Buddhist Culture: Yangchenma Arts & Music to Host Four-Part Online Series on Himalayan Dance Traditions

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Buddhist Culture: Yangchenma Arts & Music to Host Four-Part Online Series on Himalayan Dance Traditions

By Craig C Lewis
February 21, 2024

Yangchenma Arts & Music will host a four-part live-streamed series of talks on the ancient dance traditions of Himalayan cultures in March on the theme “Sacred Dance Documentation in the Himalayas: A Journey Through the History and Culture of Himalayan Dance Traditions.” This practical series, presented by Core of Culture, will feature Prof. Lindsay Gilmour of the University of California at Irvine and Joseph Houseal, director of Core of Culture and BDG columnist.

“Sacred Dance Documentation in the Himalayas” will be live-streamed on 7, 14, 21, and 28 March, with special guests Newar tantric priest Prajwal Vajracharya, wilderness specialist and cinematographer Nathan Whitmont, and Ladakhi cultural activist, Dr. Thinles Dorje.

Core of Culture, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to safeguarding intangible world culture and assisting the continuity of ancient dance traditions, with a focus on Himalayan cultures and Buddhist ritual arts. It seeks to educate the public, practitioners, and scholars about disappearing cultural heritage; to safeguard intangible world culture; and to assist in the continuity of ancient dance traditions.

Prof. Lindsay Gilmour of the University of California at Irvine. From yangchenma.org

Joseph Houseal, director of Core of Culture and BDG columnist. From yangchenma.org

Each installment of the four-part series will focus on a distinct aspect of documenting these ancient and sacred traditions:

Part One: Archival Documentations (7 March)
Part Two: Museum Exhibitions (14 March)
Part Three: Documentary Film Making (21 March)
Part Four: Art Films (28 March)

Click here for more details and to register

“Each of the four 90-minutes sessions will explore different approaches to the documentation of sacred traditions in the Himalayas, and reveal the evolution of fieldwork, dance research, and digital documentation over the past 25 years,” Yangchenma Arts & Music explained. “These rare and endangered dances are hundreds—even a thousand—years old, ranging across the spiritual landscape from Kashmir, through Zanskar and Ladakh, extending to Himachal and Arunachal Pradesh in India; and onto Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Japan, China, and Tibet.” (Yangchenma Arts & Music)

Yangchenma Arts & Music is a community organization that aims to preserve, promote, and celebrate the richness and diversity of human cultures through artistic and musical wisdom traditions that are kept alive through the connection and shared experience of people throughout the world.

“Seven days prior to each session, additional video content will be released for participants to view on their own time,” Yangchenma Arts & Music observed. “This content includes rare archival footage, documentary film, museum films, and selections from film festivals.” (Yangchenma Arts & Music)

Craig C Lewis

Craig Lewis grew up in a transplanted Scottish family in southern England before setting off against all advice to seek light and wisdom in far-off places, rather than staying put and looking within. After repeated encounters with the Buddhadharma as a journalist in Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, and across Asia, he eventually found refuge as senior editor at BDG, where he reports and writes on the diversity of contemporary manifestations of the Dharma. Craig is also a keen mountain trekker and photographer, finding particular inspiration in the peoples, cultures, and Buddhist expressions of the Himalaya. In his column for BDG, “Chasing Light,” Craig seeks to document encounters, experiences, and epiphanies resulting from his own tentative and faltering path toward liberation. Contact: [email protected]

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