Nrityagram Dance Ensemble in their Amphitheatre in their village in India. Photo by Nan Melville

Nrityagram: For the Love of Dance, a short documentary by dance photojournalist Nan Melville, will screen at the Newport Beach Film Festival at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, May 3, 2011, in Newport Beach, California.

Protima Bedi at Nrityagram, February, 1998. Photo by Nan Melville

Melville, a freelance photographer for several arts institutions including The Julliard School, Carnegie Hall, and The New York Times, specializes in photographing and filming the performing arts, primarily dance.

Melville first met the Nrityagram Dance Ensemble in 1996, when she was assigned by The New York Times to photograph their U.S. debut performance in New York. After visiting the Nrityagram dance village in Bangalore, India, at the invitation of the late Protima Bedi, she began working on her documentary. She returned to India to film life in the dance village, and research archival materials.

Nan Melville

“I’ve become a great friend of the members of Nrityagram, photographing many of their New York performances,” says Melville. “I’ve even put up dancers on my sofa when hotels were overflowed.”

Nrityagram: For the Love of Dance debuted in January 2010 as an official selection of the Film Society of Lincoln Center and Dance Films Association, Dance on Camera Festival in New York City. The New York Times’ chief dance critic Alistair Macaulay said, “Many intelligent points are made, and much of...

Master Taiko Artist Kenny Endo Photo by Lia Chang

One of the foremost names on the American wadaiko scene, Kenny Endo, returns to Tokyo for 2 engagements on April 24 at Shibuya’s O-West and on April 30 at Minami Aoyama’s “Mandala.” The concert at the Mandala is called “Mitsudomoe – Mind, Body, Spirit.”

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Endo began early training in western drums and percussion. He began his taiko career with the first two kumi-taiko groups established outside of Japan – L.A.’s groundbreaking Kinnara Taiko, and then with the renowned San Francisco Taiko Dojo. In 1980, he embarked on a decade-long odyssey in his ancestral Japan, studying and performing with Osuwa Daiko, Sukeroku Taiko, Oedo Sukeroku Taiko, Hogaku Hayashi with Mochizuki Ryu, and Matsuri Bayashi with Maru Kenjiro He has the honor of being the first foreigner to have received a “natori” in hogaku hayashi.

In the greater musical world in America, “Kenny Endo” has become synonymous with the word “taiko.” He is one of the most versatile musicians in the genre, crossing easily between the traditional and his own globally-inspired style. Endo also has an MA in Ethnomusicology and is highly sought after for educational programs and workshops.

Endo has recorded five CDs of original taiko compositions and was a featured artist on the TV special “Spirit of Taiko” in America. He has performed for musicians Michael Jackson, and Prince as well as the late Princess Diana and Prince Charles. He has...

MyFoxNY.com reporter Ti-Hua Chang, MSNBC anchor Richard Lui, NY1‘s CeFaan Kim and Michelle Yu, spoken word poet Kelly Tsai and actress Jen Kwok will emcee the 32nd Annual Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Festival on Sunday, May 8, 2011 at Union Square Park (East 17th between Broadway and Park Avenue) in New York from 12:00pm to 6:00pm. Organized by the Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans since 1971, this annual festival is the longest running and largest event celebrating Pan Asian heritage on the East Coast.

Ti-Hua Chang

This year’s festival is themed around the journey that Asian Pacific American ancestors have taken to bring us to this moment that celebrates not only the value of families but also our heritage in the combining of the traditional and very colourful culture across the continent of Asia that make us proud to be Asian Pacific Americans. The festival will feature fun activities for children and adults, savory samples of Asian cuisine, booths representing local Asian American organizations, and an impressive lineup of musical artists, dance presentations, martial artists, taiko drumming groups and magicians. For more details on the event, click here.

List of Performing Artists:
Music: Hsu-nami, PaperDoll, Reni Mimura, Dana Leong ft. Le Zhang, Nina Sophia Mojares, and Nuf Said ft. Ioana Vintu
Dance: Polynesian Dance, New York Chinese Cultural Center, and Yosakoi Dance
Martial Arts Demonstrations: Chinese Freemason Athletic Club, Kyakkokan Dojo...

From May 4-8, 2011, the Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC) presents the 11th Annual New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF), the oldest and most prestigious Indian film festival in the country, with 25 feature films, documentaries, and shorts from and about the Indian subcontinent screening over five days. NYIFF features a mix of film screenings, discussions, industry panels, nightly parties, an awards ceremony, and gala red carpet events.

The U.S. premiere of Disney’s Do Dooni Chaar directed by Habib Faisal and starring Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh, kicks off the New York Indian Film Festival with a star-studded Opening Night red carpet at the Paris Theatre in Manhattan, followed by a gala benefit dinner at the Jumeirah Essex House. H.E. Meera Shankar, India’s Ambassador to the United States, will deliver the welcome address. Film festival screenings will take place from May 5 through May 8 at Tribeca Cinemas, including the Centerpiece selection – the New York Premiere of Aparna Sen’s Iti Mrinalini , followed by an afterparty at Tribeca Bar. The Festival’s Closing night selection, the U.S. Premiere of Rituparno Ghosh’s Nauka Dubi, will screen at Asia Society followed by the annual awards ceremony and afterparty. In addition, the festival is hosting an exclusive celebrity-filled celebration honoring the 150th anniversary of the birth of India’s legendary Nobel Prize-winning artist and poet Rabinranath Tagore at Asia Society on May 8.

Making its U.S. Premiere will be Sudhir...

Chef Vikas Khanna Photo by Lia Chang

Celebrity Chef Vikas Khanna’s documentary Holy Kitchens – Karma to Nirvana, the second installment in the series which focuses specifically on Hinduism, Lord Krishna’s spiritual practices, and the principles of KARMA and NIRVANA as set forth in the Bhagavad-Gita, will premiere at the New York Indian Film Festival on Saturday, May 7, 2011, at 12:30 p.m. in Tribeca Cinemas’ Theater TWO (54 Varick Street). Click here to purchase tickets.

“God comes to the hungry in the form of food,” said the ‘Father of India’ Mahatma Gandhi. It is this philosophy which has compelled Chef Vikas Khanna to explore the symbiotic intersection of food and religion in his documentary series Holy Kitchens. “At any given time somewhere on Earth, people are gathering to share food in the name of God. This is spiritual sustenance, meant to bring us closer together and closer to the Creator,” says Khanna. “This is the story of Holy Kitchens.”

The film features interviews with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Arun Gandhi, Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, Shaunaka Rishi Das, Aroon Shivdasani, Lynn McGuire, Scott Carney and Anju Bhargava. It is written and narrated by Andrew Blackmore-Dobbyn, directed by Anubhav Bhardwaj, and co-directed by Francisco Aguila. Karma to Nirvana is a Junoon Hospitality presentation.

Vikas Khanna’s journey in the documentary takes us right into the soup kitchens of Amma, Mata Amritanandamayi Devi’s ashram in Kerala, where Amma blesses thousands of people...