ICMC’s India Dance Festival will host the US premiere of "Meet Me on the Meadow" on Saturday August 24, 2019. The 90-Minute Kathak-based musical was launched in India in 2017 and has had multiple performances since, all winning media and audience acclaim.

Kathak (Story-Telling) - the dance style from North India has the charm and subtlety associated with miniature paintings. Nurtured in the holy precincts of the Hindu temples, Kathak was further enhanced under the Persian influence during the Moghul reign in India, attaining supreme refinement as a Classical dance form and establishing a discipline through various gharana’s and styles thereof.

Meet Me on the Meadow the musical portrays an epic love tale through music and dance, in another timeless context. The musical is written, directed and produced by Anita Kulkarni, Founder-President-Artistic Director at Renu – The Foundation for Art, a NJ Non-Profit, with Guru Akhila Rao of Kathak Rhythms, Dallas-TX choreographing the Kathak dance sequences for the Show US Tour, 2019. The dances are performed by her senior disciples.

In the story, a gorgeous girl, often losing herself in the thoughts of Vrindavan chances upon beautiful love on the meadow. Love blossoms, then meeting an uphill road of separation where mortal challenges of suspicion and fear dislocate her poise. Will she endure it? Will they rise in love? The show takes away from the Radha-Krishna metaphor, leaving the audience with a liberating message in a sensory journey of music, poetry and dance.

Architect-Artist Anita Kulkarni works with the mission of interpreting the uplifting Indian arts to global audiences. Her conceptualized artistic themes, often illustrated through brilliant aesthetics, celebrate art by drawing people into the experience. Anita sees art as a powerful aesthetic expression to convey a holistic message. Anita’s productions have done extremely well world-over, with "Panorama" – the Kathak-BharataNatyam integration performing in France at a prestigious festival during its India run, ‘Gandhaar’ and ‘Pancham’ (Music Appreciation programs, supported by art grants), ‘Arts of India’ executed in partnership with The Taubman Museum of Art in Virginia-USA, ‘Sangam’ - a novel artistic presentation she directed in Houston-TX, ‘Nirmohi’ - a solo musical on the life-poetry of Kabeer and MeeraBai, and ‘Bhaav Bhairavi’ – A musical portrait of raag Bhairavi’s momentous emotional appeal. Anita is based in NJ-USA and splits time between India and the US.

Akhila Rao has been in the field of Kathak for over 40 years and is the Founder-Director of Kathak Rhythms, a leading Dallas-based school training students in the art form of Kathak since 20 years. Many of her students have completed the Visharad (Graduation) level and their Manch Pravesh (Dance Debut). Her senior students have performed at prestigious programs receiving acclaim and recognition globally, through festivals such as Kal-Ke-Kalakar, Lotus World Festival, Gandharva Festival, Internaitonal Kathak Festival etc, and were honored with titles like Singar Mani, Natya Praveena and Nritya Gandharva. Akhila’s artistic work is noted for providing an opportunity to the second generation Indian diaspora and dance lovers to see Kathak in its purity and entirety, with the nuances of abhinaya (Acting), layakari (tempo-highlighting footwork) and padhant (rhythm reciting) that characterize Kathak. Akhila, with her choreographic designs and dance direction beautifully brings out the drama on the meadow.

Pompi Mukherjee (Odissi Dance) - From a young age, Pompi Mukherjee ,a Dallas based Odissi dancer was introduced to Odissi, under Late Guru Muralidhar Majhi. As a young adult, she pursued this dance form with Nritya Shiromani Guru Smt. Aloka Kanungo and is presently learning from Guru Supradipta Datta. In India, she has performed in prestigious venues like Kalamandir, Gyan Manch, Gorky Sadan and Rabindra Sadan to name a few. She has also been a regular artist of the network television of India. During her stay in the US, she also had the privilege of performing in the Indian Association of North Texas, Bengali Association of Dallas Fort Worth, The North American Bengali Conference, Karya Siddhi Hanuman Temple, DFW Hindu Temple Society - Ekta Temple, AlokUtsav, Houston, The Dupree Theater, Dallas, Odissi Conference at North Carolina. Additionally, she has collaborated with legendary dancers like Guru Smt. Kalavati Devi (Maha Raas) and Meenakshi Sheshadri (Ganesh Vandana)

Jesse Bannister is a unique musician who is respected as the leading Indian Saxophonist in Europe. He learned from such illustrious musicians as Pt. Dharamveer Singh (a UK based sitar player, who has learnt from Sitar legend Ustad Vilayat Khan) and Pt. Ajoy Chakraborty. He has performed throughout England, regularly bringing new and inspiring projects to the UK Music scene having performed at the London Jazz Festival, the Darbar festival, and the Musicport Bridgewater Hall. Jesse has composed music for the Halle Orchestra, Film, TV, Theatre and Dance productions and has co-founded Indo Jazz ensembles Raga Nova and Samay. Jesse has collaborated with many artists including Siva Raman, Talvin Singh, Andy Sheppard, Pt. Subhen Chatterjee and The Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Jessie has been performing in major music festivals in UK, India , USA, Canada and many other countries for the past 15 years. Legendary vocalist Pt. Jasraj describes Jessie Bannister as "The Future of Indian Classical Music".

