation of dance and movement work in Calcutta, housed in spaces repurposed for the arts. We are a space to think, meet, know, talk, imagine – dance. We respond to the lack of spaces and infrastructure in India to develop and nurture dance and movement work and artists. We work with, for and through artists, audiences and support systems to imagine our many possible futures. Our big dream is a permanent venue in a repurposed space in Calcutta that transforms our experience of both physical movement and physical space. This venue will be local, national and international in outlook, participation and reach, and part of a network of such vital and vibrant arts spaces. We hope you will join us on this adventure.
The Journey So Far We launched with Pickle Factory Season 1 in February-March 2018 – five weeks of performances, workshops, an exhibition, dance in public spaces and more. Over the year we presented various programmes with artists from India, the USA, The Philippines, Lithuania, Switzerland, China and Wales. 2019-20 has seen us grow as a company and community, streamline our programmes, and expand our partners and audiences. This year saw a seven-week Season 2, new projects with partners, and several international collaborations.
It was an incredibly special experience for us Since 2018, Pickle Factory has been offering to be able to bring our work to India. And a delectable dance fair to the dilettante of the more specifically to feel like we were part of city. Only from August 2018 to October 2019, building something with you all in Kolkata there have been 30 programmes; artistes have with the Pickle Factory season. What you participated from the USA, the Philippines, are all doing is brave and inspiring, and Lithuania, Switzerland, China, Wales and most of all takes a lot of passion and tireless Australia, apart from India; there have been effort. So thank you for all of this, and for 11 partners and 8 venues have been explored in allowing us to be part of it too. Kolkata, Delhi and Bolpur (Shantiniketan).
David Carberry, circus artist Utpal K. Banerjee, dance critic | Calcutta, India From a review in Narthaki, December 2019 Brisbane, Australia Snapshot 2019-20
programmes with partners elsewhere in india
total number of programmes across 6 projects community building engagements local, national and performances international partners: calcutta, mumbai, bangalore, artist talks imphal, aizawl, shantiniketan, and interactions australia, switzerland, canada, germany, scotland, austria
workshops
76 artists and guests from india and abroad including lead artists, co-artists, technicians, speakers, facilitators and more
7 international festivals where pickle factory has been represented - in australia, scotland, uruguay, finland, usa, canada What I find truly interesting and exciting is Pickle Factory’s wide areas of exploration, be Audience engagement it performance from Indian classical dance to workshop participants - 600 + puppetry or contemporary performance along live performance audiences - 2000 + with other aspects of art dealing with art social media engagement - 50000 + management, workshops on the exploration of body-mind connection, movement, choreography etc. Their wide range of collaborations enlighten the city audience with many new art experiences across borders. * All information and numbers are for Calcutta, unless otherwise Monami Nandy, odishi dancer | Calcutta, India specified
contents Recurring Programmes
Our recurring programmes foster the habit of regular engagement with dance and movement. The programmes are designed to variously cover our three key approaches: to curate, to catalyse, and to cultivate the field in different ways with different partners to reach different audiences.
Pickle Factory Preludes – a space to demonstrate, discuss, and discover Dance with expert practitioners. In partnership with Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Kolkata at their premises. • The Philosophy & Technique of American Modern Dance | with Ranjita Karlekar | 3 & 4 June 2019 | 5 - 7 pm • Flamenco without Borders (Flamenco sin fronteras) | with Annalouise Paul | 23 & 24 September 2019 | 6 - 8 pm • Politics, Practice, Performance, Participation: the dance work of Helene Weinzierl | with Luan de Lima | 11 & 12 February 2020 5.30 - 7.30 pm
Connect @ KCC – a platform for emerging dancers and choreographers in performance. In partnership with Kolkata Centre for Creativity at their premises. • Uttaran, an odishi recital by Monami Nandy | 17 August 2019 | 6 pm • Mass, a contemporary dance piece by Satakshi Nandy | 30 November 2019 | 6 pm
Scratch! – an opportunity for practitioners to share works-in-progress with a small audience. In partnership with Janus Centre for Visual and Performing Arts at their premises. • Trimukhi Platform, Pintu Das, Madhyama Haldar, Arunima Sengupta Basu | 5 November 2019 | 6.45pm (part of Pickle Factory Season 2)
Garage Night – a community led (and fed) dance jam. In partnership with community individuals and venues. • Inaugural Garage Night curated and coordinated by Sangram Mukhopadhyay and Aopala Banerjee | 12 February 2020 | DNA Danceworks Bodyworks Studio
contents Pickle Factory Garage Night at DNA Danceworks Bodyworks Photograph by Sohini Banerjee
The Pickle Factory has its finger firmly on the pulse of Dance in India! Their ideas and programs are exciting, clever and inventive, it’s always a pleasure to work with this entire professional team.
