Swati Bhise


Swati Bhise (née Gupte; born 21 October 1959) is a Bharatanatyam dancer, choreographer, educator, producer,[1] director, writer and promoter of the arts.[2]

Swati Bhise
Born (1959-10-21) 21 October 1959
Mumbai, India,
OccupationBharatanatyam dancer, educator, producer, writer, director and promoter of the arts

Dance career

Swati is the first disciple of "Padma Vibhushan" Sonal Mansingh.[3] Since her debut performance at the Center of Indian Classical Dances in New Delhi, she has performed extensively around the world at venues including the National Centre for the Performing Arts (India), Lincoln Center,[4] Asia Society, Symphony Space, Metropolitan Museum of Art, SPIC MACAY, and the House of Soviet Culture, among others.[5] Some of her more notable performances have been for the 40th anniversary of the United Nations General assembly,[6] the unveiling of Elsa Peretti and Paloma Picasso's new mesh designs for Tiffany & Co, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art for the opening of the South Asian Sculpture Wing.[5] Swati also worked on the Indian choreography[7] for Thomas Mann’s The Transposed Heads, adapted by Sidney Goldfarb and Julie Taymor.[8] Swati was featured in a CBS documentary called 'Sacred Arts', as one of the foremost performers in her field.[9]

Educator

Swati served as an artist in residence at the Brearley School, New York City from 1991 to 2006[10] and founded the non-profit Sanskriti Center for Indian arts in education for children and adolescents.[11] She continues to teach for The Curriculum in Arts Program at Symphony Space[12] and has been a Lincoln Center Institute repertory artist since 1996.[5] She has also performed at hundreds of public and private schools, colleges, and universities across The United States including Columbia University, New York University, University of Texas at Austin, St. Mark's School of Texas, The Dalton School, The Brearley School, The Chapin School, Brooklyn College, and Wesleyan University.[5]

Theater and film production

In 2012, Swati founded The Sadir Theater Festival, a three- day festival that takes place annually in Goa, India.[13] Critically acclaimed theater stars including Lilette Dubey, Girish Karnad, Rajat Kapoor, Mohammad Ali Baig, and Vikram Kapadia have all participated over the years, and she is still the festival's artistic director.[14] Swati also brought the UNESCO heritage art form Kunqu opera, one of the oldest styles of Chinese theatre, to India for the first time with performances at The National Centre for the Performing Arts, Mumbai, and at Siri Fort Auditorium in New Delhi.[15] In 2014, Swati founded a film production company called Cayenne Pepper Productions[1] after serving as Executive Producer and Indian cultural consultant[16] on The Man Who Knew Infinity (film), an Edward R Pressman film starring Dev Patel and Jeremy Irons. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2015.[17]

Swati recently finished directing a British / Indian self-written period drama set in 19th century India. The film The Warrior Queen of Jhansi released in theatres in November 2019 in the US, Canada and India.'[18]' The film was the first Hollywood action film in history with a brown female lead and received the “Impact Award” at the Vancouver International Women in Film Festival and the prestigious The ReFrame Stamp for demonstrating gender parity [19]

Swati has sat on numerous panels including the five-member grand jury at the 9th annual Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META) alongside Shabana Azmi, Sushma Seth, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, and Utkarsh Mazumdar.[20] She is also the co-author of the book Aai's Recipes: Traditional Indian cuisine from Maharashtra, a collection of Chandraseniya Kayasthan Prabhu (CKP) recipes, along with her mother Usha Gupte. [21]'

Choreographies

Philanthropy

Swati is an outspoken advocate for women's empowerment with a focus on South East Asia.[28] She is a Lotus Circle[29] advisor for The Asia Foundation, a "nonprofit international development organization committed to improving lives across a dynamic and developing Asia".[30]


Inspired from her film The Warrior Queen of Jhansi, in 2019, Swati Bhise along with husband Bharat Bhise, founder of Bravia Capital launched "Making Herstory Project," a nonprofit, non-partisan advocacy organization aimed at closing the gender gap and promoting the economic empowerment of women.[31]

References
  1. "'The Man Who Knew Infinity' to open Zurich". Screendaily.com. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  2. "Mother's recipes for you". Indiatimes.com. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 18 May 2016. Retrieved 20 September 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "Swati G. Bhise in East Indian Classical Dance". Backstage.com. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  5. "Interview - Swati Bhise, an ambassador of Bharatanatyam in NYC by Lalitha Venkat". Narthaki.com. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  6. Makhijani, Vishnu. "Indian American danseuse brings Chinese opera to India - Diaspora". Thesouthasiantimes.info. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  7. Theater, Lincoln Center. "The Transposed Heads - Who's Who - Lincoln Center Theater". Lincoln Center Theater. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  8. Gussow, Mel. "STAGE: 'TRANSPOSED HEADS'". nytimes.com. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  9. "TV Special Showcases Arts Within Religion". cbsnews.com. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  10. Heyman, Marshall (14 December 2015). "Dancing to a Traditional Indian Beat". Wsj.com. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  11. "Out & About". The New York Sun. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  12. "Symphony Space - Asian Studies". Symphonyspace.org. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  13. "Return of the Sadir Theatre Festival". The Navhind Times. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  14. "Sadir Theatre Fest to kick off on March 18". Indiatimes.com. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  15. Sandhu, Veenu (29 November 2014). "The Peony Pavilion: With (ancient) love from China". Business Standard. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  16. "Interview with The Man Who Knew Infinity's executive producer Swati Bhise". Msn.com. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  17. "TIFF: 'Man Who Knew Infinity' Director Says Film Was "10 Years in the Making"". Hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  18. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6916348/
  19. https://wiftv.ca/2019/02/26/swords-and-sceptres-the-rani-of-jhansi-at-viwff-2019/?fbclid=IwAR3MEemI3wp1cUuO9XSNRVuuzQONyv1AkYR/
  20. "9th Annual Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards Announced - Manoj Omen, MD Pallavi & More!". Broadwayworld.com. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  21. https://www.amazon.com/Aais-Recipes-Traditional-cuisine-Maharashtra/dp/0615676073
  22. "Srishti - Peg's List". Pegslist.wordpress.com. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  23. Ross, Alex. "Classical Music in Review". Nytimes.com. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  24. "Indo-American Arts Council, Inc". Iaac.us. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  25. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 31 May 2016. Retrieved 20 September 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  26. "Indo-American Arts Council, Inc". Iaac.us. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  27. http://lawlormediagroup.com/2017/08/14/grammy-lifetime-award-winner-george-wein-presented-a-newport-jazz-festival-extra-a-bridge-together-connecting-jazz-african-beats-and-indian-carnatic-music/
  28. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 20 August 2016. Retrieved 20 September 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  29. "Swati Bhisé - The Asia Foundation". Asiafoundation.org. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  30. "About the Asia Foundation - The Asia Foundation". Asiafoundation.org. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  31. https://www.indiawest.com/news/global_indian/swati-and-bharat-bhise-create-making-herstory-project-advocacy-nonprofit/article_eb6f722a-0a4e-11ea-a97f-6b073e58d850.html
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