Dear Friends of Assam Members Sharing some good news...
Dr. Menaka PP Bora wins Britain's coveted Leverhulme Fellowship Award as the first Indian Artiste. Dr. Menaka PP Bora, a national awardee of Sangeet Natak Akademi Yuva Puraskar has won Britain's highly prestigious and coveted Leverhulme Fellowship Award 2016 for 3 years to develop her artistic-academic career in India, UK and USA. As per the records, the majority of Leverhulme awards are usually given in the advancement of scientific, social and technological research to male scientists, scholars and academics with a proven record of national and global success. First Indian artiste to be awarded for her contribution to public engagement in research of humanities, Menaka will be researching the contemporary cross-cultural role of Sattriya performance traditions in India and global contexts with special reference to launching a global archive centre of digital humanities for Assamese arts at key world renowned British institutions including Oxford University's Bodleian Library, British Library, British Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum among others. It is worth mentioning that Dr. Menaka PP Bora has been promoting 'Assamese arts as a Global Brand' for international audiences through her dance performances, film screenings, BBC TV and Radio appearances and talk shows in recent years. She is the first Assamese artiste to be invited by the British Museum to promote Assam on a global scale and deliver a unique lecture and performance series (sold out) on Assam in connection with the famous Vrindavani Vastra in March 2016 at the British Museum. Over the years, Dr. Menaka PP Bora, the daughter of the legendary Indira PP Bora has played a pioneering role as the young cultural ambassador of Assam and India through her global dance tours including a recent tour sponsored by ICCR (Indian Council for Cultural Relations), Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India to Australia and New Zealand with artists from Barpeta sattra in Assam. She has promoted Sattriya dance as a contemporary classical dance after research work as a GLOBAL DANCE & MUSIC in the UK, USA, France, Vietnam, Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand among others. Hailed in India as a 'avant garde diva' (The New Indian Express) and 'youth icon' (The Hindu), Dr. Menaka PP Bora is a newly appointed Affiliated Artist at Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford after completing her PhD and post-doctoral research fellowships as a Wingate Scholar in Ethnomusicology at Faculty of Music, University of Oxford. Menaka is a multi award-winning and highly sought after classical dance soloist, choreographer and ethnomusicologist who combines the best of the Eastern and Western intellectual traditions having trained in Indian classical dance styles in India, ballet and contemporary dance at Laban Centre London. Menaka has won Sangeet Natak Akademi Yuva Puraskar (India's most prestigious National Award for young artists ). She has an MA in Transnational Communications and Global Media from Goldsmiths, University of London. She is an elected Fellow of The Royal Asiatic Society in London. She was a Finalist of BBC Radio 4's Journey of a Life time Award for radio broadcasting on music and monks of Assam. She has performed as a soloist in prestigious festivals and venues across the world including the The Edinburgh Festival, Lincoln Center for Performing Arts in NYC, Hanoi Opera House in Vietnam, Centre Pompidou and Palais de Tokyo in Paris, Te Papa National Museum in New Zealand and appeared as a Guest Speaker on BBC Radio's 'World music' programmes, Radio New Zealand and SBS National Radio in Australia.
