Avinash Pasricha’s dance photography, a treat for Canadians. -By Meena Chopra (Author & Artist)

Santosh Pasricha, Avinash Pasricha and Lata Pada after the
presentation at Sampradaya Dance Creations

The world renowned icon of dance photography Avinash Pasricha from India was in Toronto and gave an exquisite presentation of his life time works on Sunday 26th Sept. as part of "Culture Days", at Sampradaya Dance Creations in Mississauga, run by well known Indo-Canadian classical dancer Lata Pada. The presentation was given to a select audience and was indeed a treat for Canadians.

A New Delhi resident Paricha is perhaps the only one in India who has seen almost all the classical dancers and musicians so closely through his lens and it is a privilege of every dancer and a musician to be photographed by him.,



Avinash Pasricha

Avinash Pasricha has been into fine art photography since 1960 and has been working on assignments since then. He belongs to a family of photographers and was the photo editor of SPAN magazine from 1960 to 1997. His photographs have been widely published in National Geographic and Life and he also made audio-visuals on Indian dance forms and on renowned musicians Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Begum Akhtar and Kumar Gandharva.He has co-authored several books on Indian dance including Odissi, Kathak and Kuchipudi, Rhythm in Joy, Pandit Kumar Gandharva, Pandit Birju Maharaj, Kumar Gandharva, Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra and many more.

In a question answer session when asked by the dancer Lata Pada that has he ever photographed a dancer without the gear and glamour of dance and the stage, in her natural self as a person, or at the time when she/he is rehearsing, he answered that he had essentially been working on assignments and never got the opportunity to do so but why not now starting with Lata Pada. To him it is not so much the gear and the glamour of the dancer that matters as much as the moods and the expressions and the window to this are the eyes of the artist.

For his profession of fine art photography he said “I call it meditation. I enjoy it as much as the dancer might be enjoying that moment of creativity.”He gets totally engulfed in that moment.

About the training in photography He said, “There you can learn the techniques, which ofcourse is necessary but to be a photographer you have to learn to SEE to capture the moment and this comes through commitment and experience and that is what gives substance to the art.”

He said, “He loved Toronto and found it to be beautiful and is enjoying every moment of this beauty”

-By Meena Chopra (Poet & Artist)

-StarBuzz weekly, Toronto