In late February, Dr. Menaka Thakkar arrived at The Banff Centre for a two-week creative residency with several members of her dance company. It was a return of sorts — the Menaka Thakkar Dance Company (MTDC) had made a stop at the Centre as part of a national tour during the early 1990s, but this was the first time the company had been in residence, and Thakkar was making the most of it.

She is Canada’s foremost practitioner and teacher of Indian dance, a highly stylized, remarkably expressive form of movement that has evolved over millennia. Developed from ancient Hindi musical and dance styles, the company’s performances combine traditional and contemporary movements into original new works.

Thakkar herself immigrated to Toronto from India 35 years ago, after establishing an acclaimed career as a dance soloist. Since arriving in Canada, she has taught hundreds of dancers — many of them have opened their own schools across the country. She teaches classical bharatnatyam dance at the National Ballet school, and has collaborated on new work with Canadian choreographers including Danny Grossman, Robert Desrosiers, and Claudia Moore. Taking a break from an intense residency, Thakkar spoke about her time in Banff, and her future plans.

What has your experience been like at The Banff Centre?

The surroundings here are so inspiring. Very few artists get to work with no distractions. When I’m at home in my studio, there are classes going on all the time. Nobody in the company has had anything else that they’ve had to do, and I’m inspired by meeting so many other artists here.

What are you working on here?

We are choreographing and visualizing the production of two new performances. One is based on a 12th Century poem, the Gita Govinda, which has inspired all the arts in India. The second piece is based on work by the Nobel Prize-winning poet Rabindranath Tagore, who wrote about the artist’s soul. The traditional movement in this work provides a groundedness. Then we can add contemporary movement to that.

Every detail in this form of dance appears to have a deep meaning.

There is a language of hand gestures and eye movements in classical Indian dance that has a philosophical and religious background. This also extends to the elaborate jewellery and makeup. The dancers get inner strength from each gesture, and it becomes a meditation for us. You find this feeling even in the contemporary dance we do.

What are your plans for this new work?

We have brought together dancers and composers from India and Canada, and we’re brainstorming ideas. We’ll incorporate film and video into the performance, and take it on tour across Canada next January. We would love to bring it back to Banff as part of the tour.