Annalouise Paul, contemporary flamenco performer and choreographer | Sydney, Australia
contents Widening Circles: Pickle Factory Season 2
Overview
a range of artists and guests
a range of venues and spaces
a range of audiences and communities
Widening Circles: Pickle Factory Season 2 – a seven-week celebration of diversity in dance and movement – featured artists and guests from India, Canada, Switzerland, Australia, Germany and Scotland, spanning backgrounds of classical and contemporary dance, physical theatre, multimedia performance, puppet-theatre, circus-theatre, performance criticism, and more. The Season had an international focus on Australia with a circus company from Brisbane, delegates from Cairns and Melbourne, and resident artists from the state of Victoria. The circus company also toured to Mumbai and Aizwal for performances and workshops. Delhi was our national focus, with five very different artists presenting a variety of work from our capital city. Apart from the festival, we also ran workshops on audience facilitation and had a focus week on repurposing spaces for the arts.
The season was excellent in bringing alternative dance forms and expressions to the audiences of Kolkata. I think the audiences enjoyed the opportunity to experience some different styles and have their thinking provoked. For the Consulate, our priority was to showcase modern Australia and also highlight the Consulate’s new presence in Kolkata. We want people to think of us as much more than a cricketing nation with abundant natural resources and great beaches. Having performers like David and Alice, and experts like Efterpi, Niharika and Pippa helps us achieve that. It was also great that David and Alice could visit the north-east of India where we have less exposure.
Andrew Ford, Consul General, Australian Consulate-General, Kolkata
contents contents Season 2 facts and figures
42 days (1 November to 12 December 2019) National Focus Delhi, International Focus Australia Festival with 8 featured artist teams in 12 full performances across 6 venues – an auditorium, a burnt out cinema, two roof-top spaces, a television studio, a blackbox theatre 18 workshops spanning dance and movement practice, arts management, design, audience facilitation and more Focus week on repurposing spaces for the performing arts in Calcutta, with conversations travelling to 5 locations – a music venue, Kolkata Port, Pickle Factory workspace, a bookstore, a blackbox theatre in a converted apartment Month-long International Artist Residency with a choreographer and filmmaker duo from Australia
contents Underground by David Carberry (Brisbane) at Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute Photograph by Golam Ashraf
Variety was the catchword in PFS2. From classical dance to contemporary to experimental works that even included circus theatre. The choice of venues was an interesting factor. When on the one hand there was proscenium theatre, on the other there was this cavernous interior of the old dilapidated movie theatre with an electrifying atmosphere. Added to these the various discussions, discourses, conversations spread over a month when the very plurality and diversity and free choice of the country is under threat makes the season itself fantastic.
Kathakali Jana, dance critic and Pickle Factory advisor | Calcutta, India
contents Niharika Senapati in Gem Cinema, Calcutta Photograph by Pippa Samaya
International Artist Residency: Australia-India Dance Exchange
We hosted dancer-choreographer Niharika Senapati and dance-filmmaker Pippa Samaya as the first recipients of the Australia-India Dance Exchange – a programme Pickle Factory developed with Asialink Arts, Melbourne. The two artists were in Calcutta for a month, working closely with Calcutta artist Aopala Banerjee to test ideas, conduct workshops, and experiment with new work and models of audience engagement. Three dance films shot in Calcutta have been produced as one of the outcomes of the project. Pickle Factory and Asialink Arts are currently imagining the next iterations of this project in both Australia and India.
