MEDIA RELEASE
30 JUNE 2010
LOCAL ARTIST GOES MAINSTREAM
An award winning Eastwood artist is presenting the lives of, often controversial,
Indian dancing girls onstage for the first time in Australia.
Likened to the Geishas in Japan, these dancers were referred to as The Nautch Girls by
the British rulers of India, which also is the name of this musical drama.
Eastwood resident Kumud Merani has won several prestigious international awards,
including the Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union award, for her radio documentary and
other accolades for stage shows. She has a lead role in a team of over 45 dancers,
musicians and actors, in colourful costumes and jewellery, performing live on stage this
August at the Enmore theatre in Sydney.
The Nautch Girls, has also been conceived and scripted by Kumud Merani who works at
SBS Radio as a radio producer. She unveils the real life stories of the entertainers who
were dazzling their audiences for three centuries, long before Bollywood made its mark.
Combined with a sensitive story of a young Australian girl on a special mission to India,
this musical highlights the cross-cultural ties not just between the two nations but other
Asian and European countries as well.
Kumud says, “Although ‘The Nautch Girls’ is about the native ‘Indian’ Dancing Girls
during the British Raj and Mughal period it has a multi cultural dimension as well. Some
of the dances depict a strong Persian influence. In fact not all the Nautch Girls came from
an Indian background!”
Ruchi Sanghi, who is the choreographer of the show, says “the show is an opportunity for
people to watch KATHAK- a classical dance that originated 2000 years ago, but is lesser
known in Australia despite it being one of the most dynamic theatre arts.”
Kathak means the art of story telling and Ruchi says “the dancers will depict the pure
style Kathak as practiced by the courtesans of India.”
Featuring more than a dozen Classical and Bollywood dance numbers, the drama traces
the rise and demise of the dancing girls from the Mughal period of the 17th
Century
through the British Raj to present times.
This is the first time the lives of the Dancing Girls has taken place on stage and Kumud
Merani says, “it’s a show that no cultural snob, serious historian or Bollywood buff can
miss.”
The Nautch Girls, Enmore Theatre, 130 Enmore Road Enmore
21 August 2010, Time: 0600 pm Tickets: Ticketek
High Resolution photographs available.
For interviews or more information: contact Rajish Aryal at Sherpa Concept
Email: rajish@sherpaconcept.com.au Phone: 0423 226 248
NEWS 
