Pracheen Kala Kendra organizes “Umeed”: Sunena Casts Magical Spell with Her Performance

By Samachar Vishesh News

Chandigarh 10^th August:- The Singapore-based Kathak danseuse Sunena Gupta gave her solo Kathak performance here today in a special Programme titled “Umeed” organized by Pracheen Kala Kendra at M.L. Koser Indoor  Auditorium, PKK complex, Sector-35, Chandigarh.

Sunena Gupta took kathak training at the tender age of seven. She has learnt under many Gurus in the past and is currently a disciple of the esteemed Guru Mulla Afsar Khan at the Singapore. Sunena performed across the globe, notably twice for the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. She has also been blessed to train under Pt. Birju Maharaj and Smt. Saswati Sen as part of the Hemantika Festival in London and as part of the New York Kathak Festival in New York recently. Sunena is currently also a third-year student at the University of California, Berkeley, pursuing a degree in Politics and Economics.

Sunena’s most recent production “Umeed: Colors of Hope” Sunena has performed this production in Singapore, London and most recently in New York. In August, she will be taking her production to leading cities in India.

Today she performed her recent production “Umeed” exhibits Sunena’s passion for using dance to create awareness on social issues. She tells the story of mental health, chronic illness and self-image issues, based on her personal experiences, and hope to inspire change in society.

Umeed” is the Hindi word for “Hope”. Sunena Gupta, with the blessings and guidance of Guru Mulla Afsar Khan, presented a unique contemporary concept produced in the Indian classical dance form, Kathak. She tells the story of the journey of a young girl navigating her way through struggles with mental health, chronic illness and self-image issues. Through the artistic theme of colors, she compares her emotions of happiness, anger, fear, sadness, love and hope to the perception of different shades of colors. Sunena visions that with the telling of this story of hope, she can urge those who have lived this journey to hold out a helping hand, and those who are struggling to take one.

In the end of the programme Dr. Shobha Koser , SNA Awardee and Registrar of Kendra along with Secretary Sajal Koser honored the artist with bouquet , memento and scroll.