Fifty Years of Samanvay
- Date
- Saturday
19 September 2026 - Venue
- Chowdiah Memorial Hall
Bengaluru - Capacity
- 1,011 seats · reserved
The Double Bill — Satyabhama & Apsaras.
Classical dance is not a museum piece, it is a living language. It must grow with society while staying rooted in its grammar.
The Day — 19 September 2026
One Saturday on the Chowdiah stage. A working morning across four classical forms; an evening built around fifty years.
Adavu Jam · Creative Lab
A working studio across four classical traditions and a creative-modern session. Open practice, open audience.
Bharatanatyam — Creative Lab
20 minutes. Practice + open Q&A.
Kuchipudi — Creative Lab
20 minutes. Adavu jam, repertoire fragments.
Yakshagana — Creative Lab
20 minutes. Karnataka classical form in dialogue.
Creative Modern — Lab
20 minutes. Contemporary movement, classical vocabulary.
Youth programmes
Four 20-minute slots from emerging dancers.
- Registration
- ₹750
- Lunch
- Provided
- Dress code
- Kalamkari or practice saree
- Stalls
- 8 partner stalls + photo booth
The Gala
A single evening on the Chowdiah stage — inauguration, the Satyabhama presentation across four classical forms, the award ceremony, and the Apsaras closing production.
Gates open
Doors open — please be seated before the inauguration.
Inauguration
Lamp lighting and welcome.
Pushpanjali
Presented by students · ~4–5 min, right after the inauguration.
Satyabhama — One Heroine, Four Forms
First half of the double bill. Four nationally renowned artists present Satyabhama in their own form — Lakshmi Gopalaswamy (Bharatanatyam), Vidha Lal (Kathak), Gopika Varma (Mohiniyattam) and Dr Veena Murthy Vijay (Kuchipudi Yakshagana) — held together by Mysore B. Nagaraj as Sutradhar, narrating in English.
Award Ceremony — Samanvay 50 honours
The festival’s honours, presented between the two productions during the stage changeover.
Apsaras
Second half of the double bill — a Sri Raja Rajeshwari Kalaniketan production under Dr Veena Murthy Vijay. Eleven apsaras trace the celestial dancers’ journey from Devaloka to Bhuloka. Runs to ~9:30 PM.
Wrap-up
Close by ~10:00 PM.
Dance as wellness — older than the conversation.
Kuchipudi tempo as cardiovascular practice. Mohiniyattam breath-work as parasympathetic regulation. Kathak chakkars as vestibular training. Abhinaya as structured affect regulation. India’s classical dance traditions are one of the world’s most rigorously codified systems of embodied training — long before wellness became a category.
A film, fifty years in the making.
A multiplex screening for artists, presenters and media — seven days before the festival. Sponsors, partners and press are invited.
Tickets · Stalls · Patronage.
Ways into Samanvay 50 — evening tickets, the morning Creative Lab, the photo booth, and patron tiers.
The Gala · 19 September
Reserved seating across the Chowdiah auditorium — Premium General ₹1,750 · General ₹950 · Rear General ₹500 · Student / Rasika ₹250.
Adavu Jam · Creative Lab
Working studio, four classical forms, youth slots, stalls and photo booth. Lunch provided.
Photo Booth
A dress-up photo booth in the festival foyer — portraits in classical attire, prints to take home. Open through the morning Creative Lab.
Patron tiers
Support the fiftieth year — Patron of Samanvay ₹5,000 · Golden Jubilee Patron ₹10,000. Donations to Sri Raja Rajeshwari Kalaniketan carry 80G relief; patrons are acknowledged in the programme with a complimentary invitation.
Buy your tickets.
Secure checkout via Konfhub — pick your tickets below.
AIM Bengaluru
International
Arts Festival.
Veena also directs the AIM Bengaluru International Arts Festival — the second annual surface from Samanvay’s house, programming Indian classical alongside international ensembles. For sponsors weighing the 2026 cycle, Samanvay 50 and AIM travel as a pair.
Visiting Chowdiah.
Five practical things, answered. Access requirements, box office, and the immediate neighbourhood.
The team behind 19 September.
- Dr Veena Murthy Vijay
- Vidya · lead
- Sunitha
- Nisha
- Aishwarya
- Ashwinder
- Mausam