Pratik Shrivastava, a young and talented Sarod player born in 1987, began his musical journey under the training of his grandfather Pandit Rabi Chakraborty, an eminent Sarod player of the Maihar Gharana and a senior disciple of Sarod legend Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, and further nurtured his technical virtuosity under the tutelage of his uncle Dr. Rajeeb Chakraborty. Presently, to fine tune his performance still further and understand the aesthetic nuances of music, he is under the able guidance of world renowned vocalist Pt. Ajay Chakraborty and veteran sarod player Pt. Tejendra Narayan Majumdar. Pratik has won several awards and scholarships nationally and internationally including the Anun Lund Rej Memorial Foundation Scholarship 1999, Norway, Youngest Talent at the prestigious Salt Lake Music Conference in 1998 and a national scholarship awarded by the Indian Government to name a few. Pratik has been touring extensively all parts of the world and has already played in many major music conferences both in India & abroad.

Pandit Subhen Chatterjee is one of best known tabla players of India today. Having learnt the art of tabla playing from tabla legend Pt. Swapan Chowdhury of Lucknow Gharana, Subhen went on to incorporate the beauty of other Gharanas or Schools of tabla playing into his playing and has thus been able to make his style of playing distinctively different from others. Subhen has been playing in the major music festivals for more than 30 years now accompanying such greats of Indian Music as Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, Pt.Jasraj, Vidushi Girija Devi, Vidushi Shobha Gurtu, Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Pt. Rajan and Sajan Mishra, Ustad Shahid Parvez & many others. Other than playing Classical Music, Subhen is also one of the leaders of World Music Movement in India with his World Music band KARMA which he has formed way back in 1985 and which is still one of the best known bands in India. Subhen is also a regular performer of Womad, a music movement started by internationally acclaimed guitar maestro Mr. Peter Gabriel. Subhen's CD named Artistry which is a live recording of his performance with Sitar maestro Pt. Manilal Nag and Sarangi maestro Pt. Ramesh Mishra has been nominated for the most coveted Grammy award in the year 2003. Subhen has also composed a Single Piece which he played live with a team of 338 musicians non-stop for 52 minutes in Jorhat (Assam, India) has got him into Guinness book of world records.

Sandip Bhattacharjee is one of the few prodigies to have lived up to his initial promise. Born in a family with a deep rooted musical background, Sandip was initiated into music by his mother Smt. Krishna Bhattacharjee at the age of four and he continued his talim under Smt. Amita Dasgupta later. When in his teens, Sandip became a residential scholar at the ITC Sangeet Research Academy under the able Guidance of Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan & Ustad Mubarak Ali Khan, sons and disciples of the legendary Sarangi Maestro late Padmashree Ustad Shakoor Khan. It was essentially here that Sandip was nurtured in the true guru shishya parampara system of training of the Kirana Gharana. Along with his music, Sandip also holds a First class degree in Graduation from Rabindra Bharati University (Kolkata), in classical music. Other than pure classical music he is competent in singing semi classical forms like Bhajans, ghazals and Nazrulgeeti as well. He performs across India and abroad (United States, Europe and Bangladesh). A recipient of the Title "Surmani" from Sur Singar Sansad Mumbai, Sandip also broadcasts regularly over the All India Radio as an " A " Grade artist. Apart from being an able performer Sandip is also a teacher of music. He travels regularly to Guwahati and Digboi (Assam) where he has a substantial following of students in Indian classical music. Sandip has been a faculty at AAICM in New York since 2013.

Ramchandra Joshi is an accomplished vocalist as well as an established harmonium player. Inducted to the world of music at the tender age of 8 years by his mother Smt. Anjani Tilak from Mumbai, later he got trained with Smt. Tulika Ghosh who is disciple of legendary late Pt. Gyanprakash Ghosh from Kolkata, and Smt. Sraboni Mukherjee in classical vocal, light classical music (thumri, ghazal) respectively at Sangeet Mahabharati Music academy Mumbai founded by late Pt Nikhil Ghosh. He received guidance in Indian Classical Vocal from renowned vocalist Dr. Veena Sahasrabuddhe from Pune. He has toured extensively in India, USA, UK and Switzerland. As Harmonium accompanist Ramchandra has accompanied vocalists at numerous concerts.

Gourisankar Karmakar a leading tabla maestro of the present generation, studied tabla under the able guidance of his father, Pandit Shib Sankar Karmakar. Since 1979, he has been under the tutelage of the tabla Maestro Pandit Sankha Chatteriee. Gourisankar is an "A" grade Artist of All India Radio and Television. His talent and creativity are manifest in classical performances, experimental East-West World Music collaboration, and North- South musical interactions. He has performed with most of India's eminent artist like Pandit Hariprasad Chourasia, Pandit Jasraj, Pandit Birju Maharaj, Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan etc. In world Music, performed with World famous Drummer Steve Smith, Grammy winner Mamadou Diabate (Kora Player), World famous Steel Pan player Liam Teague and many others. In 2008, Gourisankar established the "School of Indian Percussion & Music" in Austin, Texas. Many of his students have benefited from his teaching expertise, and perform regularly.

ICMC presents Fall Fest 2019 featuring a medley of several short vocal and instrumental performances, by ICMC member musicians. This event is FREE to general public. The primary reasons for this concert are to bring awareness about Indian classical music in the community and also to stage upcoming talent. Since its inception in 1983, ICMC has built the most comprehensive concert series and is regarded as the premier producer of Indian classical music and dance in Dallas/Fort Worth and the surrounding area, by consistently presenting more than seven culturally diverse concerts a year for the sole benefit of its members and the general public. ICMC's mission is to entertain, to interest, to educate, to train and to provide spiritual nourishment to its members and the general public, and to significantly contribute to the multiethnic heritage and the cultural vitality of the city, through its concerts. ICMC members – who are interested in performing at this event should send email to president@icmcdfw.org. Participants must have active ICMC memberships through June 20, 2020.