Sabarmati International Contemporary Arts Festival (SICAFA)

The Manganiyar Seduction

Directed by Roysten Abel, this grand ensemble of 40+ Rajasthani musicians offers a mesmerising auditory and visual experience. Performers occupy glowing pods stacked in a four-story structure, their music intensifying as more pods light up. A powerful synthesis of sound and spectacle, this performance is an unforgettable celebration of Rajasthan’s musical heritage.

Date: Tuesday, March 11, 2025
Time: 7:30 PM IST
Venue: Football Ground, Central Campus

Rabindranath Tagore's Jeevit Ya Mrit

Directed by Anuradha Kapur featuring Seema Biswas and Adaptation by Geetanjali Shree: Kadambini, a widow with no children, lives in her brother-in-law’s house and shares a deep bond with her little nephew, her only friend there. One night, she unexpectedly dies, and her body is taken to the cremation ground by the servants of the household. There, she appears to awaken, and the servants run away terrified. She wanders about, believing herself to be a ghost, neither alive nor dead. A man helps her reach her childhood friend Yogmaya’s house. While Yogmaya is happy to see her, Kadambini’s presence brings strange tensions in the house. Eventually, Yogmaya’s husband discovers that Kadambini is meant to have died many months ago. Yogmaya throws Kadambini out, believing that this ghost will destroy her family. Kadambini returns home, where her brother-in-law’s son is happy to see her, but others are terrified of her presence, refusing to accept her as alive. In despair, Kadambini throws herself into a well, proving by her death that she was alive.

Date: Wednesday, March 12, 2025
Time: 3:00 PM and 7:00 PM IST
Venue: Room 314, Patrick French Black Box, School of Arts and Sciences, Central Campus

Purulia Chhau

Purulia Chhau is a dance form thriving within the indigenous communities of West Bengal's Purulia district, particularly in the Baghmundi, Arsha, Jhalda-I & II, Balarampur, Bandwan, and Barabazar regions. The intricate masks, central to the performance, are crafted in Purulia's Charida village, a tradition rooted in the 150-year patronage of King Madan Mohan Singh Deo of Baghmundi. This unique dance holds a significant place among the indigenous peoples of the Chotonagpur Plateau.
Deeply intertwined with the ritual and religious life of the region, Chhau is prominently featured during Chait Parab, a festival held around April/May at local Shiva temples. Evolving from its earlier form, Ekoira Chhau, performed by a single, unmasked dancer, Purulia Chhau absorbed influences from other local dances during the popular Gajan festival. Today, elaborate costumes and elaborately crafted masks, each revealing the character portrayed, bring to life stories drawn from the Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Puranic texts.

Date: Wednesday, March 12, 2025
Time: 8:30 PM IST
Venue: Central Campus, Ahmedabad University

A Symposium: Art and Democracy

Explore the relationship between artistic practices and democracy, examining how art influences democratic ideals and vice versa with the symposium on Art and Democracy. Art, as a form of social commentary and civic engagement, amplifies marginalised voices and challenges democratic values, while democracy offers a space for artistic freedom. The symposium will focus on how art in India contributes to democratic engagement, social justice, and cultural transformation. It will delve into the complex connections between art, governance, and societal change, shedding light on the role of creative forces in shaping history and our relationship with the world. The symposium will bring together scholars, artists, and educators from across the globe, facilitating multidisciplinary dialogues. These discussions aim to provide new perspectives on art, politics, history, and society while addressing the challenges faced within democratic societies. The symposium hopes to spark meaningful insights into the intersection of art and democracy.

Date: Wednesday, March 12, 2025
Time: 4:30 PM IST
Venue: Room 004, School of Arts and Sciences, Central Campus

Middle Class Dream of a Summer Night

"Middle Class Dream of a Summer's Night" is an extraordinary adaptation of Shakespeare's classic "A Midsummer Night's Dream," infused with a modern Indian twist. This unique English play features characters speaking English with accents from various Indian languages, adding a fresh and humorous flavour to the timeless tale. Set in the heart of middle-class India, the story weaves together love, magic, and comedy, capturing the essence of both Shakespearean drama and Indian cultural quirks. It's a theatrical experience like no other, offering a playful exploration of identity, love, and the unexpected.