contents Critical Response session at G. D. Birla Sabhagar, Calcutta Photograph by Vikram Iyengar
Critical Responses methodology with Judy Harquail
Developing audience access and engagement, and the means to nurture this is core to the philosophy of widening circles. We invited Judy Harquail from Toronto, Canada to work with a small group of participants to train them in the Critical Responses methodology. This is a process of audience facilitation that helps audiences to grow, connect, question and draw meaningful insight from the art they experience. The workshop covered training as well as hands on practice, with workshop participants facilitating post-show audience discussions under Judy’s mentorship. Post-show discussions are now a regular part of a Pickle Factory performance experience.
contents Gem Cinema foyer display during Widening Circles Photograph by Sohini Banerjee
Spaces for Change / Spaces for Roots Season 2 venues included plush auditoria, burnt out cinemas, open terraces, converted blackbox spaces, and television studios, bringing together atmospheric and inspiring spaces, imaginative art and artists, exciting conversations and ideas. This formed the perfect backdrop for a series of conversations to imagine a permanent Pickle Factory venue in a repurposed space in the city. Supported by the Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Kolkata, the conversations were facilitated by Christophe Knoch from Berlin and Sharvari Sastry from Mumbai. Each conversation was located in a different space: Conversation 1: Offbeat CCU, a new music and co-learning venue in a repurposed hotel Conversation 2: a walk around the Kolkata Port Trust area Conversation 3: Ranan Workspace, the home of Pickle Factory
The conversations crystallized around a two-day roundtable with various stakeholders to discuss how repurposed arts spaces may be created and sustained in Calcutta, with the active involvement of local communities, artists and administrative organisations. The roundtable venues were Seagull Bookstore and Janus Centre for Visual and Performing Arts. We will soon be launching a major new project that has come out of these discussions and exchanges, and the current circumstances of the pandemic.
contents Partners
Season Partners Asialink - University of Melbourne Asia Europe Foundation, Singapore Australian High Commission Creative Victoria Goethe Institut/ Max - Mueller Bhavan Kolkata Kolkata Centre for Creativity Ranan SREI
Programme Partners Arts in Imphal Australia Council for the Arts Calcutta Promotions Canada Council for the Arts Dancers Guild Janus Centre for Visual and Performing Arts Kalam Club Karam Chand Thapar Group Trust Nachom Dance Foundation, Imphal Ontario Presents Open Doors Pro Helvetia - Swiss Arts Council, New Delhi Project Performance, Jadavpur University QTP, Mumbai School of Women’s Studies, Jadavpur University TaalConnect Tata Mumbai Literature Live ThinkArts
Venue Partners Azimganj House Daga Nikunj Gem Cinema Janus Centre for Visual and Performing Arts
contents Padatik Theatre Sanskriti Sagar Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute Seagull Bookstore It was a delightful experience to be Workshop Partners and Hosts a part of PFS2 in Calcutta. I got Alka Jalan Foundation the opportunity to share time and All Bengal Women’s Union space with some incredible artists from all over the world and also got Anita Kanoi to see some amazing performances. CUSP The sheer range of things that PF House of SOW - Song Of Woods Studio curates is extraordinary and all done Offbeat CCU so thoughtfully that it is enriching both as an audience member as well Oxford Bookstore as a participating artist. It was also Rhythmosaic interesting to see how PF interacts Sapphire Creations Dance Workshop with the city of Calcutta. It’s Studio Sparsh essentially a festival of collaboration with so many partners and it’s so Swayam heartening to see so many diverse The Creative Arts groups of people coming under one The Doodle Room umbrella for the purpose of arts. Udayan Kala Kendra It was a life changing experience for me to get exposed to arts of this
stature. Individual Donors
A very special thanks to those who Sharvari Sastry, Ph.D researcher | donated towards making the Season Mumbai, India / Chicago, USA happen! Amit Dhanda Anita Ratnam The experience was wonderful Chandrika Grover and inspiring for all of us - for my musicians and myself. I would Indrajit Mukherjee like to thank the entire Pickle Katy & Sumit Lai Roy Factory team for making this Kiran Baxi performance such a memorable one Kusum Tantia Foundation and organising everything in such a professional way. Nirupa Umapathy Pankaj Shah Aditi Mangaldas, kathak dancer and Probir Gupta choreographer | Delhi, India Sanjay Roy Shiv Karnani Rashmi Dhanwani Ruma Pal
