As a part of her one month US lecture tour, Mallika Sarabhai addressed a seminar at the Great Hall of the University of Helsinki, Aleksanterinkatu organized by ‘Sitra,’ the Finnish Innovation Fund on April 15, 2008. Dr. Sarabhai spoke on the role that women have played in shaping India and what she sees as their role in India’s future. She also presented a dance recital titled “In Search of the Goddess,” accompanied by Mr. Yadavan Chandran and Mr. Jayan Nair. The keynote speech was delivered by H.E. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, former President of India.

Darpana arranged a programme to felicitate Mrinalini Sarabhai's 70 years of work in dance at Natarani on April 9, 2008. A huge gathering of students and friends came to Natarani and many of them presented dance items including Mallika, Revanta and Anahita.

Many generations of people have been inspired by both the person of Savitri from The Mahabharata and Sri Aurobindo's interpretation of her as the flame of the future in his seminal work.

Mrinalini and Mallika Sarabhai first worked on the piece with world music composer Joel Thome in 1980 and it was presented as a work in progress. Over the years Joel has continued to rework it and present it as a concert piece.

This new interpretation brings together Mallika and Joel and musicians from the two continents - Linda Wetherill who has been working on and playing the piece for ten years, violinist Julie Goodale, electronic expert Mike Kratter and Darpana's own K Jayan, Shaji, Palanivelu, Rajesh and Manikanthan.

The founder of Darpana's Drama department and the prime mover behind Darpana mainstreaming the arts for social change, Kailash Pandya, passed away on december 24th after a prolonged and brave battle with cancer. Lucid till the last, surrounded by four generations of students and his family from overseas, Kailashbhai's last message to us was "battle on."
Director of hundreds of plays, reinventor of Bhavai, Gujarat's folk theater form, writer, actor, instigator of development projects, Kailash Pandya's presence continues to waft through Darpana, our ideas, our dreams and our aspirations.

Darpana is pleased to partner with the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Partnership Foundation (JRCPF), to engage college students in the Performing Arts across India in community service projects.  The aim is to develop social responsibility and entrepreneurship in young people while they are in college and make our communities stronger.

Through Darpana Academy of Performing Arts, college students across India in the Performing Arts discipline can apply for the grant.

What is a CASE Grant?

The Carter Academic Service Entrepreneur Grant is a competition among college students for the most innovative proposal to serve the community.

The idea of the Vikram Sarabhai Festival was born a few years after his tragic and early death in 1971. He was the co-founder of Darpana with Mrinalini Sarabhai, and its main supporter. He was a great lover of the arts, and a connoisseur. It was felt that the best way to remember and pay homage to him would be to have a yearly multi- arts festival in his home town, Ahmedabad.

From a modest beginning in 1974 in the Tagore Hall, till 1994, the festival highlighted major national and international artists like Prabha Atre, Bhimsen Joshi, The Battery Dance Company, Gruppa from Sweden, Pratap Sharma and Aleque Padamsee and Darpana’s own new productions.

Natarani presents the three day Kerala Arts And Crafts Festival beginning on the 13th of December. Showcasing a variety of art forms including Kathakali, Mohiniattam and the lesser known Nangiarkoothu. The festival will also feature exhibitions of handicrafts and textiles and the Natarani Café will be serving authentic Kerala breakfast, lunch and dinner during the three days. As part of the festival there will be free workshops of each form held from 10:00 am to 11:30 am each day, which will be open to the public.