Celebrate Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights @ Pelham Art Center

Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights, returns to Pelham Art Center as part of its Folk Arts Series, Saturday, December 6 from 1:30-3:30PM. Join us for this festive event with a free ancient Indian classical dance performance, traditional hands-on workshops and receive Mehndi body art from artist Manjula Kandaswamy. Also known as henna tattoos, Mehndi is a temporary form of skin decoration using henna ink, an all natural paste derived from the Henna plant. At 2:45PM, dancer Priyadarshini Roy will present the Odissi repertoire, which will begin with Mangacharan, the invocatory item, followed by Abhinaya, an expressional piece, and will end with Moksha, the dance of liberation. The dance pieces will be interspersed with demonstrations of a few simple hand gestures and footwork, which the audience can learn, making the experience interactive. The audience will also learn about the history of Odissi and the mythological stories and characters portrayed in the dance pieces. Running throughout the event will be two hands-on workshops led by Lavanya Misra. This year we will be reviving the ever popular Diya Pots workshop where participants can decorate their own small clay pot that holds a tea light candle to represent a diya, the source of light that characterizes Diwali festivals. In the Rangoli workshop, participants can create decorative designs using brightly colored rice. This traditional folk art is practiced to bring good luck and welcome Hindu deities into the home.