Pickle Factory Season

Held every two years, the Pickle Factory Season is a four-month long festival curated around dance and movement that evokes questions and ideas of what dance experiences can be and mean. The festival typically includes performances, workshops, exhibitions and interactions with artists alongside artist residencies, seminars and engagements focusing on repurposing spaces for the performing arts. The venues have included abandoned and defunct single-screen cinemas, television studios, rooftops and public streets and gardens. With dance and movement artists from India and abroad performing in these spaces, the festival seeks to “[redefine] relationships between physical movement and physical space.”

Over the first three editions of the festival— in February-March 2018, November-December 2019, November 2022-February 2023—the Pickle Factory Season has featured various diverse artists, covering the fields of classical and contemporary dance, performance art, physical theatre, puppet theatre, circus theatre, arts administration, design and performance criticism. Aditi Mangaldas, Anurupa Roy, David Carberry, Judy Harquail, Kapila Venu, Maya Krishna Rao, Padmini Chettur and Preethi Athreya are some of the dancers and choreographers who have been part of the festival so far.

The third edition of the festival took place between November 2022 and February 2023. The November instalment, titled “Spaces for Community”, was held in fitting community spaces such as fields. It featured performances by Odissi dancer Shashwati Garai Ghosh, choreographer Surjit Nongmeikapam and contemporary dancer Paramita Saha. The December instalment, titled “Spaces for Dialogue”, featured performances by dancers Anoushka Kurien, Eve Mutso and Joel Brown. It took place across schools, universities and NGOs in the city. The January instalment titled “Spaces for Practice”, took place in studios, rehearsal rooms, workspaces and cultural houses all over Kolkata. It witnessed performances by choreographers Aseng Borang and Joshua Sailo among others. The February instalment titled “Spaces for Performance”, featured classical dancer Bijayini Satpathy and choreographer and performer Amala Dianor among others. It was held in a number of places, including an auditorium and a central neighbourhood in the city. The festival is organised by the Pickle Factory Dance Foundation.

Over the course of the four months, the festival also featured flash mobs by various dance groups, performances, talks and workshops aimed at “green thinking through arts spaces”, dance appreciation workshops, art displays, readings and a host of other events.

Check out more dance festivals here.