contents Inter/Sections: November 2019
Photograph by Annette Jacob
How would you feel if you suddenly encountered - • handcuffed hands under a locker? • crawling bodies on pathways? • bodies rolling, hanging over, stuck together in stairwells? Artists Anubha Fatehpuria (actress and architect) and Vikram Iyengar (dancer and choreographer) worked with 7 Delhi-based performers to create Inter/Sections - a series of performative interruptions in the in- between, transit spaces of the Goethe Insititut / Max Mueller Bhavan Delhi building. The intent was to change the experience and expectation of interim spaces such as pathways, stairways and corridors - spaces we usually take for granted. Responses included: - a woman rushing to call an ambulance at the sight of someone lying on the pathway - students dithering on the stairs deciding whether or not to step over a person rolling up them - a worried woman and several young students trying to unlock a silent performer’s handcuffs using a variety of keys The project concluded with a presentation and discussion with the artists in December 2019. Inter/Sections was conceived and created by Anubha Fatehpuria and Vikram Iyengar, and presented by the Pickle Factory Dance Foundation. The project was realised within the framework of Five Million Incidents 2019-20 supported by the Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan in collaboration with Raqs Media Collective.
contents Pickle Factory Special: cieLaroque in India
Overview Choreographer Helene Weinzierl’s Salzburg-based contemporary dance company cieLaroque, is one of the most touring ensembles in Austria. In February 2020, Pickle Factory, in collaboration with the Austrian Embassy and Kolkata Centre for Creativity, hosted the company for a series of engagements including performances, workshops and discussions. We partnered with Shoonya and Play Practice in Bangalore, and Kala Bhavan in Shantiniketan to tour the company to both these places as well. 29 January to 1 February: workshops and performances, Bangalore 3 February to 7 February: workshops, discussions, performance, Under the Mango Tree festival, Shantiniketan 9 February to 15 February: workshops, discussions, performances, Calcutta
Facts and Figures 18 days (29 January to 15 February 2020) 3 centres – Bangalore, Shantiniketan, Calcutta 5 artists 5 performances 16 workshops 2 artist interactions 9 venues 15 local, national and international partners
Partners Austrian Embassy New Delhi Bundeskanzleramt: Österreich CUSP, Calcutta Goethe Institut/ Max - Mueller Bhavan Kolkata Kala Bhavan, Shantiniketan Kolkata Centre for Creativity Kultur Stadt Salzburg Land Salzburg Mahadevi Birla World Academy, Calcutta Play Practice Artists Residency, Bangalore Project Prometheus, Calcutta Shoonya - Centre for Art and Somatic Practices, Bangalore House of SOW - Song of Woods Studio, Calcutta Stadt Salzburg The Creative Arts, Calcutta
contents THANK YOU SO MUCH! I returned to dance like a proper dancer after a really long time and it all felt pretty worth it. Thanks to you. I’m currently practicing Dance Movement Therapy & I found many tools that you provided linked to my practice which will further make me more efficient in my field & help me to grow. I feel very light. Very free. Very much aware of my body, movements, breathing patterns and once again felt connected to myself.
Sayani | Calcutta, India response to workshop with Luan de Lima
Performance by cieLaroque at Kolkata Centre for Creativity Photograph by Kunal Chakraborty top image Workshop for practitioners towards performance participation by Uwe Brauns and Alberto Cissello at Kolkata Centre for Creativity bottom image Workshop with students by Nejma Larichi at Mahadevi Birla World Academy Photographs by Kunal Chakraborty
The students felt good and what was most important was that they felt comfortable. They fact that whatever they would express in whichever measure would be accepted was a great relieving factor. This helped in self expression. This was a great learning for me as well both as a teacher and administrator. More than often we are too exacting and perhaps due to this we are unable to draw out the best from our colleagues. Maybe a little more patience and empathy if demonstrated can help bring out the confidence and once that is achieved a lot can be done. Moreover we are quick to judge and label and classify. That is exactly what Nejma did not do. All were equal for her.
