Amphitheatre Group reminds us for the Collective Concentration under the Banyan Tree, tomorrow on the darshan day and the The Mother's Final Arrival Day. In today's news we feature interview with Kalki who will presents 'The Lives of Others' on Saturday in Town Hall. TLC invites us to their open house on Thursday 4.30pm at new last school builiding. Tomorrow at 7.30 pm at the Red Door of Arka Girogio and friends will share with the community a selection on a projection of Chronotypes. Thursday at 5.30pm at Unity Pavilion General Meeting. Read more

Parvathy Baul is a singer, painter and storyteller from West Bengal. After receiving her initial music and dance training during her childhood, she studied visual arts at the Kala Bhavan at Shantiniketan, the university founded by Rabindranath Tagore. Meeting with the living tradition of Baul prompted her to choose the path of self-training in the Baul order rather than an institutional degree. Impressive beauty, personality and intensity of her devotional chanting and rotating dance, make her unique. Read more

Everyone has time to donate their lives to a worthy cause. Thinking about the priority of the physical human life, just after the air there's water. Thinking only about who needs water to grow up the edible plants we use to eat everyday, it's easy to connect all together in this problem: Auroville water is always less clean and more difficult to store, even in the aquifer. So do we care about it? Nathalie (in the english interview), is one who does care, and for the first time spoke at a meeting: the one of Water Read more

Akatha Kahani or untellable story is a presentation on Kabir, where three sisters attempt to showcase this special alchemy between Kabir and his listeners by sharing their individual encounters with Kabir. One wrote a book for young adults, another sings her songs passionately and yet another expresses Kabir's impact on her through Bharatnatyam. Akatha Kahani, features Jaya Madhavan author of Kabir the weaver poet book, Bindhumalini a singer trained in both Carnatic and Hindustani music and Archana, a Bharatnatyam dancer and French translator. Read more

Second night of Kabir Festival of Sacred music in Auroville started with Shabnam Virmani, who is very well known in the country as initiator of changes of social fabric starting her path as journalist, continuing as a film maker, and finally in 2003 she began Kabir project as idea of making a series of this late 15th century mystic poet. Soon she began to recognize that where was a seed that once planted had deep inner resonance that rippled trough individuals, communities and world creating an intangible change of spirit and of consciousness. Read more

On tuesday 13th in Cripa at 9pm Daniela Regnoli has performed Uragani. This is a musical journey in the Germany of the Thirties, through ballads and songs written by Bertolt Brecht and set to music by Kurt Weil, which takes us into the past century's Europe in the period between the two wars. There are stories of women who recall their sixtenneth year of age, when they were still children and ready to fall in love with the first wrongdoer they would meet, women without adolescence who grew up too quickly under the bombs of the 2nd world war. Read more

On 13th at Cripa the Voice Polyphoniques, a vocal women group made by Brigitte Cirla, Tania Zolty and Marianne Suner, has performed Black Sea Songs in Georgian, English and French. The concert is a tribute to Edisher Garakanidse, singer, ethno-musicologist and founder of the group Mtiebi from Georgia. He taught at the music conservatoire in Tbilisi where he was a colleague of Nato Zumbadze and post graduate tutor to Nana Kalandadze, who worked with Brigitte Cirla and Helen Chadwick on the first edition of this Black Sea concert. Read more

On Saturday the 10th in Amphitheater of Matrimandir was played the performance Adoration for the Mother. It was the inauguration of the starting program of Tantidhatri International Women's Performing Art Festival. The performance with movement, dance, Russian bells, voice and projected images, has realized by Grace, Jyoti, Joy, Kanchana, Liudmila, Manjula, Srimoyi, Terra & Vera. Flowers were the subject of the projections which enfolded all the scene with a magic colored screen. Read more

On Friday 9th in Auditorium, Bharat Nivas, Aurofilm has presented 5 short films in collaboration with IAWRT (International Association of Women in Radio and Television) and Dept. of Electronic Media and Mass Communication-Pondicherry University. The showed projections, part of the 2nd Asian Women's Film Festival, were: Capsule by Shreen Soliman (Canada), 1, 2, 3 by Nazli Deniz Guler (Turkey), Yup, It's My Body by Kiki Febriyanti (Indonesia), It's the Same Story by Nina Sabnani and Superman of Malegaon by Faiza Ahmad Khan (India). Read more

As part of the Tantidhatri festival, this play was performed in Cripa last thursday. It is played solely by Julia Varley, an artistic director, writer and above all member of Odin Theatret in Denmark. Written by Eugenio Barba, The Castle of Holstebro is a dialogue between a young woman and her eternal companion following the lines of a "stream of consciousness", set in a phantom castle. Two entirely different characters played by just one person is quite a thing to witness. A moving play filled with music and monologues/dialogues.

