Film Club                                                                         march 07 programmes

monday 5th march
6.30 pm “Not Lost in Translation” - A Talk by Alain Archambault (with contributions by Frank Christopher & Laurence Bastit)

Outside of the interpreters and translators themselves few people really know how the UN language system really works. Alain will try to shed some light on how speeches are interpreted and documents and resolutions translated into each of the 6 official languages of the UN. He will explain the difference between official and working languages, between translation and interpretation and the almost opposite technique between the two fields of work. He will conclude with a few comical anecdotes, nevertheless underlining the difficult tasks performed in the languages section.

His talk will be supplemented by Frank Christopher who will explain

 how a country having 16 official languages chooses only English and Hindi as working languages and only English for archiving and publication. Ms. Laurence Bastit will explain how Europe manages their 22 languages in comparison with the UN and India.

Paris born Alain Archambault has been a translator/interpreter with the UN from 1963 to 1997 in New York, Geneva and Bangkok. He remains active in the language field as a freelancer at the UN.
 
Frank Christopher is a graduate of History and Library Science. He is the Joint Director in the Documentation and Information Service of the Lok Sabha Secretariat. His work has involved preserving the official Audio-Visual records of the Indian Parliament and conducting Seminars and Workshops in Parliamentary Procedures for Members of Parliament. He is proficient in English, Hindi and Gurmukhi and has studied German, Hungarian and Spanish.

Laurence Bastit is a conference interpreter and a consultant in French, German and English and works for CIAP ( Conference interpreters Asia Pacific)  
 
wednesday 7th march
6.30 pm “Kathak a Universal Language” by Natalia Ivanova
‘Dance without frontiers festival’
 

The inspired dancer is one who listens, watches, learns and then creates. She is one where the impulse comes from the tune that fills the body with the pleasure of hearing, conversing with the notes, internalizing the wisdom of the saint poets and finding no other way of expressing herself but through dance. She is constantly inspired by her guru and yet has the great desire to create, to find her own way of “seeing” things and letting the body search its own movements. Natalia at this young age is one such dancer. Her curiosity has led her from the dance styles of Spain to the Orient and to India. She has been enriched by Ladino (a Castilian Spanish and Hebrew romance language) 
medieval ballads about lost love and Abhinaya -the expressive language of Indian classical dance.
 
In her solo programme this evening she presents glimpses of a traditional Kathak repertoire learnt under Guru Prerana Shrimali. Her Abhinaya piece is done to the Ladino song “Esta Muntanya’ and her short choreography ‘Maya’ attempts to fuse movements of Flamenco and Oriental dance with the rasa energy of Indian traditional dance that brings alive woman as symbolical, elusive form. She will also talk about her passion for dance, movement, language and music.
 
Natalia graduated in choreography from the College of Dance in Volgograd, Russia and started training in Kathak in the Indian Cultural Centre in Moscow. She completed her dance training in India on an ICCR scholarship at the Ghandharv Mahavidyalaya under Guru Prerana Shrimali. She has performed in various group choreographies with her guru at the IIC, IHC and the annual functions of the Vidyalaya. She has also performed extensively in Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Russia. She conducts a yearly workshop of professional dancers at the Yekaterinburg Centre of Modern Art, is also a professional violin player and a competent Russian miniatures artist. 
 
thursdays march 8, 15, 22, 29 & april 5, 12,19,26
6.30 to 8 pm - Ananda Yoga classes by Claudio G.
 

After a free introductory workshop on Feb 8, Ananda Sangha yoga teacher Claudio Gregorelli will lead a series of 8 Ananda Yoga classes starting on Thursday March 8 and for every Thursday evening 6.30-8.00 till April 26 at a cost of Rs 2000 per person.

In these classes, the following will be integrated:-
 
  •  Energization exercises – a systematic method to increase the flow of energy     in all the  cells of the body. Includes double breathing, relaxing and tensing individual parts  
  •  Asana (yoga postures)
  •   Pranayama (breathing exercises and energy-control techniques)
  •    Classical yoga meditation techniques

    The instructions will be presented in traditional Ananda style of teaching yoga with hints of yoga philosophy as taught by Paramhansa Yogananda and Swami Kriyananda. This gentle and highly effective approach is suitable for all ages and body types. It can be very helpful for getting relaxed, revitalized and uplifted.

    Claudio Gregorelli is a disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda and for the past 15 years has been a certified yoga teacher from the Ananda Yoga School in California. Born Italian, he has lived since 1986 at the international Ananda Assisi retreat (Italy) coordinating and teaching different Ananda Yoga courses and programs on Kriya yoga meditation. He is presently teaching at the Ananda Sangha ashram in Gurgaon www.anandaindia.org.
     