Nupur Ghosh, Vice Principal, Mahadevi Birla World Academy | Calcutta, India contents Response to workshop with students by Nejma Larichi Audience Engagement
Pickle Factory is all about the live performance experience, but our online presence has also been growing by leaps and bounds. The online audience for our Facebook page grew from 666 on 31 March, 2019 to 1,131 on 31 March 2020, which is a staggering 70% increase. We had a fairly young demographic with 36% within the age group 25-34 and 26% within the age group 35-44. Women tended to be the highest to engage more with our social media content, which is 62% of our online visitors.
This young demographic influences the content we put out on our social media pages: with a range of posts from thought pieces deliberating over the purpose of dance, and videos and visuals of performance. Around 14,470 people watched our video content, and people engaged with our content 17,473 times in the form of comments, likes and shares. Our online engagement during Season 2 in particular was very active, with over 1,71,970 views for our Facebook content. Additionally, we’ve recently expanded our online social platforms to include Instagram, for which we already have over 500 followers!
Numbers at live programmes are obviously fewer than online, but there is a magic to the live experience that nothing can replace or approximate. Also, here we are able to reach audiences and participants who do not have access to the digital world. Our live programmes over the year reached more than 3000 people as audiences, workshop participants, discussants and more. Our range of partners and venues drew in very diverse crowds from students who were first time attendees to regular performance goers to senior citizens. We were also able to reach under- resourced sections of society - children and women in particular - through our partnerships with various NGOs. We will continue forging and nurturing this diversity of audiences and partnerships to reach, involve and engage as many as possible.
contents Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 and the suspension of live gatherings, we were forced to move our live performances to a virtual space and seek a home online for collaborations we would ordinarily have nurtured in the real world. A Sudden Strangeness co-presented with Arts Forward, saw 24 dance and movement improvisation videos being sent in by artists from across India and elsewhere. Body Languages co-presented with TopCat is a weekly series featuring dancers and movement artists from Calcutta and beyond, sharing their work with us through movement and discussion. Body Languages is currently scheduled till June 2020, and set to become a regular programme.
People from all over the world - the UK, Australia, USA, Germany, Canada, France and Austria - have tuned into our social media pages for updates, and - indeed - attended our live programmes. With content that spans the globe, our audience, too, is truly global.
contents Into the Future
Focus Areas Approaching our third birthday in July 2020, we already have two major Seasons under our belt, and a host of other programmes that have featured artists and guests from across the world and involved a range of audiences. At this moment it is imperative that we plan carefully for the future. We have identified three key focus areas to guide us. - Repurposing Spaces - Community Development - Sustainability
Repurposing Spaces Pickle Factory is built around two pillars of belief: the magic of live performance experiences, and spaces that house and enhance them. Both are about bringing people together to share, engage and experience collectively. Both – unfortunately – have been severely compromised with the outbreak of the COVID19 pandemic. In this context and moment of pause, we have broadened and deepened our focus on repurposing spaces for performance to ask what exactly is irreplaceable and vital about live performance and the act of gathering together. At the same time we will continue to work with unusual venue partners activating their spaces with live performance experiences, and develop conversations towards our own permanent venue in a repurposed city space.
Audience at Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute Photograph by Kunal Chakraborty
contents Community Development Creating communities is integral to Pickle Factory thinking – a community of dance and movement artists in Calcutta and around the world, a community of dance-curious audiences, a community of advocates for a permanent venue for dance work, a community enthusiastic about repurposing spaces for the arts. This intertwined tapestry of people connected by passion or just simple curiosity about movement and dance work is what we aim at nurturing and being home to. All Pickle Factory experiences already have a strong sensibility of open and imaginative engagement, offering a mix of pre-show artist conversations, post show audience discussions, dance-community addas, community led dance jams, and more. All these aim at having various meeting points between people to share questions, common concerns, contacts, ideas - or simply to share a dance together.
Sustainability Pickle Factory Dance Foundation was founded in July 2017. Over this short span, we have grown exponentially in terms of activity and size. We now have a core team of five people, in addition to several others who form a close circle around us. At this juncture, it is imperative that we focus on creating sustainability for ourselves on all fronts – financial, curatorial, personnel, resources, and more. 2020-21 will see us imagine and implement various strategies towards this, in consultation with various partners and advisors in India and abroad. This will enable us to maintain and capitalise on the quality, variety and intensity of our work so far, as well as invest in and grow into the future.