Parvathy Baul, so well known to Auroville audience and always warmly welcome for who she is, what she quietly yet firmly stands for, this time organized the Tantidhatri Festival. Her own journey as a Baul singer has not been one lined with roses, but the call for it was stronger for her. In her play, her songs, her mesmerizing voice and passion and energy brought to life a universal story of love. Her paintings, as part of the performance, vividly depicted the characters of Rahda and Krishna and others. Read more

Rwita Dutta Chakraborty was born in North Bengal and has always been into creative arts. She has become an actress for television and stage-plays and is now well known in the Bengal theater scene. After a short presentation about her Guru Tripti Mitra, who inspired her in her work, Rwita impressed the audience by her solo performance. She picks up the telephone and starts the play... Listen to the monologue in Bengali. This performance is part of the Tantidhatri International Womens Performance Arts Festival in Auroville. Read more

Bruna Gusberti at the Tandtidhatri festival presented at Sri Aurobindo Audittorium, Bharat Nivas in Pavilion of Indian Culture in International Zone act of a woman who reflects on whether to remain closed within her feelings, dreams and sorrows, or not, so as to feel alive. Again minimalistic approach as in props as in the act itself, which tends to tell much more in the silence of "in" than maybe on the "out" tries, finally crosses "in" with heart beat and flowery umbilical cord broken off the stage into the light of love.

"Umbral" or Threshold was offered to the audience by Cristina Castrillo at the stage of Sri Aurobindo Auditorium, Bharat Nivas, at Pavilion of Indian Culture in International Zone. Minimalistic approach of mono play simply tells the story of actress's life, or better glimpses of it, the way she perceived it, sensed it rather than that really was. Without doubt her trace in theater is huge as she dedicated all her efforts to the research of elements which are basic for an actor, who is always at the heart of the inventive process. Read more

Kalaairani was born in Tamil Nadu and is a well known actress. She is part of the Tantidhatri International Womens Performance Arts Festival in Auroville and yesterday she performed in the MMC Auditorium. Kalaairani was telling her familys story and explained the difference between cinema and theater. More than once she made the audience laugh out loud by her funny way of narrating. Maybe it is because of her 'Tanglish', a humorous mixture of English and Tamil, that her acting is so special and hilarious. Read more

Tomorrow in Conference Room in Town Hall will be workshop and seminar on sustainable Regional Plan for Villuppuram Auroville Cuddalore Puduchery organised jointly by INTACH Pondicherry, PondyCAN and Auroville Town Development Council, with opening welcome of Bala Baskar. In today's news Bridget talks about this event. The Working Committee invites community on March 22 at 6.00 pm at La Terrace welcome back Mr N. Balabaskar, our new Secretary and at the same time, to bid farewell to Mr S. Loganathan, who has been the Acting-Secretary. Read more

This is a performance called 'Yuki' by Keiin Yoshimura from Japan. It is one of the most popular jiuta dances which tells the story about the Japanese woman Yuki who decides to become a nun in a monastery. Accompanied by traditional Japanese music (Soh Sugiura) Keiins sublime movements and her fascinating appearance impressed the audience. After her dance, the visitors were given the chance to ask questions and get to know her a little better. Programme in English and Japanese. Read more

A theater and digital media artist from New Zealand, Helen Varley Jamieson gave a presentation of her work - Cyberformance - a unique online theater where artists from remote parts of the world come together online to give live performances. When questioned whether such a performance can be called 'theater' or not, Helen embarked on a research and asked a counter question, 'What is Theater anyway?'. One result of the research is this talk, which, like her medium of performance, is very interactive and led by questions from the curious audience. Read more

Bruna Gusberti started working in the theater at the unusual age of 40. As an actress she did many performances and now since about 10 years, she is assistant director for Cristina Castrillo for all productions of Teatro delle Radici. In this talks she shares her personal discovery of the theater world, her love affair with the art, and her own inner journey from being a teacher and a social worker to becoming a theater performer and then dedicating herself into studying the process of creation of the theatrical pieces. Read more

Cristina Castrillo has dedicated over four decades to professional theater working as an actress, a teacher and a director. This is a superbly inspirational presentation by her where she talks about her exile from her home country and finding a home in her dreams, in what she does, and in the people who love her. In this short but powerful talk, she shares her contemplations on 'How many other kinds of exiles are there?' and 'When does 'nostalgia' become a positive word?' (In Italian, translated on the spot to English by Bruna Gusberti.) Read more

