How it all began
In 2007, founder Raka Maitra began teaching Odissi, a classical dance from East of India to a handful of eager students which gradually grew in numbers to form a community who bonded over a common love for dance. Raka’s own aspirations to create original works led her to choreograph and experiment with the form which brought it to festivals all over the world. In 2014, the company Chowk Productions was formed, establishing it as a professional dance company when Chowk got awarded the Seed Grant by the National Arts Council.
Since then, Chowk has continuously pushed boundaries in the world of dance, bringing exciting, original works which incorporate Asian sensibilities with new theatre traditions, transcending cultural boundaries and redefining what it means to amalgamate past and present in today's multicultural society. Chowk was recognised as a Major Company by the National Arts Council in 2021 and is internationally recognised as a pioneer of a unique Asian contemporary dance language that dissolves the dichotomy between tradition and modernity.
What does Chowk mean?
The word Chowk, in Hindi, refers to a plaza- a square where people gather; an intersection where cultures cross. In Odissi, Chowk is also one of the two basic stances of the dance form. To us, CHOWK is all of that and more. It is a home, a place to encounter new people; a base to explore new cultures and ideas, and a foundation to always return.
Chowk’s full-length contemporary works include The Hungry Stones (2011), The Blind Age (2014), From Another Land (2015), The Second Sunrise (2016), from: The Platform (2017), The Experimental Man (2019) Pallavi through Abstractions (2020), These Brief Encounters (2021), and Yahi (2022).
Chowk’s classical productions include You Cannot Look Away (2014) and the Pallavi Series, which includes Pallavi and Space (2016), Pallavi in Time (2017), Pallavi with Stillness (2018) and Pallavi through Abstraction (2021).
Chowk’s productions have been commissioned by festivals in Singapore such as Kalaa Utsavam and da:ns festival. Chowk has also toured internationally at venues and festivals including the Kennedy Center (Washington DC), Les Hivernales festival (Avignon), the Melkweg (Amsterdam) and Ten Days on the Island festival (Tasmania).
Chowk Productions Ltd is supported by the National Arts Council under the Major Company Scheme for the period from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2025.