The COVID Factor These are uncertain times. Before the Covid 19 lockdown many plans and discussions with partners were well on their way for a series of programmes that promised a very full 2020 in various physical spaces and with many dancer-audience gatherings. All that came to an abrupt halt. However in the spirit of repurposing spaces, and in our endeavour to create a home for the dance-curious wherever we can, some of our programmes and ideas have moved online to make sure our audiences have access to a diversity of dance and discussion, while still reaching out to the dance community of artists around the world from our homes and laptops in Calcutta. Nevertheless, the ephemeral experience of live performance is core to Pickle Factory, and we continue to plan for the day where we may once more gather as artists and audiences to share that magic.
contents Gem Cinema entry during Widening Circles Photograph by Sohini Banerjee
New Partnerships and Programmes Body Languages Date: 8 April 2020 (series launch) Partner: Topcat CCU Body Languages is a new partnership between Pickle Factory and Topcat CCU as part of their Livecast series on Facebook. Every week we bring you face to face with dancers and movement artists from across the world sharing their work and creative process through movement and discussion. Online audiences view a short video of the artist’s performance practice, and then interact with the artist post the performance via Facebook Live comments and questions. The artist also leads the audience through a few physical movement demonstrations that they regularly draw on. This series had its first session on 8 April 2020 during the Covid 19 lockdown, and is currently programmed till end June 2020.
contents
Dance, Interrupted: Creativity, Constraints, Covid Date: 8 May 2020 Partner: Alliance Française du Bengal Arts have always found ways to be creative under constrained conditions, but the current situation is one that throws the fundamental assumptions that live performance is based on into jeopardy. Without an audience that assembles to share the moments of creation as they happen, the artist and the art remain arguably incomplete. During a period when all our experience of performance has moved online, this online discussion event soon after International Dance Day asks what exactly has been interrupted in our lives as dance-makers and dance- audiences, whether we have gained anything in its stead, and what lessons we can take into the future.
Contagion: Performance, Space, Community Date: September-October 2020 Partner: Goethe Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Kolkata ‘Contagion: Performance, Space, Community’ is a series of curated conversations and talks, where an international selection of speakers will address the value of live performance and performance spaces, the diverse and interconnected ecosystems around them, and what we stand to gain or lose at this moment in time. Through these interactions, we can begin to glimpse the performance spaces, artists, audiences and formats of tomorrow and start to build towards the permanent venue that is our ultimate goal.
After Hours Date: August 2020 (series launch) Partner: Currency Building The Currency Building is a colonial building in the historic Dalhousie Square in Calcutta. Calcutta’s first mint, the building was recently refurbished into a museum space housing the Ghare Baire exhibit focussing on the history of Bengal art. Pickle Factory will curate a monthly series as part of the museum’s After Hours programme. Featured artists will share insights into their critical practice and research in a lecture-demonstration format in various spaces within the repurposed building. There are also plans for dance commissions responding to specific portions of the museum’s collection.
contents Continuing Partnerships and Programmes
Scratch! Date: August 2020 / January 2021 Partner: Janus Centre for Visual and Performing Arts Scratch! is an opportunity for practitioners to share works-in-progress with a small audience, followed by a discussion and feedback session. This will be curated in partnership with Janus Centre for Visual and Performing Arts and hosted in their beautiful venue – a pair of apartments thoughtfully converted into a black box and a white cube. Two such evenings over the year will give us scope to feature a larger pool of practitioners.
Pickle Factory Preludes Date: August 2020 / November 2020 / February 2021 Partner: Goethe Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Kolkata Pickle Factory Preludes is a space for the dance-curious to interact with expert practitioners, a space to demonstrate, discuss, and discover Dance. We will continue this series with a few essential changes in format that will expand the practical and demonstration elements and bring in a more diverse participation.
Garage Night A community led (and fed) dance jam. In partnership with community individuals and venues. The current plan is to have 7 or 8 Garage Nights this year, reaching out to different venues for each one. The situation can only be assessed as we get further Covid pandemic updates.
