Social conscience will take to the stage

In 1974, a few years after the demise of Vikram Sarabhai (the father of India's space programme), his danseuse daughter Mallika Sarabhai started a festival in Ahmedabad to celebrate his commitment to the performing arts. Her father had been instrumental in the founding of Darpana Academy of Performing Arts in Ahmedabad.

Mallika Sarabhai

Initially, the festival presented major artistes from Ahmedabad. But over the years, it developed into a festival of collaboration and international work, featuring Indian artistes and international dance groups. In 2005, the festival changed its name to InterArt, to reflect inter-disciplines and international collaborations. The festival moved out of Ahmedabad four years ago, and now, Sarabhai wants to take the festival to six or eight cities every year.

InterArt goes beyond performances and tries to talk about issues related to development, with a special focus on people affected by large-scale uprooting from their traditional homes, says Sarabhai. She adds, "We worked closely with Special Investment Region (SIR) oustees and Special Economic Zone (SEZ) oustees in Gujarat. Nearly 35,000 people, who lived across the river from us, on the other bank of the Sabarmati, were forced to live next to a sewage dump 40 km away. The lacked basic facilities, means of transport and livelihood. It got us thinking on the issue of raising awareness about their plight."

While the festival started with a focus on mass displacement, it also looks into issues such as the displacement of the self. "We lead such pressurised and pointless lives, determined by what advertisers tell us happiness is. Modern employment seeking also leads to displacement from loved ones. All of them have their consequences, though none as brutal as the displaced communities," she explains.