HEARTBEAT OF RAJASTHAN FESTIVAL

Dance & Music Festival in Pushkar, Rajasthan

MARCH 4 - 8, 2025

Journey into the heartbeat of Rajasthan through it’s music & dance! 

2025 Festival Featured Artists

  • ASHA SAPERA

    Kalbeliya Song & Dance Master Classes + Performances

  • IDU KHAN LANGA PARTY

    Sufi Kalam Candlelight Concert

  • SUNITA, MAMTA & KARISHMA SAPERA

    Chari & Kalbeliya Dance Masterclasses + Performances

  • SHEETAL RATHORE

    Rajput Ghoomar Dance Master Class

  • SHRUTI MISHRA

    Kathak Classical Dance Master Classes

  • NISHTHA AGARWAL

    Rajasthani Choreography Master Classes

Woman in colorful traditional Indian attire dancing with jewelry and accessories.

The heartbeat – a natural musical impulse that connects all mankind.  Indian dances anchor themselves in the tala (rhythm) – from the hypnotic simplicity of the Rajasthani drums, to the complex footwork patterns elaborated in classical Kathak dance, you will find the dancer in soulful dialogue with the beat.

Illustration of a woman in traditional Rajasthani attire with jewelry, with text promoting the Heartbeat of Rajasthan Festival from March 4-8, 2025, in Pushkar.

What is Heartbeat of Rajasthan Festival?

GLOBAL ONLINE CONFERENCE

A presentation slide titled 'Why Kalbelia Girl' with bullet points describing Kalbelia girls' characteristics and lifestyle. The slide is beside a photo of a woman wearing colorful traditional attire, smiling, and waving, with a blurred carnival or festival scene in the background.

5 DAYS OF MASTER DANCE WORKSHOPS

Three women in traditional Indian attire practicing Indian classical dance together indoors.

LIVE PERFORMANCES & DEMONSTRATIONS

A woman dressed in colorful traditional Indian attire singing into a microphone, with a young girl in similar attire performing behind her.
Young woman with a ponytail and tattoos on her arms smiling and dancing, with another girl and a person in the background in an indoor setting.

KALBELIYA ARTS EDUCATION INITIATIVE

FESTIVAL SCHEDULE

Weekly event schedule from March 4 to March 8, including dance classes, choreography, and performance events, with time slots from 10 am to 9 pm.

*Gold highlighted classes are broadcast/recorded for global online participation

Women dressed in orange traditional attire participating in a cultural dance, balancing decorated pots with flames on their heads.

Mega Stage Performance!

March 8, 2025

Jaipur Ghat - Pushkar Lake 7 - 9 pm

A woman dressed in vibrant traditional Indian attire performing a classical dance on stage, with intricate jewelry and a dark background.
Four musicians dressed in traditional Indian attire playing instruments on stage during a performance.

Embark on a journey of Rajasthani classical, contemporary and folk dances on Pushkar’s holy lake. Culminating with a new musical curation by the famed Hameed Khan Kawa (Musafir & Kawa Brass Band) and Marwari songstress Asha Sapera presenting the softer side of her haunting traditional sound.

Two musicians wearing traditional Rajasthani turbans, playing musical instruments against a vibrant green wall. The musician on the left is smiling and playing a stringed instrument, the other is playing a wind instrument.
Promotional poster featuring Sufi musician Sufi Kalam wearing a colorful turban with text over images of his face indicating an upcoming soulful acoustic concert of Sufi music with the Langa.

Festival Performance

An acoustic candle-lit concert of deeply devotional Sufi songs and mystical Raga from Rajasthan and the greater Sindh region. Sindhi Sarangi, Algoza, Vocals and Percussion of the Langa community.

Festival Performance

Image of three women in traditional Indian attire with head coverings, each wearing jewelry and a bindi, standing behind a magenta banner with white text that reads 'Kalbeliy Women’s Songs: Haunting Sounds of Women’s Past Nomadic Way of Life.'

