National Centre for the Performing Arts (India)
Encyclopedia
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
was established with a grant of Rs 4 million
Million
One million or one thousand thousand, is the natural number following 999,999 and preceding 1,000,001. The word is derived from the early Italian millione , from mille, "thousand", plus the augmentative suffix -one.In scientific notation, it is written as or just 106...
from the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust
Sir Dorabji Tata and Allied Trusts
The Sir Dorabji Tata Trust was established by Sir Dorab Tata , the elder son of Tata Group founder Jamsetji Tata. Founded in 1932, it is one of the oldest non-sectarian philanthropic organisations in India.-History:...
. This was later supplemented by donations from the corporate sector. Registered as a society on June 8, 1966, NCPA has also been established as a public trust, whose principal objective is to serve the cause of the performing and allied arts.
Initially, established at a temporary setup at 89 Bhulabhai Desai Road, which housed a small auditorium, listening rooms and practice facilities, inaugurated by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi
Indira Gandhi
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhara was an Indian politician who served as the third Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms and a fourth term . She was assassinated by Sikh extremists...
on 29th December 1969. Meanwhile, the 8 acres (32,374.9 m²) are was built on reclaimed land at Nariman Point
Nariman Point
Nariman Point is Mumbai's premier business district and country's first central business district. It was named after Khursheed Framji Nariman, a Parsi visionary. The area is situated on land reclaimed from the sea. It had the distinction of having the highest commercial real estate rental space...
where it is located today.
The NCPA is also the home of the Symphony Orchestra of India
Symphony Orchestra of India
The Symphony Orchestra of India is an orchestra based in Mumbai, India.It was founded in 2006 and is housed at the National Centre for the Performing Arts , Mumbai.The first and current Music Director is Marat Bisengaliev...
.
Principal aims and objectives
- To establish a national centre for the preservation and promotion of classical, traditional and contemporary performing and visual arts.
- To establish, equip and maintain schools, auditoria, libraries, archives, museums, studios, workshops and other facilities necessary to fulfil the above objectives.
- To disseminate knowledge, promote appreciation, provide training and sponsor or undertake scientific research in these fields with the objective of further development by encouragement of innovation within India and by interaction with the arts of other countries.
The Facilities
The NCPA complex occupies an area of about 32000 m2 at Nariman PointNariman Point
Nariman Point is Mumbai's premier business district and country's first central business district. It was named after Khursheed Framji Nariman, a Parsi visionary. The area is situated on land reclaimed from the sea. It had the distinction of having the highest commercial real estate rental space...
, on land reclaimed from the sea.
The three main facilities at the NCPA include the 1109 seater Jamshed Bhabha Theatre
Jamshed Bhabha Theater (NCPA)
The Jamshed Bhabha Theatre is a 1109 seater theater inaugurated on November 24, 1999 within the NCPA premises in downtown Mumbai. This facility is equipped with state-of-the-art stagecraft and engineering...
, the 1010 seater Tata Theatre
Tata Theater (NCPA)
The Tata Theater is a 1010 seat premier staging facility for music, dance and drama at the NCPA complex in downtown Mumbai, and is the brainchild of Dr. J.J. Bhabha...
and the 300 seater Experimental Theatre.
Other facilities
- The 200 seater Godrej Dance Academy Theatre
- 114 seater Little Theatre
- Piramal Art Gallery
- Jahengir Nicholson Gallery of Modern Art
- Centre for Photography as an Art Form
- The Mohile Parikh Centre for Visual Arts
- The Jindal Arts Creative Interaction Centre
- The Morarkha Center for Revival of Crafts
- Theatre Development Centre
- State of the art recording studio
- N M Wadia Library
- Reading and listening libraries
- Studio for archival documentation of dance, drama and music
- Teaching and research block
- Computerised music research laboratory
- Audio-visual archival vault with over 4,000 hours of recording and theatre research material, and a computerised databank for easy retrieval
- The Performing Arts Circle
Membership of the Performing Arts Circle (PAC) is open to students, professionals and lovers of art. NCPA presents 40 to 50 events in its various spaces every month. Nearly half of these are free for members of the PAC. Members of the PAC have free access to the well-equipped reading and listening library of the NCPA.
