DESI DIARY
LATA PADA STEPS DOWN, NOT AWAY
Image credit: SDC.SAMPRADAYA.CA.
Lata Pada, Canada’s celebrated Bharatanatyam dancer-choreographer and founder and Artistic Director of Sampradaya Dance Creations (SDC), is stepping down after 31 years at the helm to welcome her mentee of six years, Suma Nair, as the new artistic director.
Said Pankaj Mehra, President of the Board of Sampradaya Dance Creations: “SDC and Lata Pada are synonymous; one cannot refer to either the organization or the person without the other entity immediately springing to mind. A mother gives birth, painstakingly nurturing her progeny until they are able to spread their wings and take flight to soar higher. Similarly, SDC is the product of Lata’s vision, diligence, passion for, and an unwavering commitment to, achieving excellence. As an icon of syncretism – be it dance forms, culture, communities or nations, she has trained youth not merely as artistes but to be good humans, while educating and entertaining both new and discerning audiences. Lata has opted to slow her hitherto hectic pace and we respect her wishes, although she will be sorely missed. We shall forever remain indebted to Lata Pada for giving us the prestigious SDC and wish her the very best for a happy, healthy and fulfilling life ahead.”
Pada leaves the company in the hands of an accomplished team with Jasmine Sawant as Executive Director who has been a member of SDC since 2004. They have contributed to its growth and are well placed to take the organization forward. The Board retains Lata Pada in the position of Strategic Advisor to the company and she continues to remain as the head of Sampradaya Dance Academy, Canada’s foremost professional Bharatanatyam training dance institution.
“Sampradaya Dance Creations has weathered the storm of the pandemic,” says Pada. “It is poised with fresh and energetic leadership for a new future, and I am very excited to leave it in the capable hands of Suma Nair and Jasmine Sawant. We have a visionary board to support the Executive team. I am happy to continue to serve in an advisory capacity.”
Starting her career as a soloist, touring internationally, she has nurtured students at Sampradaya Dance Academy, a professional training institution whose graduates have grown into outstanding professional artistes.
Pada’s choreographic vision is compelled by her desire to reinvigorate Bharatanatyam as a dynamic dance form as it navigates new and uncharted territory resulting in a stunning range of solos, ensemble works and multi-disciplinary productions.
She believes in bringing a global worldview to her creations which are composite of many cultural influences and imprints of the world we live in. Her many collaborations with other art forms like Balinese, Korean, Ballet and African dance have been much appreciated for their integrity of purpose and vision.
Pada is the first South Asian artiste to be appointed to the Order of Canada in 2009.
Her autobiographical work, Revealed by Fire (2001), was a collaborative work with playwright Judith Rudakoff, and photographer Cylla von Tiedemann, based on the loss of Pada’s husband and two daughters in 1985 aboard the Air India Flight 182, caused by an act of aviation terrorism. The work, which went on to win many accolades, traces her journey from grief to healing, to renewal, deeply informed by her courage and dignity as she dealt with her loss. For more than two decades, she served as an eloquent spokesperson for the families affected by this tragedy and was instrumental in lobbying all levels of government for a trial as well as an inquiry into this country’s only case of aviation terrorism.