Connect @ KCC Date: September 2020 / November 2020 Partner: Kolkata Centre for Creativity We continue this series featuring young and upcoming practitioners in a performance followed by an interaction with the audience.
contents Pickle Factory Specials
[Plans for the Specials are currently on hold with the lockdown situation. They will be reviewed once the situation changes, and may be reconsidered and rescheduled in consultation with our partners and the visiting artists.]
Medea: Written in Rage Date: February 2020 Partners: Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet, British Council, NFA International Arts and Culture, UK This startling, contemporary reimagining of the ancient Greek legend of passion and revenge, written by Jean-René Lemoine, directed by Neil Bartlett and featuring Francois Testory and Phil Von, casts Medea as the ultimate outsider, a stranger in a foreign land, filled with rage. The performances, workshops and roundtable in Calcutta will be part of the India tour for this production.
Amala Dianor Date: February 2020 Partners: Trimukhi Platform, Alliance Française du Bengale, Institut Française Amala is a dancer of Senegalese origin based in Angers, France whose work explores intersections between hip hop, neoclassical, contemporary and afro-contemporary dance. This visit will comprise a residency with Trimukhi Platform in the tribal village of Borotolpada in Medinipur, and a series of performances, workshops and interactions in Calcutta.
contents The Team Meet the Picklers
Here are the people who are behind everything we have done over the last year - as regular Pickle Factory team members, associates, and project personnel.
Amlan Chaudhuri Amlan Chaudhuri is a multi-talented theatre practitioner who started in the field in 1998. He is an actor, physical performer, production coordinator, and director, whose work includes many productions with Tritiyo Sutra (artistic director Suman Mokhopadhyay) Ranan performance collective (artistic director Vikram Iyengar) and Chetana (under Arun Mukhopadhyay and Suman Mukhopadhyay). His repertoire includes iconic plays like Teesta Parer Brittanto, Mephisto, Raktakarabi, Bisarjan, Jara Agun Lagay, Andhar Nagari Choupat Raja to name a few. He has been production manager for several international companies with Goethe Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Kolkata and Pickle Factory Dance Foundation. Amlan was Production Manager for Widening Circles: Pickle Factory Season 2
Aopala Banerjee Primarily trained in dance, Aopala has a multitude of interests, spanning many a discipline, especially those of films and performances. Currently part of a film crew in Dung Beetle Films based in Calcutta, she’s an enthusiastic soul, and likes to help, collaborate, enable and nurture fellow human beings to fulfill their artistic endeavours. Aopala first worked with Pickle Factory as a volunteer in Season 1, and has since been a regular associate across all our projects and programmes.
Avishek Moulik Avishek is a graduate in Mass Communication from Amity University. He takes avid interest in theatre and has acted in many plays. Currently he is a member of the group Nandikar. Avishek was a volunteer in Widening Circles : Pickle Factory Season 2.
Dana Roy Dana works with theatre in schools. She teaches drama and music at Mahadevi Birla World Academy. Actor, singer, physical performer, production person, she has worked with several theatre companies. She was in the first batch of Strategic Management in the Art of Theatre programme (SMART) by the India Theatre Forum and IFA. In ASSITEJ International Theatre for Children and Young People programme for artists she is a Next Generation alumna. She is the production manager for most Pickle Factory events, and has watched the Pickle Factory idea grow since it was a glint in Vikram’s eye.
contents Jayati Chaudhuri Jayati balances two aspects of her career: One arises from her passion towards the arts, particularly dance and theatre, and the second from her skill in sales and finance in the corporate world. She has worked for a number of years in the field of arts administration as well as corporate management. Jayati came on board to manage logistics for Season 2, and joined us as Administrator in January 2020..
Kritika Dey Kritika has just joined as PR and Communications Manager at Pickle Factory and comes to us with over 8 years’ experience in the digital marketing field. Prior to this she was Digital and Partnerships Lead at the South Asian International Film Festival, New York. She is also keenly interested in the arts.
Kunal Chakraborty Kunal is a freelance photographer and film-maker with an avid interest in various other art forms. He is based out of Calcutta. He joined us as Project Manager in the lead up to Widening Circles: Pickle Factory Season2.