The Performances
Throughout the years NCPA hosted many performances including classical, traditional and contemporary performing artsPerforming arts
The performing arts are those forms art which differ from the plastic arts insofar as the former uses the artist's own body, face, and presence as a medium, and the latter uses materials such as clay, metal or paint which can be molded or transformed to create some physical art object...
in dance
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
, theater, and music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
. Notable Indian performers who performed at NCPA include Vilayat Khan
Vilayat Khan
Ustad Vilayat Khan was one of India's well known sitar maestros, born in Gauripur in Mymensingh, Bengal...
, M. S. Subbulakshmi
M. S. Subbulakshmi
Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi , also known as M.S., was a renowned Carnatic vocalist. She was the first musician ever to be awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honor. She is the first Indian musician to receive...
, Birju Maharaj
Birju Maharaj
Brijmo Mishra popularly known as Pandit Birju Maharaj is currently the leading exponent of the Varanasi Kalka-Bindadin gharana of Kathak dance in India.He is a descendant of the legendary Maharaj family of Kathak dancers, including his two uncles, Shambhu Maharaj and Lachhu Maharaj, and his father...
, Kelucharan Mohapatra
Kelucharan Mohapatra
Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra was an Indian classical dancer, guru and proponent of Odissi dance, who is credited for the revival of the classical dance form in the 20th century....
, Mani Madhava Chakyar
Mani Madhava Chakyar
Guru Mani Madhava Chakyar was a celebrated master performance artist and Sanskrit scholar from Kerala, South India, considered to be the greatest Chakyar Koothu and Koodiyattam artist and authority of modern times...
, Shakuntala
Shakuntala
In Hindu mythology Shakuntala is the wife of Dushyanta and the mother of Emperor Bharata. Her story is told in the Mahabharata and dramatized by Kalidasa in his play Abhijñānaśākuntalam .-Etymology:Rishi Kanva found her in forest as a baby surrounded by Shakunta birds...
, Smita Patil
Smita Patil
Smita Patil was an Indian actress of film, television and theatre. Regarded among the finest stage and film actresses of her times, Patil appeared in over 75 Hindi and Marathi films in a career that spanned just over a decade. During her career, she received two National Film Awards and a...
, Parveen Sultana
Parveen Sultana
Begum Parveen Sultana is an Assamese Hindustani classical singer of the Patiala Gharana. She is among the foremost classical vocalists in India and is known as Queen of Classical Vocal.She was conferred the Padmashri in 1976....
and Shabana Azmi
Shabana Azmi
Shabana Azmi is an Indian actress of film, television and theatre. An alumna of the Film and Television Institute of India of Pune, she made her film debut in 1974 and soon became one of the leading actresses of parallel cinema, an Indian New Wave movement known for its serious content and...
.
NCPA has also attracted many international performers including Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE was a Russian Jewish American violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom. He was born to Russian Jewish parents in the United States, but became a citizen of Switzerland in 1970, and of the United Kingdom in 1985...
, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra is the leading symphony orchestra in Israel. It was originally known as the Palestine Orchestra, and in Hebrew as התזמורת הסימפונית הארץ ישראלית The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (abbreviation IPO; Hebrew: התזמורת הפילהרמונית הישראלית, ha-Tizmoret ha-Filharmonit...
, Navoi Bolshoi Ballet of Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....
, Marcel Marceau
Marcel Marceau
Marcel Marceau was an internationally acclaimed French actor and mime most famous for his persona as Bip the Clown.-Early years:...
, Barber of Seville opera, production of Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre is a novel by English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published in London, England, in 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. with the title Jane Eyre. An Autobiography under the pen name "Currer Bell." The first American edition was released the following year by Harper & Brothers of New York...
, and other British Council
British Council
The British Council is a United Kingdom-based organisation specialising in international educational and cultural opportunities. It is registered as a charity both in England and Wales, and in Scotland...
commissioned theater productions. In 2006, New Jersey Ballet
New Jersey Ballet
The New Jersey Ballet is a ballet company based in Livingston, New Jersey in the United States, founded in 1958 by native New Jerseyan Carolyn Clark and her fellow dancer, George Tomal.- History :...
staged India's first full-length classical ballet with its Nutcracker
The Nutcracker
The Nutcracker is a two-act ballet, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto is adapted from E.T.A. Hoffmann's story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King". It was given its première at the Mariinsky Theatre in St...
production.