Two-day Cultural Dialogue Series Pays Homage to Kathak Legend Rohini Bhate

PUNE:
A two-day cultural dialogue series, organized by the Raza Foundation in association with Nadroop Pune, will pay homage to Rohini Bhate, one of Kathak’s finest exponents and a scholar par excellence, in the city she made her home.
The “Rohini Bhate Dialogues” is an academic platform for the discussion of all fine arts, created with the support of the Maharashtra Cultural Centre (M.C.C) Pune. The event will take place on August 18 and 19 at the Jyotsna Bhole Saghagriha.
The topic of discussion is “Image – Image of Reality and Reality of Image”. Speakers include  Prabhakar Kolte (Visual artist-Mumbai), Pt. Satyasheel Deshpande (Vocalist-Pune), Taalyogi Pt. Suresh Talwalkar (Percussionist-Pune), Prerana Shrimali (Dancer-Delhi) and Udayan Vajpeyi (Poet-Bhopal).
The programme will begin at 10 am on Friday with opening remarks by Ashok Vajpeyi, poet and Managing Trustee of the Raza Foundation.
The Foundation was set up in 2001 by the late Sayed Haider Raza, one of India’s finest modern painters, to provide support and patronage to Indian arts and young artists across all art forms. Over the years it has continued this mission through a range of activities including publishing of journals and books, organising art talks, exhibitions, workshops, dance and music festivals and consciously preserving the legacy and works of great artists of India.
Among those stalwarts was the late Rohini Bhate, who was not only a dancer but an erudite scholar, and a studied artist in dance, literature, music and theatre.
Honoured with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, and the Kalidas Samman during her lifetime, Bhate held a doctorate in Kathak and had deep knowledge of Hindustani classical music which gave her dance compositions their rich, distinct style. Smt. Bhate passed away in Pune at the age of 83.
The “Rohini Bhate Dialogues” aim to pay homage to this great artist and strengthen the stature of Pune, the “Oxford of the East”, as a centre for thought-provoking academic discussions.