Manick Sorcar’s Show
creates waves
at BANGLAUTSAB - 2003, Edmonton, Alberta,
Canada |
April 18, 2003, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. |

Sorcar
Dance Troupe on stage for "Synergy", one of
the popular stage numbers from his touring stage production
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Banglautsab (Festival of Bengal) started
at 7 PM, in the packed ballroom of Sheraton Grand Hotel in Edmonton,
Alberta, Canada. His Highness Bill Smith, the honorable mayor of
Edmonton, graced the occasion as its Chief Guest and extended a
hearty welcome to everyone gathered for the first annual Bangla
Utsab 2003 Festival of Bengali Performance Arts. In a statement,
he said "I salute everyone involved with this festival for
the time and effort you have invested in pulling together this world-class
event...thank you for promoting cultural awareness and for sharing
your heritage with others".
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Manick Sorcar announcing
the
Grand Opening Ceremony |
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The Opening Ceremony was directed by Manick Sorcar and it began
with "Bengal Forever: A laser Fantasy", an animated documentary
of the history of Bengal created by cutting edge technology of laser.
The ten-minute show captured the milestones of Bengal's 2000 year-old
history.
It was then followed by "Bengal Bengal", an extravaganza
of a series of nostalgic songs and dances choreographed Piya and
Payal Sorcar and performed by Sorcar's troupe amidst colorful Bengal-thematic
lighting patterns from state-of-the-art lighting. Sorcar is one
of the handful of US animators who uses laser for moving animation. |
Along with “Bengal Bengal”,
Sorcar’s troupe performed fusion items the following evening.
The two items the troupe performed “Takita” and “Synergy”
were a unique blend of dances from the East and West in combination
with computer-controlled intelligent lighting. The two fusion
items were sandwiched by Sorcar’s new animation "Ekushe-Aine"
(Rules of Twenty One), based on a popular nonsense verse of Sukumar
Ray. "Ekushe Aine" received unprecedented response in
Kolkata during its release in December, 2002 and this was the
first time it was screened in Canada. The entire program was enthusiastically
received by the cheering crowd of the packed hall.
"..In his Rays of Synergy, right after the prayer lines,
with the music-coordinated steps of the colorfully-costumed dancers,
the brush of laser-light started to showcase his skill in animation...at
the back, brilliant fire balls appeared on the large white screen
and then disappeared as magically as they appeared..., a group
of moon-like planets of light floated in space and then vanished
in the side wings, and a stream of yellow light washed the stage
down to the audience as if to rhyme with the famous verses of
Nobel laureate Rabindra Nath Tagore 'Aloker Aie Jhharna Dharai
Dhooiye Dao' ....Being an engineer, Manick walked in the opposite
direction from his famous father and uncle who were magicians.
Today he glows brilliantly with his own merit and own qualities....Through
his innovative work Manick has proved even engineers can be a
great magician
-Recent review of his current show
by "Ananda Bazar Patrika", a leading newspaper
of
Kolkata, India
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