    Registration: call 2374 6050 or email: mina@theatticdelhi.org or Surekha 9811330098. Minimum number of participants 10. 
     
    monday 12th march
    Lecture onCurators. Organized by British Council

    friday 9th march 
    6.30 pm ”Ittar - the Romance of Fragrance” a talk in Hindi by  Ram Singh Chauhan 
     
    It is reported in a Hadith the holy Prophet of Allah (peace & blessings be upon him) was asked which three things he liked, he replied:
    "Salah is the coolness of my eyes, and the things I love the most in this world are my wives and Ittar.” (Ahmad, Nasa'i)
     

Ittar is the Arabic word for fragrance, scent or essence. It is an oil made by distilling flowers and other natural products to obtain a pure perfume which has been used for over 5000 years for both liturgical and therapeutic purposes. The Egyptian, Chinese and Indian herbal traditions gave a spiritual and philosophical aura to the use of these aromatic materials. But the technical chemistry of the French perfume industry took the aura out of the pure oils into the cosmetic industry. The profits of the glamour perfumes skyrocketed in equal proportion to the ignorance of the public. The Western perfume is made by adding a small quantity of pure oil to a large quantity of denatured alcohol (upto 88%).

 This perfume is not only toxic (methanol) but evaporates very fast. In India the pure fragrant oils or ittars are seasonal both in production and use and are pure extracts of roses (Gulab), jasmines (Chameli, Harsingar), Vetiver (Khus), Keora , Sandalwood and the most poetic, the fragrance of the first monsoon rain on parched ground captured in a bottle (Mitti).

The entire country’s production is made in one city in UP and flowers brought from the streams in Rajasthan, the gardens of Singapore, the rose fields of rural UP and the forests of Orissa.
Ram Singh Chauhan whose father was the ‘ittarwala’ to the rajas of Gwalior, Dholpur, Jaipur, Bharatpur and many others learnt the trade from his father and joined the business at the age of 20. He traveled to the royal courts with his father and recounts the days when the ittars were ordered by the royal family. How even today bullock carts laden with roses and jasmine wend their way through the back roads of small villages to the stills for distillation. He tells of how and when these fragrances were traditionally used and brings you the flavour and fragrance of a not yet bygone era.  
 
saturday 10th march
11 am to 1.30 pm & 3.30 to 6 pm “Chinese Calligraphy” Two workshops by Michele Archambault.
 
Due to an over subscription for the first class two extra workshops have been added. Each person can register for only one workshop.
In China, calligraphy the art of writing is regarded as the quintessential visual art ranking above painting as the most important vehicle for self expression. As such it may be appreciated in much the same way as abstract art. A single character, a simple stroke, even a single dot can reflect a calligrapher’s talent and learning, his intuition and insight and all that encompasses his inner spirit.
Moreover this remarkably spontaneous yet premeditated act of self expression embraces an artistic tradition thousands of year’s old and whole epochs of philosophy, religion and culture. No wonder the Chinese and other oriental cultures have long regarded calligraphy as one of their supreme artistic accomplishments.

Chinese calligraphy seems to present the most alien and remote art form, yet shares the same formal elements of line, plane and space common to all the arts. In the West beautiful handwriting is not recognized as a pre-eminent graphic art, whereas in China, for centuries, calligraphy has been recognized as the artist’s kinesthetic gesture of creation, preserved in a single inked line. Writing is not only an act of communication, it is an act of self expression.
 
In this workshop Michele will talk about the history of Chinese calligraphy, on the various materials used, its techniques, it’s utilization of space. How to hold a brush, how to start drawing a character without knowing a word of Chinese.
 
Michele Archambault was introduced to Chinese Calligraphy in the early 1970's while she was studying Chinese at the Hong Kong University. She also travelled to Japan where she met one of the great Japanese calligraphers, Tejima Sensei, with whom she kept a close relationship until his death. For the past 15 years, she has lived in New York City where she has been privileged to study with one of the world masters of calligraphy, Professor Zhang Lung Yan. Her work has been exhibited in his studio "The White Camellia" and regularly at the China Institute in NY.
Cost Rs.250. Maximum number 12. Registration required and will be confirmed only on receipt of cash or cheque in the name of “Amarjit Bhagwant Singh Charitable Trust”. Call 23746050 or email mina@theatticdelhi.org. Materials will be provided.