As every year, Anna was back on stage with her concert 'Rock and Love for Your Soul' for all of us rock (and of course funk, soul, r&b) music lovers. And, as one guest exhaled, we went down the memory lane... From lady Gaga to Stones, from Adele to Michael Jackson... The music made us move and shake our bodies to the groove (though some got a bit too excited!). Anna was supported by Pierre (Guitar), Edo (Guitar), Saga (Bass) and Saravanan (Drums). It was a night to be together and share with Anna the passion for music and dance! Read more

Actress and director from Norway, Geddy Aniksdal, here gives a talk on an unusual kind of theater piece that she started in the small, sleepy, sparsely -populated city of Porsgrunn in Norway to invite more people. It is called the 'Sense of Place' city walks. Residents and tourists participate in a walk across the town and theater actors bring alive certain aspects of the city through their performances in selected spots. It is about creating a 'sense of the place', rather than creating a 'destination city'. Read more

Founder and Artistic Director of The Magdalena Project (International Network of Women in Contemporary Theatre) Jill Greenhalgh speaks here about her latest work 'The Threat of Silence'. Besides sharing the process of ideation, creation and production, Jill says that this piece is an attempt to make theater a place not to 'entertain' or let the audience 'escape' but more to 'engage' and create a space to enter our own feelings. This talk was organized as part of the Tantidhatri International Women's Performing Arts Festival.

Priya Sundaravalli from Tamil Nadu is currently having an exhibition in Pitanga. Over 300 ceramic objects, which are all very unique, can be visited until the 24th of March. Her art is quite unusual and the thin shapes of her creations make the items look fragile. Instead of thinking and planning her work, she is trying to let her inspiration flow freely and allows herself to do whatever is coming up. If items crack she repairs them with a Japanese technique: 'Nothing is a defect, accidents are seen as part of what is supposed to happen.' Read more

Geddy Aniksdal, member of one of the longest standing free theater groups in Norway, called Grenland Friteater, brought to Auroville her solo performance 'My Life as a Man'. It is, she says, "an autobiographical excursion into the story of my Norwegian working class origins which them became my working class characters." "I like my men, my masculine characters. I feel great freedom in them." Geddy's performance makes one laugh, muse and at times it inspires awe. And when she turns into a man, she makes you forget that in reality, she is Geddy! Read more

Odin Teatret is a theatre company based in Holstebro, Denmark. Founded by Italian theatre director Eugenio Barba in 1964, the first company of actors was a group of young artists who failed to gain admission to the Oslo State Theatre School. On Monday, Julia Varley, a member of Odin's company of actors, gave a compelling presentation on the actresses of the Odin Teatret's company. Throughout the hour, Julia spoke to the strength, exploration, and some of the work that she and her fellow actresses have been engaging in for over 20 years. Read more

Theater scholar and professor and actress, Roxana Pineda, from Cuba played a number of roles to weave her solo performance of Piel Des Violetas. It is inspired by Ophelia, one of William Shakespeare's most famous characters, and expresses a flow of consciousness, almost like a meditation. Roxana's performance was powerful and intense and certainly not to be missed. We hope to give you a flavor of Piel Des Violetas through this audio recording. Read more

What makes one to come to Auroville? To come as a volunteer, looking for more than just an average tourist's view on the city, people, life around here? What are the expectations of one towards what she or he finds here? In conversation with Divya, one of volunteers of AurovilleRadio, she shares with us some answers on all these questions... and more. Her maturity and honesty beyond her age, quiet and modest presence left inspiring footprint behind.... Read more

Keiin Yoshimura opened the Tantidhatri International Women's Performing Arts Festival with her captivating Kamigatamai dance performance of Japan, at the Unity Pavillion in International Zone on Sunday, March 11, 2012. This dance form, Kamigata-mai, was born and developed in the Kamigata (Kyoto-Osaka) region of Japan in the 16th Century. For the viewers and listeners, this performance is a great way of coming closer with the Japanese culture, its dance, music, costume and the instruments. Read more

'Around the world women are rising up and joining hands to lay the foundation for peace and human unity.' Yesterday at the 8th of March, around 60 women, children and a few male spectators gathered at the Tibetan Pavilion to celebrate the International Womens Day. Dancing, singing, Laughter Yoga, Storytelling, Meditative chanting and a happy ending with samosas and juice - the Womans meeting was a great success. This is a programme in English with Tamil translations. Read more