Spirit of Light 2022

At Nishkam High School, Wednesday 12 October 2022

Performers: Anaya Vasudha Bolar, Akash Parekh, and Ravneet Sehra

Anaya Vasudha Bolar trained with Vid.Chitraleka Bolar for the last 20 years in the style of Bharatantyam, a South Indian Classical artform. She continued to train, completing her solo debut performance in 2012. Since then, she has been a two-time South Asian Category Finalist in ‘BBC Young Dancer (2015 and 2017)’ and was awarded a Training Bursary by the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD) in 2016. These experiences allowed her to start training in Bangalore, India under great exponents to increase her knowledge and technique of the artform.

Anaya had recently been supported by the Arts Council for her recent project ‘EKA’; a contemporary work choreographed by Subhash Viman Gorania. EKA was shown at various venues including Resolution 2019 at The Place Theatre in London, receiving brilliant reviews. Recently Anaya was part of the Dance Hub Residency, where she shared a work choreographed by Laura Vanhulle. She has also taken part in Aakash Odedra’s training programme AO2, leading her to an Apprenticeship with them for their touring production ‘Little Murmur’.

She graduated with a Degree in Sports therapy from Coventry University in 2018 and since graduating she has joined Chitraleka Dance Company as a full time performer and teacher.

Akash started playing and learning the Sitar at the age of 18 (quite late) in 2011 and is now part of the new generation of exciting British-born sitar players. His musical upbringing was initially in western classical and contemporary western music which adds to his innovative playing style.

Akash is the disciple of the renowned Sitarist and educator, Ustad Dharambir Singh MBE (disciple of the late Ustad Vilayat khan Sahab) and one of Ustad Ji’s most famous disciples, Smt. Roopa Panesar. Akash has also received guidance from many great musicians such as Ustad Harjinderpal Singh (disciple of Pandit Shivkumar Sharma) and Ustad Irshad Khan (Disciple and son of Ustad Imrat Khan and nephew of Ustad Vilayat Khan).

Akash has worked on a number of collaborative projects such as, ‘Penguins Rising with Zak Starkey (The Who and Oasis)’, ‘Mayur Navekar (Bandish Projekt)’ and ‘Michael Tedstone (ManikeMusic)’ and many others. Akash has also played at some very prestigious venues such as the Royal Albert Hall with the Philharmonic Orchestra and he also had the opportunity to play for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

Ravneet is a British South Asian Actor. Her talents were noticed at a young age, leading her to early acceptance at Stratford Upon Avon College to study Acting at the age of 14. She further trained at Birmingham Ormiston Academy which was co-founded by Maverick Television and The Brit School.

Her recent work includes Bal in Bafta Nominated Short ‘I Choose’ (BBC), Simran in Radio Drama ‘Queens’ (Tamasha & Holy Mountain Studios) and lately filming ‘Welcome to Birmingham’ (The RSC & Everyone To Everybody).

She has acted in key classics by Shakespeare, such as Queen of the Fairys Titania, in a multilingual site specific adaption called ‘Merely Players’. Her roles in contemporary theatre include playing Baby in Meera Sayal’s world premiere of ‘Anita and Me’ (Birmingham Rep), Girl on a UK tour of award winning play ‘The Vultures Song’ (Blah Theatre), and Malaika Jamil in ‘The Walls Between Us’ (Sampad) to name a few.

Ravneet is passionate about using the medium of acting to create change as well as raise awareness of challenging and taboo topics.

Alongside her acting, Ravneet is also a vocalist. She’s under the musical guidance of one the UK’s most profound musicians Ustad Kirpal Singh Panesar, learning Gurmat Sangeet.