Peony Sengupta Peony Sengupta is a culture and communications enthusiast, with a strong motivation to help artists reach audiences. She currently works in the curation and programming of cultural events in Alliance française de Pune, Maharashtra. She oversaw PR and Publicity for Widening Circles: Pickle Factory Season 2 in November-December 2019.
Rebecca Johns Rebecca is a student who joined Pickle Factory as a volunteer at the start of Season 2. Over the last five years she has worked with music, theatre and now dance and movement arts in various capacities. She calls herself a performing arts enthusiast with a love for production.
Ruchira Das Ruchira is an arts leader with over 20 years of experience working with arts organisations across India. She is an ARThink South Asia Fellow 2015-16 and a Global Fellow at ISPA 2016 & 2018. She is the Founder and Director of ThinkArts, which collaborates with partners across the world to offer imaginative arts experiences to children and young people. As an arts and education consultant, she has led several workshops for children and teachers, and sessions on Strategic Planning for arts professionals. She is also Deputy Director of ARThinkSouth Asia. Part of Pickle Factory from the inception, Ruchira is co-director of the company.
contents Sangram Mukhopadhyay Hailing from the Cultural capital, Sangram is a dance enthusiast who has been working with organizations and individuals alike in creating performances. His passion is to form connections with people through dance. Sangram joined us as an enthusiastic participant in the International Residency programme during Season 2, and is now an equally enthusiastic associate.
Sohini Banerjee Sohini is a madcap ne’er-do-well still trying to find herself in the hullabaloo called life. She is an avid believer of the phrase ‘art can exist anywhere’ and loves books. Sohini first worked with us as a volunteer during Season 1, and then came on board as an intern for Season 2. She is now a close Pickle Factory associate and is particularly interested in exploring writing / reviewing for dance.
Srestha Das Choudhury Srestha has just finished her high school graduation. She is a dancer who started her journey when she was all of three. She wants to be versatile and has undergone training in a range of dance forms varying from kathak, bharatanatyam and odishi to contemporary and ballet. She also has an affinity in graphic designing. She joined us as a volunteer during Season 2, and is now an associate.
Tamali Bhattacharya Tamali worked as a marketing executive in various organisations across Kolkata before joining as an Administrator at ThinkArts and Pickle Factory. After working in that role for five years, she now explores her creative skills in engagements with children. An amateur artist herself, she has a strong passion for the arts.
Upasana Das Upasana is currently finishing her undergraduate studies in the Department of English, Jadavpur University. She is a writer, artist, and translator and has recently had her work exhibited as a part of the 2020 collaboration between The Irregular Arts Fair and Pulp Society. Among other academic interests, her interest in performance studies led her to work for Pickle Factory Season 2. She was an intern for Widening Circles : Pickle Factory Season 2.
Vikram Iyengar Vikram Iyengar is an arts leader and connector based in Calcutta, India and working internationally. A dancer-choreographer, arts writer, and curator-presenter, he heads the performance company Ranan and the Pickle Factory Dance Foundation. His scope of work spans practice, discourse, critique and management, and revolves around the central tenet of creating deep connections with and through the arts. An ARThink South Asia Arts Management Fellow, Global Fellow of the International Society for the Performing Arts, and alumnus of the Australian International Arts Leaders programme, Vikram was awarded the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar from the Sangeet Natak Akademi, Government of India for his work in contemporary dance in 2015.
contents Loose Woman’ by Maya Krishna Rao at GEM Cinema Photograph by Golam Ashraf
As an evolving performer it is an essential experience to see incredible performances in one's city. And that is what I was privileged to experience due to Pickle Factory's endless efforts to bring artists and their performances to Kolkata. How often do we see a film studio inside a film institute get converted into a theatre space for a circus and dance performance? We who try to generate our own work know the immense labour that goes into making a series of performances a success, which Pickle Factory does wonderfully. My big thanks to Pickle Factory for bringing these performances, which as a dancer struggling to find her own language, I could devour. Thank you for playing a part in shaping the understanding of performing arts in contemporary times for many dancers in the city.
Satakshi Nandy, contemporary dancer | Calcutta, India
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