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Back to the Gurukul at camp in Nrityagram

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This summer, Nrityagram gives give children the opportunity to be part of something different. Conceptualised by Sandbox Collective, Culture Camp, a residential programme that is modelled after the guru-shishya parampara or that of mentorship, will not only engage children in simple day-to-day activities that include cleaning, cooking and gardening, but will also involve them in other activities such as dance, theatre, voice, breath and movement, story telling and creating, yoga, body conditioning, kalaripayattu, nature walks, and bird watching among others. "Summer vacations give children the chance to try out plenty of new and different things and the 10acre campus at Nrityagram lets the kids live amid lush greenery, birds, trees, vegetable and fruit gardens. As for Sandbox Collective, we're planning to enter the 'art in education' sector in 2015, and this is one of our initial efforts to curate a culture camp, keeping children between seven and 12 years of age in mind," says Nimi Ravindran, of Sandbox Collective, adding, "We begun the process last year when we had about 20 children and the camp was quite a success. All the children and their parents continue to keep in touch with us. Ours is not a one-off summer holiday act; we aim for it to be the a one-of-a-kind activity in the country. We plan to have 20-24 children on the campus this time around. This can be a logistical nightmare, but Nrityagram is well-equipped with functional kitchens, rehearsal spaces and teachers on the campus, so it's always a very enjoyable experience."

The camp has been designed around Nrityagram's philosophy —learning as a way of life — and the idea behind bringing in so many elements together was to provide a holistic experience to a child, says Ravindran. "Life in a city like Bangalore for any child can be a bit of a nightmare. A couple of hours on the road, the structure of a school, some homework perhaps, some hobby classes, and a lot of time on the computer - all of which does not amount to our idyllic image of a happy childhood. At Nrityagram, we have no internet, television or mobiles, and the workshop is about being with other individuals in an artistic environment, surrounded by music, dance, theatre and games - good wholesome food and a lot of fun."
From nature walks and bird watching, the children learn to live and work together, and they even learn to grow their own fruits and veggies, among a host of other things. "Basically, all the activities that may go missing from a child's daily life in the city is found here. With all these activities, one can literally see the transformation in each child," Ravindran explains. The two basic components of the culture camp — dance and theatre — will be conducted by Bijayini Satpathy and Atul Kumar. "Atul is the artistic director of The Company Theatre in Mumbai. He is one of the biggest names in contemporary Indian theatre and he will lead the participants in voice, drama, acting, movement, imagination and clowning while touching on various aspects of drama. Bijayini on the other hand, is one of the foremost Odissi dancers in India. She has won several awards and has also evolved a special methodology for teaching children. She is also the director of the Odissi Gurukul at Nrityagram and will lead the participants in yoga, kalaripayattu and body-conditioning techniques besides a basic initiation into the Odissi dance," she adds.

Finally, at the end of the camp, participants will be left with, "An experience of having been part of a community where people live and work together as a family. There will be left with memories of a place that is far away from the bustle of the city — no pollution or noise of the traffic; a place where nature walks mean seeing a hundred varieties of birds, where the earth is red and the memory of laughter, fun and art," signs out Nimi. The camp is being held from May 25 to 31, send an email on collective.sandbox@gmail.com to sign your child up.

 

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