Date: Thursday, March 13, 2025
Time: 7:00 PM IST
Venue: Tagore Hall, Paldi

Kerala's Ritual Theatre Theyyam

Kandakarnan was born in Mahadeva’s own throat and came out through ears (karna) to cure Shiva’s smallpox. Kanadakarnan came to Malanadu with Sreekurumba, the elder(moothaval), Sreekurumba, the younger (ilayaval), and Dandan. Kandakarnan is a deva in a fierce form incarnated as the son of Parameshwara.  Kandakarnan is an illness-healing deity from the Cheerumba Nalvar and Srikurumba Nalvar groups. Like Puthiyabagavathi, Kandakarna was born to heal the daughter Cheerumb Parameswaran infected with smallpox. It is also said that the devas named that divine figure as Kandakarna because the son, who trembled at the call, came out of the throat through the ear.  To the son who was born with three thousand eyes, two thousand hands, fire on his head, fire and torches on his waist, the father expressed his grief.

Date: Saturday, March 15, 2025
Time: 8:30 PM IST
Venue: Central Campus, Ahmedabad University

Teatr Biuro Podrozy’s Carmen Funebre

The idea for the spectacle and the spectacle itself was created at the time when the civil war was going on in Yugoslavia. The inspiration, or rather the impulse for its creation, was the intensifying ethnic conflicts, outbreaks of nationalism, violence, mutual hostility, and manipulation of social moods that set the Balkans on fire. While working on the performance, the band members met in Poland with refugees from Bosnia. Their relationships contributed to the creation of universal metaphors describing the fate of the exiles. In the performance, the non-linear story takes place both in a realistic and metaphysical plan. The Biuro Podróży Theatre uses spectacular means to attract the attention of both an experienced viewer and a random passer-by. Rats, fire, light effects, and poignant music evoke fear and compassion among the audience. In the performance, few words are used, but the sequence of evocative images moves the viewers' emotions.

Date: Sunday, March 16, 2025
Time: 8:30 PM IST
Venue: Central Campus, Ahmedabad University

Saumya Joshi’s Oh Womaniya

Written and directed by Saumya Joshi, the maker of popular plays like 'Welcome Zindagi, ‘102 Not Out,' and 'United States of Paadaani Pol,' and performed by the lead actress of plays like 'Aaj Jaaneki Zid Naa Karo,' 'welcome Zindagi,' 'United States of Paadaani Pol' Jigna Vyas, 'Ohh Womaniya..!' is a play that starts with quirky, funny conversations that take place in a Vijapur to Mumbai train compartment. The conversion then takes a turn that shocks the audience to think about the most heinous societal evil that shakes the world frequently. The play explores the innermost recesses of a woman's existence. Dance and Choreography of the renowned Pappan Dance Company also accompanies the play.

Date: Monday, March 17, 2025
Time: 8:30 PM IST
Venue: Tagore Hall, Paldi

Girish Karnad’s Hayavadana

Girish Karnad's "Hayavadana" blends realism, magic, myth, and desire, offering a theatrical experience of boundless possibilities. The play intertwines myth and modernity, crafting a contemporary statement that resonates deeply.
Hayavadana, the horse-headed man who lends the play its title, exists in a space painfully suspended between the animal and human realms. This fractured existence transforms the play into a potent existentialist myth, a metaphor for the timeless discourse of mind over matter. Reality and fantasy collide seamlessly on stage: real and fictional characters share the same space, creating a world where lamenting horses and speaking dolls reflect and comment. Karnad's text explores the body and mind's inherent duality, inviting multiple interpretations. Further enhancing its theatrical power, "Hayavadana" is a musical journey, driving the narrative, adding depth and texture to the scene construction, and ensuring an immersive experience.

Date: Tuesday, March 18, 2025
Time: 7:00 PM IST
Venue: Tagore Hall, Paldi

Indian Fusion Music Anirudh Varma Collective

The Anirudh Varma Collective (AVC) is a contemporary Indian classical ensemble from New Delhi, India. Pianist, composer, and producer Anirudh Varma leads it. The Collective comprises over 150 musicians and artists from India, America, and Canada. Their attempt is to bring the rich tradition of Indian classical music out of a niche viewership to a larger global audience through convergence with diverse genres but keeping it rooted in its pure form. It is impanelled with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and the Ministry of Culture.

Date: Tuesday, March 18, 2025
Time: 9:00 PM IST
Venue: Football Ground, Central Campus, Ahmedabad University