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The fifth annual Happy Valley Indian Performing Arts Festival will take place on the evenings of April 5th & 7th, 2019. Society for Indian Music & Arts (SIMA) and Nritya are proud to present this edition of this weekend-long celebration of traditional Indian performing arts, showcasing various styles originating from different regions in India. Performances on April 5th will take place in The State Theater, and on April 7th in HUB-Robeson center. Each evening will feature one unique style of classical music and classical dance, presented in its time-honored form, by an artist of the highest caliber. We would like to invite the Penn State and Happy Valley community to join us in this celebration dedicated to the loving memory of Sukla Mahalanobis, who was an inspiration behind, and a pillar of support for, our organizations

This festival will be an opportunity for the audience to immerse in the rich cultural heritage of India, right here at the Pennsylvania State University’s main campus. Art forms are a mirror into any culture. SIMA and Nritya are student organizations at Penn State dedicated to preserving, nurturing, and propagating the traditional performing arts of India, through symbiotic interactions between the Penn State community, and committed teachers and practitioners of the arts. They work towards their goals of growing awareness, facilitating discussion, and understanding of these arts, through concerts, research projects, workshops and regular practice sessions, by both internationally acclaimed scholars and performers, and dedicated member practitioners.

The details of the art forms being presented in the festival are available on the next page. More details are also available on our Facebook event page [https://bit.ly/2HPuZwn]. Tickets are $4 for PSU students and $4.99 for others, per day. Performances will begin at 7.30 PM on Friday and 5.30 PM on Sunday. Friday’s tickets can be purchased using this link: [https://bit.ly/2Ool9ma]. For advance purchase of Sunday’s tickets, please contact us via email, text message (484-725-3868), or Facebook. Write to [email protected] or [email protected] for further details. We hope to see you all at the festival.

This year, we are proud to present four outstanding and unique performances of traditional South Asian art forms.

Carnatic Music: Violin duet

The classical music of South India, Carnatic music evolved in the Hindu temples of the region. In the 18th century, the Trinity, comprising of prolific composer-musicians Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar, and Syama Sastri, created a new era for the music. This classical form depicts devotional themes that originate from Hindu philosophy. Artists: VV Subrahmanyam and VVS Murari

Classical dance: Sattriya duet

Sattriya is a classical dance form from the Northeastern Indian state of Assam, which originated in the isolated Viashnavite monasteries on the island of Majuli. Originally the dance was an integral component of one-act operatic plays. Cloistered from public view, the art evolved over five centuries in the monasteries, and emerged as an independent art form with a continuous living tradition of 500 years in the middle of the 20th century. The Government of India recognized Sattriya as one of India’s eight classical dance forms in the year 2000. Artists: Madhusmita Bora and Prerona Bhuyan

Hindustani Music: Vocal

Khayal is the most popular form of North Indian classical music today. “Khayal” literally means “a thought”, but it may also be interpreted as “a feeling” or “imagination”.  Khayal can trace it roots to the classical form of dhrupad, and has strong influences from Hindu religious music, folk music, Persian, Sufi, and Islamic music and poetry. Artist: Sandipan Samajpati

Classical Dance: Bharatanatyam troupeBharatanatyam, one of the oldest classical dance forms in the world, dates back to the 2nd century CE, and is derived from the ancient Sanskrit text, the Natya Shastra. Bharatanatyam originated in the Indian state, Tamil Nadu, and began as a form of worship. This dance form only appeared on stages in the 20th century, and was solely performed in Hindu temples before that. The word Bharata encompasses bhava, raaga and thaala, which combines expressions, tune and rhythm in this art form. Artists: Joyce Paul and the Arpan Arts troupe