Books
Summaries
The Kala Bharati Foundation has been promoting work in the area of dance and the child over the last ten years under the rubric Dhitang. This work has been presented at daCi conferences at Regina, The Hague and at Kingston, Jamaica. Apart from what has appeared in the proceedings of these conferences, two books have been published. They are:
Shishu Sadhana: a child-friendly Bharata Natya repertoire - This book describes the creative process of a classical Bharata Natya repertoire created for children. A DVD is included showing the choreographies. It has been widely distributed and has received high praise for its innovative approach. Experts in India have acclaimed it as path breaking.
Place for dance in whole-child education – a scientific perspective - The book describes a scientific basis for defining “whole-child education” and the role that dance training can play in achieving its objectives. A model of the Human Brain-Behaviour System is described, which serves as a scientific basis for defining educational objectives. Reviews
Shishu Sadhana: a child-friendly Bharata Natya repertoire,
by Mamata Niyogi-Nakra (Montreal 2005)
- Review by the principal dance critic of India’s prestigious newspaper The Hindu - Among the few efforts to create a corpus of items for children, Mamata-Niyogi Nakra's `Shishu Sadhana' is unique
- Review by India’s best-known dance critic and scholar- Sunil Kothari in the online journal for Indian classical dance – Narthaki - Among my many dancer friends, Mamata Niyogi-Nakra, has devoted detailed and meticulous attention to dance training for children. She has put her thoughts in a book form with illustrations and she takes the reader gently into her creative journey, in reader friendly text. The book Shishu Sadhana and the DVD accompanying it has been a result of more than a quarter of a century’s involvement with teaching Bharata Natya in Montreal
- Comments edited by the author - A group of seven Bharata Natya dancers trained at Kala Bharati and based in Montreal, were the first ones to view Shishu Sadhana. I thought it was fitting to share the first viewing of the items with them, as they are the custodians of the Kala Bharati tradition to whom Shishu Sadhana is being bequeathed. I was naturally, delighted to note the excitement in their voices when commenting on each of the items. Their positive and enthusiastic response was indeed reassuring
Place for dance in whole-child education – a scientific perspective,
by Harbans Nakra (Montreal 2011)
- Review by noted Indian dance scholar – SUNIL KOTHARI (Narthaki) - The present study is an important contribution to dance studies. With a scientific approach, the author has shown many ways in which dance training can serve to develop and enhance functions of the human brain-behaviour system. Dance training as a subject more than adequately satisfies the criterion for its inclusion in the school curriculum
- Extract from review by Ratna Ghosh, former Dean of Education, McGill University, Montreal - I think the strength of your book is that it puts very simply the functioning of the brain and the aspects of development through tailored physical activity
- Extract from review by Susan Stinson. Interim Dean. UNCG School of Music, Theatre and Dance, Univ. of North Carolina, Greensboro, U.S.A. - What a wonderful contribution you have made to the literature in dance education. The connection between neuroscience and a developmental approach to dance education is certainly the 21st century frontier for the field, and people who can translate the science for dance educators are very much needed