INTERFACE is a biennial event covering the disciplines of music, dance, theatre, visual arts, fashion and fusions of these. It is Eastern India's first and only the country’s third international platform for contemporary expressions in the alternative arts.  

For a period of five days or so, the arts come alive to a frenzied process of exchange, learning and interaction between forms, genres, people and cultures. In an instant sensibilities and sensitivities are united, the world is bonded in art and in the love of it - a unique combination of the performative and the cerebral in a healthy mix of performances, workshops, seminars, film screenings, lunch and dinner performances, opening and closing night celebrations. 

The artistes of this year's fest shall reveal a combination of traditional forms, contemporary explorations and experimental creations - dance, world music, dance theatre, sound installations, and theatre.  Apart from the main performances there shall be workshops, seminars, film screenings with renowned scholars from India, Germany, Singapore and France.  
  
Day 1: September 10, 2008 
Time: 6.30pm 
Grand inauguration at Kalamandir theatre, felicitation and award ceremony honouring Navtej Singh Johar, Tanmoy Bose, in remembrance of Late Sri Subinoy Chakravorty and Late Smt Bijoya Chakravorty. Followed by the opening performance of the festival Fanaa: Ranjha Revisited by Navtej Singh Johar and his ensemble Abhyas from New Delhi, India 

Kolkata premiere of FANA'A: RANJHA REVISITED, a dance-theatre piece that seamlessly fuses two archetypal love legends from North and South India. Performed at the Inauguration of 'Frankfurt Book Fair', Germany, at World Performing Arts Festival, Lahore, Pakistan and recently at ‘India Festival', Brussels, Belgium.  
Navtej Singh Johar, celebrated Bharatanatyam exponent and choreographer traverses between the traditional and the avant-garde. His work is sensitive, compelling, witty and layered. 

Day 2: September 11, 2008 
The day begins with a mind-body discipline workshop by Navtej Johar on Yoga and Spirituality at Max Mueller Bhavan. 
Time: 11am to 1pm  

The evening venue shifts to the grand and palatial theatre: STAR first opened on 21st July 1883. This historical venue is now ready to stage INTERFACE 2008 for 4 days with artistes from world over and work that is path breaking in its own right 
 
Time: 7pm 
The evening opens with Raka Maitra from Singapore with her India premiere of BOUNDARIES… where she collaborates with sound wizard Philip Tan for sound and celebrated Hollywood multimedia artiste Chan Man Loon for graphics. The unique vocabulary draws from Raka’s Odissi and Chhau background. A rich and emotional exploration of the basic structures of classical dance without footwork and with muscle control immersed in a tapestry of innovative sound installation by Philip Tan.  
 

Day 3: September 12, 2008  
The day begins with a meeting of intellectual and scholastic minds at the mecca of arts in Kolkata, the Rabindra Bharati University. These experts would present papers on distinctive features of the contemporary revival of dance. Experts like Leela Venkataraman from New Delhi and other famed professionals from Kolkata including Prof Shruti Bandhopadhyaya would be present. 
Time: 2pm to 5pm  
 

Kolkata premiere of KATHA SHRISTHI – STORY OF GENESIS, the production blends verses from Upanishads, Vedas and Bible and weaves a rich tapestry of visuals together with a brilliant Indo-Western musical score. Prakriti Bhaskar of Nrityamandala, based in Mumbai reinterprets Bharatanatyam in a contemporary perspective reflecting the thoughts of today's audience 
 
Compagnie MoreSpace from Italy and Switzerland - sensitive, emotional, nostalgic and real. India premiere is based on Tour of India in 2006 & 2007 by Michel Casanovas and Ambrose Laudani together with Marianne Eggenberger who captured the tour and its special moments on video. Premiered in Basel, Switzerland in October '2007.  

Day 4: September 13, 2008 
The day begins with an interactive and focused movement workshop at the newly launched Spring Club at Silver Spring in Kolkata. Michel Casanovas with 25 years of experience in improvisation technique would take the artistes, dancers, club members through a journey of understanding the body and explore the origin of movement in the body. 
Time: 3pm - 5pm 
 
Time: 7pm
A very special evening beginning with FIVE LITTLE INDIANS, the only musical performance of the festival led by the very talented Neel Adhikari.  

This is followed by the only pure theatre performance of the festival, by the phenomenal director-actor Kaushik Sen and his very talented company Swapnasandhani.  The company in the search of alternative theatre has begun a new movement of creating and educating new theatre audiences by creating alternative spaces for performance. They perform a new work at the festival  

Day 5: September 14, 2008 
The last day starts with an informal chat session on CONTEMPORARY ARTS: FEELING AND UNDERSTANDING with a gathering of known faces in dance, music, film, television and media circles. The focus is on understanding the crux of modernity and aligning it with one’s own life moving away from seeking traditional and mythical readings.
Time: 2pm - 5pm  
 

Time: 7pm
The closing evening at Star begins with Sapphire Creations, founders of the festival, of LINK the ARTS and pioneers of the contemporary form in Eastern India, presenting the evergreen RITURANGA: SYMPHONY OF SEASONS – a pure dance celebration of the seasons of India set to Dr Partha Ghose’s symphonic rendition of Tagore’s songs of the seasons. Performed in venues across India and Singapore. Sapphire Creations Dance Workshop is Eastern India's only experimental dance ensemble with a radical and contemporary idiom performing across the world for last 15 years. 
 This is followed by a scintillating performance of RED IS RED by Seop Dance Company in its Indian debut. Seop Dance Company all the way from Korea, established in 1992 can weave the lyrical movement of original Korean dancing in motion and mood with a unified and normative approach towards folk dance and modern dance. Neat motion and new perspectives by Choreographer and Artistic Director Kim Yong- Chul have made Seop one of the leading and talked about company of Korea. 
 

Philip Tan, Singapore: SOUND INSTALLATION  

 • A rare treat in INTERFACE 2008 
• First time in India 
• A live sound installation 
• Running at Star Theatre all through the festival 

Contact 
Sapphire Creations Dance Workshop 
CF - 80, Salt Lake City  
Kolkata 700 064  
Tel: (91 – 33) - 2337 0665 
e-mail: sapphirecreations@yahoo.com 
Website: www.sapphirecreations.org 

Sapphire Creations Dance Workshop is Eastern India’s only experimental dance company striving to develop an organic, radical, dynamic and alternative idiom of movement. With a forte for innovation the ensemble is fresh, young and exudes a ready awareness of contemporary global concerns. Sapphire has performed in India, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Bangladesh, Spain, Canada, Malaysia, Australia, Italy among others. The ensemble is led by Artistic Director Sudarshan Chakravorty and Co-Director Paramita Saha. 

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) works to create and sustain an environment conducive to the growth of industry in India, partnering industry and government alike through advisory and consultative processes. 

Promoted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Young Indians ('Yi') , is a group consisting of Young Indian entrepreneurs, owner - managers and professionals from various walks of life, with the broad objectives of creating a better future for the Indian youth of today as well as create leaders for the India of tomorrow. Yi undertakes activities in areas like, economy, education, healthcare, youth affairs, employability and the environment.