Among Sapphire’s initiatives to spread the word of contemporary dance, a special event series, meant to showcase young artistes from various disciplines and their new endeavours, was presented. The event was to recognise them as well as to acknowledge established artistes and scholars. The venues for this initiative opened up new non-proscenium art spaces to encourage more audiences to come and indulge in art; from cafes, bookshops to art galleries, cultural centres and corporate boardrooms, the choices were myriad. Sapphire believes in fostering contemporary arts in the country as a whole. The series has now been running for 28 quarters from 2010 and has presented works by Sapphire and non-Sapphire artistes, collaborations and installations.

Sapphire’s International Choreographer’s Residency has been continuously updating audiences in current techniques, trends and interests in the field of contemporary dance across the world. International choreographers, teachers and dancers are invited to come and work with the Sapphire Company and school dancers to give them a perspective of the here and now in the world of global dance. Some of the resident choreographers have been Michel Casanovas (Switzerland-France), Christopher Lechner (Germany), Roger Sinha (Canada), Daniel Galaska (USA), Idan Cohen (Israel), Darryl Thomas (USA), JS Wong(Malaysia) and Jacek Luminski (Poland).

This time they had Mary Carbonara from Mary Carbonara Dances, San Francisco, US to be a part of INCRES XIV. Carbonara has been teaching for over 25 years, working with children, young adults, adult beginners and aspiring and seasoned professionals. The students of Sapphire Dance Academy and members of Sapphire Creations Dance Company had an exciting and enriching fortnight with her.

About her piece Frozen Angels, Carbonara says, “My dances have always addressed social, spiritual and intellectual concerns. I’ve been told that my themes are often dark and difficult — faith, homelessness, the culpability of witnesses to an act of violence or murder and memory. Yet, it is at the circumference and centre of conflict and loss that I am most interested. It is the place where we are most challenged to be ourselves. Whether I am dealing with the inner lives of women, the consequences of group loyalty, the impact of architecture or the mystery of faith, I work to reveal the nuances of the dancers and their situations on stage.”

The movement is technically challenging, requiring a deep base of gravity, and an emphasis on shape and gesture. Carbonara is drawn to dancers who are simultaneously powerful and vulnerable. Her role as a dance educator is to help students perform better and to deepen their knowledge — and hopefully, their love — for the art form. She guides them to a greater understanding of dance, their bodies, their potential and their own creativity. She is into constant research on the best practices and effective methods for the subject. Her standards are high for young and old, beginners and professionals. Her aim is to awaken the passion to dance among her students and develop a healthy and efficient practice that they can access no matter what style of dance they pursue. Carbonara has taught, choreographed, and performed in the US and internationally for over two decades. Her work has been presented throughout the San Francisco Bay area, and she has choreographed commissions for many institutions. Carbonara has earned the prestigious Isadora Duncan Award for Alcatraz: Art Behind Bars, produced by Stanford University’s Re-Designing Theatre programme. With Robert Moses, Carbonara is a cofounder of Studio 200, a dance teaching, learning and community studio in San Francisco. Carbonara choreographed Group work for Ankita Duttagupta, Paramita Saha, Koushik Das, Pintu Das, Rima Halder, Prasenjit Dutta, Dibyendu Nath, Manju Roy Dutta, Somnath Mondol, Sayantani Mukherjee, Nitai Parui, Rajesh Sahu, Megha Sharma, Anwesha Basak, Avishek Mitra and Arshi Bhattacharjee, the repertory members of Sapphire to the music of Zoe Keating. It was highly appreciated by aficionados.

“We believe in diversity, we believe in growth. We believe in being one, regardless of gender, religion, nationality and class. We believe in spreading love, we believe in spreading smiles”, said Sudarshan Chakraborty, the artistic director of Sapphire before presenting his group work, Larger than Life by Ashlesha Lodh, Anumehaa Ghosh, Aaroshii Das, Aarshia Das, Aanvi Das, Aahana Kushari, Adiana Kala, Abhilasha Roy, Biyas Dutta, Debangshi Saha. Diya Debnath, Ishan Kumar Saha, Neelakshi Ghosh, Oishani Choudhury, Priyani Mukherjee, Ruhani Chakraborty, Rohan Roy Chowdhury, Rupsha Ghosh, Rupam Sahu, Saanvi Mazumdar, Pakhi Roy, Sylvia Dey, Sneha Das, Subhankar Chowdhury, Suniska Paul, Sampurna Dutta, Vedatrayee Nandy, concept and choreography of which were by Anubhav Gupta and Prasenjit Dutta. Music was from a variety of sources like Dark Horse by Katy Perry, Get Low by Dillon Francis and DJ Snake (remix), Little Do You Know by Alex and Sierra, The Fault In Our Stars by Troye Sivan, Run The World (Girls) by Beyonce, Me & My Girls by Selena Gomez and All My Love featuring Ariana Grande and Machel Montano (remix) by Major Lazer.

Works by Sapphire Repertory Members like Hijibiji: Emotions of Childhood were showcased. Fitting In choreographed by Ankita Dutta Gupta and Koushik Das, was an attempt to find calm amid chaos.