The Crossroads - An Indo Spanish Dance Performance

Aditi Bhagwat inherited her keen sense of music and rhythm from her mother Smt. Ragini Bhagwat who is a trained classical singer and who dedicated most of her time listening to music and making every note perfect. Aditi carried this tradition further after starting to learn Indian classical dancing at the tender age of 4 years. She began rigorous training in the Jaipur style of ‘Kathak’ dance under Padmashri Dr. Roshan Kumari with strict discipline and ethics. She has also received the able guidance of Kathak exponent Smt. Nandita Puri and Tabla virtuoso Pt. Yogesh Samsi. Having secured a masters in Psychology, Aditi did her masters in Kathak dance from the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya. She is an ‘A’ graded artist of the Doordarshan Kendra, impaneled with the Indian Council of Cultural Relations and has received the title of ‘Nalanda Nritya Nipun’ from the Nalanda Dance and Research Academy, Mumbai. With a strong foothold in traditional Kathak dance, Aditi has experimented with the traditions of Jazz and world music. Her first collaborative ventures were with Jazz maestro Louiz Banks, ace percussionist Sivamani and music composer Merlin D'souza from India. She performed at the Budapest Spring Festival for the Indo-Gypsy Jazz project with pianist Bela Szakcsi Lakatos in Hungary and for The Issue Project with New York based pianist Rod Williams. Aditi’s recent collaborative ventures are ‘Flamenco-Kathaa’ with Indian Flamenco artist Kunal Om and ‘Crossroads’ which is a unique Kathak-Jazz-Flamenco project with Flamenco exponent Bettina Castaño and Jazz exponents Dallas Smith and Susan Mazer form the USA. ‘Crossroads’ was launched at the NCPA in collaboration with the Consulate General of Spain in Mumbai at the Spectrum International Dance Festival in February 2020. Aditi received the OneBeat fellowship which was an initiative of the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Under this fellowship Aditi collaborated with 32 musicians from all over the world. Aditi featured as a ‘foot percussionist’ from India and successfully combined Indian rhythms and Kathak bols (syllables) through her feet and ghungroos. Aditi co-produced and acted in the international short film titled “Aarsa” which featured at the San Francisco Independent Film Festival, Phoenix Film Festival, New York Indian Film Festival, Dadasaheb Phalke Film festival, Kashish LGBTQ Film Fest and Toronto LGBTQ Film Festival. She portrays a dancer in the movie thereby living the role closest to her real life. Aditi deeply loves and respects the rich cultural heritage that our country is adorned with. She is indebted to her Gurus for introducing her to this beautiful culture of Kathak dance and classical music.

Flamenco – classical – world music all of the highest standard. Most flamenco dancers fascinate with their blinding technique, so pure and clean, as smooth as a diamond. Others with the intensity of their interpretation, expression, through the gift of using a traditional phrase, which the listener or spectator has heard thousands of times before, to say something new. Others impress with their willingness to take a risk – for example when they choose a bold Zapateado tempo, or create unusual, exciting timbres with the foot. Bettina Castaño does all of this and much more. For example, she experiments with world music - distancing herself a little from traditional flamenco - integrates these elements, finds her way back, and fascinates the flamenco world. She is one of the most amazing new generation flamenco dancers in Sevilla. Her seemingly inexhaustable wealth of coreographs and her huge dance repertoir motivate her to create a special type of performance The conception, her wealth of ideas, and her arrangements appear so, that every programme constantly alternates instrumental performance and dance pieces. In addition to her programme FLAMENCO PURO, with traditional flamenco instrumentation, she offers an intercultural performance with the excellent percussionist Hakim Ludin (Kabul) extraordinarily. The programmes FLAMENCO AND AFGHAN PERCUSSION and a sensational duo programme HANDS AND FEET where Bettina Castaño and Hakim Ludin present highly dynamic rhythms, never before been seen or heard, emerged from this.