With 30 years of Narthaki, Anita Ratnam to Celebrate World Dance Day in first of its kind directory of the Indian Dance Community through dialogue and film at 4 pm on Saturday, April 23rd, 2022 at CD Deshmukh Auditorium, IIC, New Delhi. Moreover, after bringing Narthaki’s dot com version in 2000, the website has now become the single largest and most comprehensive source of all information about Indian dance and dancers.
Since its inception in 1990, Narthaki has evolved and transformed into becoming relevant to the new world. Its physical book was released in 1992 with a thousand entries of entities related to the field of dance in India, moving on to adding two thousand more in 1997.
Anita Ratnam said, “It is unreal how an endeavor to pin down a celebrated dance artiste of her times – Yamini Krishnamurti – by American Broadcasting Company could lead to the making of a giant leap that splashes out knowledge about the dance universe when and where needed!”
She further added, “I am delighted to learn that I have been able to connect a bit of dance to its connoisseurs. It is my brainchild for sure, but how universal it is now is where I pay my gratitude to those who adore dance and hold it dear to their lives and to those who find peace in this magical world of the live arts.”
Official organizing the event said, “Contributing profoundly to her beloved domain of arts and performing arts Dr. Anita Ratnam has always been on the forefront to propagate, nurture and protect the art. For creating something so distinctive she has been awarded repeatedly by organisations in India and overseas. Milapfest in the UK cited its website for its stellar contribution to uniting dancers. The New York Public Library has marked the site as its go-to source for all things connected with Indian dance.”
The various interviews, web talks and discussions on lighting and costume design for dance, a spotlight on folk and hereditary performers were continued throughout the pandemic.
In March 2020 when the pandemic hit the world Narthaki had leveled up as a top-notch producer of virtual dance fests on digital platforms setting up standards for production details via its large presence on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.
To name a few it propelled proprieties like Boxed (dancers creating in isolation), Andal’s Garden (a celebration of female Tamil mystic poet), Taalam Talkies (the connection between South Indian cinema and Bharatanatyam), A-Nidra (all night marker for Shivaratri) and Epic Women (a series of mentored commissions for dancers across genres).