A Form Of Empathy: Sangeeta Isvaran

Posted by Jignasha Pandya on Apr 14, 2020

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"Hatred cannot be vanquished by hatred. The fractured world we live in today needs more empathy, more love to destroy the fear that underlies most conflicts and discrimination. The most important life lessons I've learned were in my dance classes as a child, learning to create rasa (a form of empathy), seeing every other being as an extension of oneself. This flame of understanding fuels every aspect of my work with people to trigger transformation.”

At Awakin Talks, Vadodara last December, Sangeeta captivated all of us in a stunning art offering. Choreographed almost fifteen years ago, while immersed in refugee work in Pakistan, India and Indonesia, the performance emerged from her conversation with a mother whom she had met in a sacred Sufi shrine, or durgah.

As more background, Sangeeta is a vibrant dancer-performer who developed the Katradi method, working in marginalized, underprivileged communities using the arts in education, empowerment and conflict resolution across 40 countries. For her scholarship in the arts, she has been honoured with the highest national award for young dancers – the Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar. She founder of the Wind Dancers Trust, a Fellow of the International Institute of Conciliation, USA, and an Honorary Associate of the Nature Conservation Foundation, India. Speaking 8 international languages, she has taught in over 20 universities and international organizations.

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Comments (3)

Kiran Ladwa wrote ...

great performance!!
Shyam Gupta wrote ...

Wow, soulful performance from an amazing person.
Rajalakshmi Sriram wrote ...

Jigisha, What a delight to relive the experience . Thank you all for the wonderful documentation...

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