Debanjali Biswas received training in Manipuri, Mridang Vadan and Thang-ta over 25 years. She began her tutelage with Smt. Poushali Chatterjee in Oja Bipin Singh’s style and has been expanding her practice with Padma Shri Guru Darshana Jhaveri, Prof. Sruti Bandopadhyay, Sangeet Natak Akademi awardee Thiyam Suryamukhi Devi and Manipur State Kala Akademi Awardee Oja Ranjeet Chingtham Khuman. Debanjali is a co-director of the performance collaborative Mitrādheya.
Ranjini Nair received her early training in Kuchipudi under Guru Seetha Nagajothy and then under Gurus Padmashri Jayarama Rao and Vanashree Rao, in New Delhi. She has performed across India both as a soloist, and in group productions with her gurus, including at the Khajuraho Dance Festival, the Konark Dance Festival, the India by the Nile Festival in Egypt amongst others She has held scholarships from both the Sahitya Kala Parishad, New Delhi, as well as from the Ministry of Culture, New Delhi and is a graded artist of Doordarshan.
The performance revisits the traditional and new repertoires of both the dance forms. These dance forms, seen more rarely on stage than their more popular classical dance cousins in the UK, both emerged within a Vaishnavite tradition, and often focus on the folklore and mythology around Krishna.
The performance will include solos from their own dance styles, as well as a specially choreographed duet for the evening.