The Body as Method: Dance Research and Writing in India
Speaker: Dr Sreenath Nair, University of Lincoln, U.K.
Chair: Dr Sudha Gopalakrishnan, Executive Director, IIC-International Research Division

Dr Sreenath Nair is a leading UK academic who earned his PhD from the University of Wales in 2006. His research explores embodied methodologies in Kerala performance, examining corporeal links between medical, martial, spiritual, and performance traditions. He has lectured widely across the USA, UK, Russia, Germany, Prague, Finland, and Sweden, and has held international academic posts and collaborations. He received the Leverhulme Trust International Fellowship and served as Scholar-in-Residence at the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University.

Dance research and writing in India have largely relied on Cultural Studies and postcolonial theories to examine questions of identity, representation, and power. While these frameworks offer valuable critical tools, they remain limited in their ability to address embodied and kinaesthetic practices. Grounded in textual and discursive methods, such approaches struggle to engage with tactile experience, rhythm, breath, muscle memory, and the physical intelligence through which the dancing body itself becomes both method and site of knowledge.
 

Nuclear Power in India: Rationale for the SHANTI Act

Speaker: Dr. Ravi B Grover, Member of Atomic Energy Commission, Chairman of the Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences and Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI).

Chair: Amb. D. B. Venkatesh Verma, Former India’s Ambassador to Spain, Russia, and to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.

Discussants: Mr. Ramadurai Raghavan, Vice President & Head – Power Business Unit. Tata Consulting Engineers Limited; Dr D K Shukla, Former Chairman, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board; Ajay Shankar, Former Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP)

Book Discussion Group 
India’s Strategic Autonomy : A Special Feature

Edited by Pankaj Saran & Raj Kumar Sharma (NatStrat India, 2026)
 

Shyam Saran, President, IIC in conversation with Pankaj Saran, Convenor, Natstrat
 

Discussants: Dr Shamika Ravi, Member PM’s Economic Advisory Council; Amb. Jawed Ashraf, Chairman, ITPO;Vice Admiral S J Singh, DG, USI; Suhasini Haider, Journalist.

Concluding address M.J.Akbar, Author and Former Minister

 

Book Discussion Group

Morning Twilight: Poems
By Jayshree Misra Tripathi (Speaking Tiger, 2026)

Chair: Dr. Amarendra Khatua, Former Diplomat, Author and Poet

Discussants:  Prof Kalyani Dutta, Translator and Academic; Dr. Sanjeev Chopra, Historian, Columnist and Festival Director; Mandira Ghosh, Poet, Author and Researcher and Jayshree Misra Tripathi, Writer, Former Educationist & Author of the book

                         CANCELLED

A Symphony of Discordant Notes: Navigating Evolving Technologies, Copyright Law, and Age-Old Indian Music

Discussants: Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Sr. Counsel, Supreme Court of India; Mr. Ameet Datta, Founder, ADP Law Offices; Neel Mason, Counsel, Delhi High Court and Supreme Court of India; Adarsh Ramanujan, Counsel, Delhi High Court and Supreme Court of India; others: TBC

Moderator: Saikrishna Rajagopal, Managing Partner, Saikrishna & Associates

This discussion fosters a cross-disciplinary dialogue involving Indian music and legal experts to deconstruct the friction between modern studio practices and the demands of the evolving copyright framework. By examining the journey of a track from creation to commercialisation, the panel will attempt to identify, simplify, and possibly solve for the complexities of copyright law when dealing with the uniqueness and centuries old heritage of Indian music.

(Collaboration: Saikrishna & Associates)


 

Kamalini Samaradhanam
Smt. Kamalini Nagarajan Dutt, a pioneer in intangible heritage archiving, creating the Doordarshan Central Archives and also a reputed dancer, choreographer, guru, scholar, television producer and mentor to many. This programme is a tribute to her enduring legacy on the first anniversary of her passing.

Choreographies mentored by Kamalini Nagarajan Dutt and performed by Guru Sharon Lowen, Hemanta Kumar Kalita, Divya Goswami and Dr. S.Vasudevan of Manasa-Art Without Frontiers Dancers

(Collaboration: Manasa-Art Without Frontiers Dancers)
 

Manipuri Workshop: Yangshak Movement; In continuation
Facilitator: Surjit Nongmeikapam, choreographer and contemporary performing artist

Open to dancers of all classical styles

C.D. Deshmukh Auditorium
At 16:15 
The Music & Dance Heritage of Tiruvarur, illustrated Lecture-Demonstration by Dr Nandini Ramani

At 18:30 Young Dancers Festival
Odissi Recital
By Vrinda Chadha, New Delhi

At 19:45
Kuchipudi recital
By Avijit Das, Bengaluru
 

WORLD DANCE DAY

Manipuri Workshop: Yangshak Movement; 25th and 26th April 2026
Facilitator: Surjit Nongmeikapam, choreographer and contemporary performing artist

Open to dancers of all classical styles

Yangshak Movement is an exploration into ‘Lairen Mathek’ — a philosophy that has evolved from the movements and stories of the Manipuri martial art form, Thang-Ta (Khuthek Lal Thek) and dance, Jagoi.  The workshop on choreographing Yangshak, focused on an in-depth understanding of the body with the help of Yangshak movements.

C.D Deshmukh Auditorium
At 16:00 
PRAVAAHITA (Marathi and Hindi Repertoire)
Illustrated Lecture/Performance by Dr. Sucheta Bhide Chapekar (Pune), accompanied by Arundhati Patwardhan and Sagarika Patwardhan

At 18:30 Young Dancers Festival
Bharatanatyam Recital
By Karuna Sagari (Chennai) Followed by Kathak RecitalBy Ameera Patankar, Pune
 

Bandung Day Symposium 2026

Bandung to BRICS: Women, War and Peace

Chair: Prof K Srinath Reddy, President, Council for Social Development

Welcome Address: K.N. Shrivastava, Director, IIC

Introductory Remarks: Prof Rama Baru, Jindal Global University, Former Professor of JNU; Prof Manoranjan Mohanty, Former Professor, University of Delhi

Speakers: Prof. (Dr.) Anuradha Mitra Chenoy, Adjunct Professor, Jindal School of International Affairs & Dean and Professor in the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Meera Shankar, Former Indian Ambassador to the United States of America and Germany; Prof Uma Chakravarti, Former professor, Department of History, Miranda House, University of Delhi; Rita Manchanda, Independent consultant on Gender, Peace and Security on Southeast Asia; Prof Vasanthi Raman, Social Scientist, Feminist Activist; Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj, formerly India's Permanent Representative at the UN

Discussant: Dr Rityusha Mani Tiwary, Bhagat Singh College, DU, Convener, Bandung India Network

Vote of Thanks: Dr Sourindra Mohan Ghosh, Assistant Professor, Centre for Social Development

Keeping the Bandung Principles of 1955 in mind, as India prepares to host the 18th BRICS Summit later this year, the discussants would address, from the vantage point of women, issues that have led to recent wars and how to build conditions of peace in contemporary times.

(Collaboration: Council for Social Development)

Book Discussion Group

Q In The Garden of Grammar Learn Grammar: Learn Grammar through this Amazing Story!
By Amal Fabian (Konark Publishes, 2025)

Discussants: Mr. Anil Kumar Author of English Textbooks for Schools;   Swati Rai, English language teacher; Neelesh Kulkarni, Author of & In the Footsteps of Rama: travels with the Ramayana’; Amal Fabian, Author of the book