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| Jacob's Pillow, USA (1979) |
Having a career spanning almost four decades, Bharat’s formal training in creative dance and choreography began since the inception of Bhoomika in early 70’s under Narendra Sharma. He held the position of Ballet Master in 1979 and became Production Director by 1983. From 1990 he launched an independent trajectory and branched out into theatre, music and institution building in the arts, before rejoining in 2009 as Bhoomika’s new Director.
Bharat’s training in technique and choreography has extended to Mayurbhanj Chhau, Kathakali, Modern Dance and Jazz in India, USA and France, and visited Sweden to study cultural institutions.
As a soloist, he has performed at prestigious festivals, including American Dance Festival, USA; La Danse a Aix, France; Festival of Indian Performing Arts, Germany; East-West Encounters, Nav-Nritya Festival, Sangeet Natak Akademi Festival of Contemporary Dance in India. Earlier, between 1972-1990, he danced in all major national and international tours of Bhoomika’s dance company.
As a choreographer, Bharat has created dances for a range of forums and occasions. For Bhoomika his major choreographic works have been ‘Utthaan’, ‘Pathik’, ‘Kalaasham’, ‘Swapnakosh’ and ‘Nightingale’. He was co-director for Closing Ceremony of Festival of India in Moscow, 1988 and Opening Ceremony of Apna Utsav 1988, Delhi. He has also choreographed for annual pageants of Republic Day Parade, films and schools, and composed music for his own choreography.
As an administrator, he was Project Coordinator of Rang Vidushak, Bhopal (1991-93). Between 1994-99, he was part of the first team to build India Foundation for the Arts, Bangalore - an independent national grant-making institution. As a Programme Director, he initiated and steered the arts collaboration programme and monitored arts research and documentation grants.
Between 2000-03 he worked on a research project ‘Chaali: Highway Performance Circuits’ that attempted to evolve a support system for contemporary dance in South India to expand performance opportunities in the community. Between 2004-08 he was Reader (Associate Professor), Dance at the multidisciplinary Sarojini Naidu School of Performing Arts, Fine Arts and Communications at University of Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.