Cultivating
Culture Through
Dance
Established in 1981 by Nilima Devi MBE
- Centre for Indian Classical Dance
CICD
Mission Statement
The Centre for Indian Classical Dance (CICD) is a visionary South Asian dance organisation which acts as a specialist dance agency in the East Midlands. It promotes and develops South Asian dance through training at all levels, performances, networking and partnerships at local, regional and national level.
CICD passionately believes that South Asian Dance is for everybody irrespective of age, gender, ability, race and nationality. By promoting interest in dance, it also promotes interest in South Asian heritage and culture.
We Are Hiring...
Governance Consultant
The Centre for Indian Classical Dance in Leicester have secured Arts Council England for a project to plan for CICD’s future role and succession for Nilima Devi. We require a consultant who can advise on and devise a process for small grant giving and board recruitment for an estimated 5 days.
Uttsav - CICD’s 40th Anniversary event programme (1981-2021)
Uttsav is a year-long celebration of CICD’s impact on dance in Leicester and the development of Indian classical dance in the UK and internationally. We are grateful for support for this from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Arts Council England, Curve Theatre and Leicester City Council.
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Events include:
Pancham - Weekly online seminars led by international speakers from the UK, India and Canada, will explore themes from the practice of classical Indian dance. They include Mira Kaushik OBE, former Director of Akādemi and Dr Radhika Shurajit; Roshan Datye; Dr Padma Subramaniam and Dr Swarnmalya Ganesh - all academics working in India. The speakers will illustrate their talks with images, performance clips, and performances in Kathak and Bharatanatyam. (June 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th, all at 3pm)
Rachana – This online interview with Nilima Devi MBE considers her 40 years of artistic Kathak Journey as a dancer, choreographer, teacher, mentor, creative collaborator and artistic director of CICD based in Leicester, UK. (November 2021)
Parampara - Collecting written memories of traditional Indian dance and videos of ex-CICD students and performances. An online film will be launched during Diwali. (November 2021)
Virtual Diwali - Emerging artist, Meera Patel, will create a piece based on a poem by Tulsidas presenting various aspects of Rama, hero of the epic, Ramayan. (November 2021)
Tattva-2 - This showcase in partnership with Curve Theatre will reprise pieces from past productions, as well as presenting a new work, The Road to Nine Sentiments choreographed by young dancers mentored by Kesha Raithatha. (Early 2022)
For further details of and access to events, and to contribute written memories to Parampara, please email cicdukinfo@gmail.com
CICD's 40th Birthday Wishes From Kathak, Bharatanatyam Artists and students
Beautiful and Inspiring messages for CICD's 40th Birthday Anniversary (1981-2021)
A celebration of Indian dance costumes.
The Centre for Indian Classical Dance (CICD) has been teaching young people to dance and helping to establish Leicester as a world leader in South Asian culture ever since 1981, and so in 2021 it celebrates its 40th anniversary.
Discover some key items from the 15 costumes donated to Leicester Museums & Galleries as a result of the Poshak Puralekh project.
Our History