JANAK KHENDRY
Artistic Director Janak Khendry Dance Company
An
internationally renowned classical dancer and choreographer, Janak Khendry has
trained extensively in four distinct dance styles of India: Bharatanatyam,
Khatak, Sattriya and Manipuri. Khendry’s Bharatanatyam training for more than
thirty-five years started in 1955 in Chidambaram, a city famous for its
Nataraja Temple in South India, and Kattumanarkoil a small village in South
India with Guru Swami Muttukumar Pillia. Khendry also studied Modern Dance at
the Ohio State University for two years with an emphasis on Graham, Limon and
Cunningham techniques and was a recipient of a scholarship from the prestigious
Julliard School of Music and Dance in New York City. He moved to Canada in
1979.
Khendry’s very distinguished dance career spans over fifty-five years and has
given more than a thousand performances in different parts of the world. He was
invited to give five command performances for two past Presidents of India, Dr.
Rajendra Prasad and Dr. S. Radhakrishnan in India, and for the Vice-President
of the United States, Mr. Hubert Humphrey, in Washington, D.C. at the
inauguration of CARE and MEDICARE projects. He was one of the five artists
invited from across the United States. He has been invited by major museums and
universities in the United States to perform, lecture and conduct workshops and
has performed very extensively in India, the USA, Canada, Mexico, South Africa
and South East Asia. In 1978 Khendry was invited by the Allentown Museum of Art
to be the Guest Curator for a special exhibition The Sensuous Line and create
two dance works based on that theme. In 1994 he was commissioned by the Los
Angeles County Museum of Art to choreograph and present The Monk, The Courtesan
and The Charioteer, which has been performed in five countries.
Khendry’s professional choreographic career started as early as 1961 in
Hyderabad, India. In 1965, he was invited by the Educational Television Channel
13 in New York City to choreograph thirteen programmes, “FABLES and LEGENDS of
INDIA.” Some of the major created works are BASANT, SHAYAMA, KUMAR SAMBHAVAM,
MEGHDUTT, SURYA, MOODS of the RHYTHMS, PANCHAKALYANAKA from the life of
MAHAVIRA, SOUND of the HILLS, THE GODS ARE DANCING and WOMEN LIBERATED.
In 1998 he realized his life’s dream to choreograph and present GAYATRI, a
one-hour-and-fifteen minute work with four dancers. This work was sponsored by
the Centre for South Asian Studies, University of Toronto. In 2004, after four-and-a-half
years of research, Khendry presented UPANISHAD, a two-and-a-half hour work with
fourteen dancers of several disciplines. UPANISHAD was the most important work
of Khendry’s dance career to date. In 2006, Khendry created two new works:
CHANDRAKAUNS and DREAM of a DRUNKEN GOD. Since 2009 he has created GANGA,
KAAL-TIME, PARADISE LOST and LIFE ETERNAL.
Khendry is a recipient of several very prestigious Grants and Awards: The
Nizam’s Trust Grant, India; Sangeet Natak Akademi, India; Toronto Arts Council,
Ontario Arts Council, The Canada Council For the Arts, Toronto Metropolitan
Cultural Affairs, Laidlaw Foundation, Ministry of Culture, Citizenship and
Recreation, Canada’s Year of Asia Pacific and The Yehan Numata Programme in
Buddhist Studies, University of Toronto.
Khendry was a member of the South East-Asian Studies Seminar Group, Columbia
University, New York City, for seven years where he presented several papers on
Indian Art. During his eighteen years stay in the United States, he lectured on
Indian Art and Aesthetics at several major universities. Because of his highly
scholarly and philosophical approach to his creative works, Khendry has a high
profile with museums and academic institutions.
Khendry has a Master’s Degree in sculpture from Ohio State University. He has
had eight solo sculpture exhibitions and his works are in private collections
in India, USA, Canada and Europe. Khendry’s other fields of specialization are
Indian and Italian Renaissance’s art history. In 2011 Khendry was part of the
power list of thirty most important Indo-Canadians - presented by INDIA ABROAD.