Festival celebrates Eastern culture, aids tsunami victims

College students can get in touch with Eastern culture this Saturday and Sunday, as Srishti… College students can get in touch with Eastern culture this Saturday and Sunday, as Srishti Dances of India (www.srishtidances.org) will bring a two-day festival celebrating South Asian expression to Pittsburgh.

Saturday’s event will take place at the Andy Warhol Museum. It will feature a poetry reading, lecture and book-signing by Dr. Meena Alexander from Hunter College and the Graduate Centre at the City University of New York.

Alexander will be presenting “Making Raw Silk,” which centers on her experience involving the September 11, 2001, attacks, and also the repercussions one year afterward. She will speak about her experiences involving the aftermath of ethnic violence surrounding the event itself.

Also on tap for Saturday is classical Indian dance by Srishti Dances of India’s Sreyashi Dey, as well as two visiting artists from India, Manoranjan Pradhan of Orissa Dance Academy and G. Narendra of the Avigna Dance Ensemble.

The main goal of the Srishti Dance company is to spread their cultural heritage to those who are curious about Indian culture. Through the use of dance, song and thought-out explanation, its performances are not only entertaining, but provide a learning experience as well.

The Sunday event, which will take place in the Synod Hall of St. Paul’s Cathedral, will feature Rabindra Sangeet music by Nidrita Mitra-Sinha. Rabindra Sangeet is a style of folk song that originated in Bengal, and is often learned by parents and children alike. It can be compared to the types of work songs that children learn when they are younger, and continue to sing through adulthood.

Much like Saturday, the Srishti dance will feature Dev, Pradhan and Narendra. But additionally, the program will include world drumming music courtesy of Resonance Percussion, as well as Chinese classical music from New Moon Orchestra, and Jewish traditional and folk music by the Hot Matzohs, who all hail from Pittsburgh.

This event will actually be a fundraiser for Child Relief and You, which is a non-profit organization that aids children affected by the recent tsunami disaster in Asia. Donations are voluntary, but nonetheless appreciated. More information about CRY can be found at www.cry.org.

Catch Kaleidoscope: India — Srishti Dances of India this Saturday at 2 p.m. at The Andy Warhol Museum and Sunday at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Synod Hall, at 2:30 p.m.