DASGUPTA Krishnakali
A ) Dance - Manipuri (Classical Indian)- mitradheya
Professional performance troupe:
Mitradheya : Creative collaboration with Debanjali Biswas and Debanjana Ray
Mitradheya - meaning 'a convenant of friendship' in Sanskrit, is the banner for our creative endeavours in the field of dance-storytelling . We like to stay true to our roots of classical manipuri dance style as passed on to us from Late Guru Bipin Singh ...and what more we able to learn from all Gurus and from Manipur .
Official page : http://aroekta.wix.com/mitradheya#!
Facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/Mitradheya?ref=hl
Complete Gallery : https://mitradheya.smugmug.com/
B ) Written material
For the thousands of thoughts tumbling all over each other inside my head:
Blog (all written material) : http://kolibotism.wordpress.com/
Microblog : https://thekristaceousperiod.wordpress.com
Projects : https://kathashandhani.wordpress.com/
I have an uncontrollable desire to speak..- to spit out the pictures inside my head..... in words, in pictures , in voice and of course in movement ... ( I can recount a full 2.5 hr film with every dialogue and action :) ..
I think they are of pretty average quality ... but I revel in the natural expression arising from something intangible inside me .... a part of my own self discovery ....getting to know the one that lives inside .... :)
C) Theatre - improv
Vidushak : ( Indian Improv theatre group at USC )
https://www.youtube.com/user/uscvidushak
https://www.facebook.com/usc.vidushak?fref=ts
While pursuing my Doctoral degree at USC ( University of Southern California), I came across the Vidushaks ...
Vidushak ( Sanskrit for 'court-jester' ) is the Indian Improv theatre of University of Southern California. It is the only fully Indian troupe (as of today 02/02/2016) in the US and also comprises wholly of graduate students. Improv theatre i.e . Improvisational Theatre in the US is strongly dominated by the undergraduate population in the Universities.
Vidushak helped us to create a pan-Indian comedy genre in a land so far from home and reach out to everyone who came to USC from all parts of the earth in pursuit of a global educational experience.
The picture on the left is of the poster for one of our annual plays - about the very spooky lovelorn lady ghost who roams Doheny -the historic library of USC .
Enjoy all their live show recordings on the youtube channel
D) short films
One of my co-actors and co-director in Vidushak turned out to be a filmmaker in disguise .... Trust me .. we never saw this coming ... One fine day several years down the line he put a camera in my hand and said ' chalu ho jaie' ......
I am not sure he really saw too far in the future .... but I have worked with him in about 8 productions till date ..... 1 of which was my own first short film ...
To enjoy all their productions : Phoenix Productions : (Short films ) www.youtube.com/channel/UCpo6uJvtNOK6naavML12Caw
Film-Making :
Association with Phoenix Productions is what led me to experiment with the medium , and it has been quite fun so far .
I made my first film with Phoenix Productions, and for the second one launched my own production company
-Red Armchair Productions with my husband-who loves to do the principal photography.
Red Armchair produced the Short film- Boxed Up - which was made for a Other Voices -Other Visions competition organised by the Harvard Script writers. It was selected as a finalist and was screened at the Flicks-4-Chicks Festival at Boston, 2016.
The Roommate : Phoenix Productions
Boxed-Up : Red Armchair Productions
Audio Recordings : https://soundcloud.com/krishnakali-dasgupta/tracks
Youtube Channel : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAHYdN849J9WUT-yjFIG0kw
My father has a beautiful baritone voice and a natural inclination to recitation of poetry - [Baba is a book in himself -which probably I should write some day ] which resulted in me being pushed, lured, placed on stage without prior notice at regular intervals enough number of times - to actually have garnered a substantial working history in recitation , extempore , public speaking, being Master of Ceremonies and general vocal expression in front of a large audience.
Silver and Gold Medallist : English and Bengali Recitation/ Extempore Speech
Nehru Childrens' Museum ( State level)
Rotary Club of Calcutta ( High School level)
La Martiniere for Girl's School , Kolkata
Gokhale Memorial Girls' School , Kolkata
Actually this is the only field where I have both failed most miserably on stage :) as well as won top honours . It is an activity I would not have pursued on my own ... it's has my father written all over it . ..and also actually opened up the biggest opportunities in my life.
I have recently restarted working on it seriously : ( I try to update it regularly but it is the most technically challenging part .. so forgive my irregularity )
But if you like my voice and want me to record something .. please don't hesitate to contact .. I am always looking for interesting projects ... :)
I do English and Bengali ...and will practise Sanskrit...
E) Audio recordings
Professionally worked at : ( by invitation)
Nehru Childrens' Museum , Calcutta
Bal Bhavan , Delhi
Kalamandalam, Calcutta
Calcutta Club, Boston
F ) photography
Photography : https://eyesofthedoe.smugmug.com/Main/n-4RcWtG/
Picture blog : Rimmed glasses and Silver anklets : http://rimmedglasses21.tumblr.com/
My father also showed me the first slr of my life - and taught me to see things through the lens . So most often you may catch me watching or rather -staring .... at life , all around ... keeping a record of anything living or inanimate that speaks out to me ..... it is not about photography .... its about the lens telling you what I see ...
..will try to keep it updated as much as I can ....
I especially like to do : Cities , Streets , Nature ( closeup ) , Still life and Portraits ( in future ).
Lastly , I try to keep everything I find interesting noted down ...
Facebook blog : https://www.facebook.com/pages/Unchartered-waters-Katha-Shandhani/933915736621890?ref=hl
And Yes , if you are searching for my Mother in my story , we started it all together ... from the day she saw me dancing , she put the bells on my feet and made sure nothing and no one could tell me otherwise. She is technically my first Guru in music and all things creative. The person I do pranam to before every one of my performances.
The person who told me I should dance for joy ... and nothing else.
