Introduction

A Word about the Centre and the Experience.

This year the Centre organizes, for the third successive year ---The IIC Experience—a Festival of the Arts.

What is distinctive about this annual festival is the sheer range it presents—dance, music, theatre, poetry readings, films, exhibitions and special cuisine. The festival spreads itself out in all the venues of the Centre and its Annexe, for seven days, from 7.30 a.m.in the mornings till late after dinner.

A few words about the Center for those who will attend the Festival for the first time. The India International Centre was a project conceived after a discussion in 1958, between Dr.S. Radhakrishnan, who was then Vice President of India, and John D. Rockefeller III. The Founder President of the IIC, Dr. C. D. Deshmukh, wrote of the Centre as a place for ‘exemplars of various cultures (to) stay together for a while… in order that the sharpness of intellectual exchange is softened by the graciousness of good fellowship’.

Complementing and concretizing this vision are the superb architectural creations of Joseph Allen Stein that flow alongside the historic and magnificent Lodhi Gardens. Stein conceived of the IIC as ‘a place where a certain kind of relationship exists –between the garden and the building and the water and the earth and the sky, and the learning and activities that take place and the things that happen…’

It is a matter of some pride that the Centre has, for over four decades substantially lived up to its promise, becoming over the years, the first choice for discourse, debate, and the total range of cultural activities, while providing space for quiet reflection and research; truly  a ‘great rooted blossomer’, nurturing tradition, learning and creativity.

In ‘The IIC Experience ‘, organized annually by the Centre, performances held every evening in the Fountain Lawns provide its core.  This year Malavika Sarukkai, the renowned Bharatanatyam dancer will, with her performance, ‘Adhbhuta – The Vision of Wonder.’ opens the Festival, which will conclude with the premiere of ‘The Throw of Dice’, in Manipuri dance, presented by Anjika and directed by Priti Patel.

A film festival, ‘Stardust Memories – An Encounter with Old Friends’, will screen films of Ingmar Bergman, Yasujiro Ozu, Federico Fellini, Zoltan Fabri, Majid Majidi, Walter Salles and Shyam Benegal, (who will also be present for a discussion). The exhibitions include photographs from the Rampur Raza Collection; ‘Warriors’ – ceramic sculptures by P.R. Daroz; and “Photographing India’—a selection of photographs By Raja Deen Dayal and Henri Cartier-Bresson.
Each evening ends with a special dinner.

The ‘IIC Experience’ 2006 has both quality and an exciting range, which we hope you will find enriching. 

Read Review