Intimate and raw, join us for a wildly haunting experience of Kalbeliya women’s Marwari songs of this multi generational chorus in an intimate setting. Kalbeliya women’s songs reflect their old ways of life as a tribe of nomadic Jogi. Fierce, mystic and hilarious… experience a culmination of song repertoire restoration work we have been doing in our archiving & Kalbeliya Arts Education Intiative here in Pushkar.

Global Online Conference

Rajasthani Dance Narratives

RAJASTHANI DANCE NARRATIVES CONFERENCE

The goal of the HEARTBEAT OF RAJASTHAN FESTIVAL is to celebrate Rajasthani dance in all its diversity! We were particularly interested in bridging gaps between classical (Kathak) and folk dances of Rajasthan through interactions and breaking down pre-packaged historical narratives of performing communities such as the Kalbeliya by delving into current socio-economic issues.

An elderly woman standing on stage in traditional Indian attire, wearing a pink and gold dress, with jewelry and a pink head covering.

Guru Prerana Shrimali -

SPEAKER: Kathak in Rajasthan

Senior dancer of Jaipur Gharana of Kathak. She was initiated in Kathak dance by Guru Shri Kundan lal Gangani in Jaipur. Later, she was groomed in the art at Kathak Kendra, New Delhi, under Guru late Shri Kundan Lal Gangani of the Jaipur gharana.

A woman with dark hair and makeup, wearing a black outfit with small decorative beads, resting her chin on her hand and smiling at the camera.

Dr Arshiya Sethi

MODERATOR / SPEAKER

Independent scholar, Institution builder and Arts Manager, Dr. Arshiya Sethi, writes and speaks on cultural issues, internationally, on her research and administrative experience with the arts, particularly dance.

Dr Ayla Joncheere

SPEAKER: The Rhythms of Rajasthan & the Decline of Instrumental Diversity

Currently an Associate professor at IIT Jodhpur she was born into an artist family in Belgium, Joncheere discovered Rajasthani arts at the age of 12 and earned her PhD (2016) at Ghent University, specializing in ethnography, cultural anthropology.

A woman with shoulder-length brown hair, wearing a white long-sleeve shirt, earrings, and a nose ring, smiling and posing with her hand on her hip and her other hand resting on a piano or keyboard.
Poster for an online dance conference featuring traditional Rajasthan dance. Background shows women in colorful, traditional Rajasthan attire and jewelry. Event details include date, time, and topic of narrating Rajasthan dance stories from past and future, with photos of four women at the bottom.
A woman in colorful traditional Indian attire performs a dance with metallic trays on her head and in her hands at a festival, surrounded by seated spectators on an orange carpet.

Our Festival Dance Teachers

Our festival teachers come from diverse communities (Kalbeliya, Rajput, etc) of Rajasthan and will be in conversation about their current experiences, hopes and dreams for their dance futures.

REGISTER FOR THE CONFERENCE:

Register here by making a donation of any amount to the Kalbeliya Arts Education Initiative. You will receive access to the Zoom conference meeting and recording links.

JOIN THE CONFERENCE

Two women dressed in colorful traditional attire with jewelry, accessories, and head coverings, talking or singing outdoors.
$

Kalbeliya Arts Education Initiative

Your participation in this festival directly funds an empowerment project for young women artists of the Kalbeliya community who are often the sole earners of their families. We are:

  • Offering educational opportunities for them as young performers to hone their craft and learn from experts in their field

  • Create performance opportunities that embolden their confidence to keep up their traditional songs and dance culture

  • Archiving and documenting dissapearing song repertoire of the Kalbeliya community that speaks of their once nomadic lifestyle

Last year these ‘illiterate’ young dancers/performers got the chance to learn Kathak classical dance techniques and Kalbeliya singing with superstar singer of their community - Asha Sapera. This year we will offer a demonstration/concert from their workshops.