Tag Archives: Fulbright Lectureship to India

NEW BOOK! Coming Home to India

Welcome to COMING HOME TO INDIA! It is the third book by Leslie Friedman, and the third book which was “launched” at Stanford’s Humanities Center program: A Company of Authors. We are very proud and pleased by the reaction to Dr. Friedman’s presentation. Members of the audience, which was absolutely full, asked about how and where to buy Coming Home to India. Professor Peter Stansky, the founder of A Company of Authors and director of it for 23 years, wrote to Leslie that her presentation and chairing the panel – The Wide World – “was terrific!”

The Fulbright Lectureship to India was awarded to her. It opened so many doors, “It changed my life,” says Leslie. After her time in India, the US State Dept. toured her in three countries.

Leslie writes, “I knew the title before I even started the book. There are moments when I feel the tears begin. I felt at home. So many places and persons welcomed me and were generous to me and my work. My travels in India started with a brief stay in New Delhi; then a week at Visva-Bharati a University founded by Tagore, the great poet; students seized a building for me to perform. I went back to New Delhi to cover a giant dance festival celebrating Uday Shankar, the famous dancer, for Ballet News. Next was Madras/Chennai where I was the first Western dancer to dance on the sacred stage of Madras’ Music Academy. Then, Bangalore, now Bengaluru, where I met Dr. Rangachar and Mrs. Vimala Rangachar. I will always love them as my family. Vimalaji told me over the phone from Bengaluru to Carmel Valley, CA, she did not know whether I was her sister, friend, or another daughter. Dancing in Bengaluru and staying with the Rangachars was a powerful, loving experience.”

Then, Leslie returned to New Delhi, received invitations from each place where she had already performed to perform in larger, more beautiful venues. This was wonderful. You must get this book to experience Leslie’s travel stories; they are funny, sometimes frustrating, and still funnier. Read about her success in her dancing and learning more of India’s history. On the way to India, Leslie performed at the University of Hawaii, Manoa, and Tokyo, Japan. After her time in India, the US State Department and host countries sponsored her. These were Sri Lanka, Egypt, and Tunisia.

Read this book. It will bring you along with Leslie and the amazing places and lovely individuals she met.

TO BUY THE BOOK:  SEND A CHECK FOR $25 PLUS CA TAX OF $2.28. Please include $4.47 for postage. IF YOU ARE NOT IN CA, you do not pay that tax. You can pay by returning to the landing page of Lively’s blog, scroll down the page, see the DONATE sign, click on that, and follow PayPal’s directions to pay.

And, if you will be driving, hiking, or even swimming near Mountain View, CA, you can stop by The Lively Foundation, 550 Mountain View Avenue, Mountain View, CA 94041 and arrange to pick one up. email: livelyfoundation@sbcglobal.net

DO IT NOW!

FULBRIGHT ASSOCIATON FEATURES LESLIE

Congratulations to Leslie Friedman, The Lively Foundation’s Artistic Director and the Founder of the International Dance Festival@Silicon Valley. The Fulbright Association selected her paper, Dance: The Universal Language (or is it?) to be featured at the Fulbright Association’s annual conference, October 21, 2023. This is the second time the Fulbright Association has selected her to speak to the whole conference about Dance. The first time was in 2000 when Leslie received the first Selma Jeanne Cohen Award for Excellence in International Dance Scholarship. The late Dr. Selma Jeanne Cohen was the founder of Dance History as a scholarly subject. Leslie’s winning paper was, Expression in Dance.

Leslie received two Fulbrights: the Lectureship to India, 1983-84, and the Senior Lectureship to Bulgaria, 2006. In India, ’83-’84, she traveled throughout the country performing concerts of her work and presenting lecture-demonstrations about American Modern Dance. In Sofia, Bulgaria, she was asked to create a new work for Bulgaria’s National Academy for Theater and Film. The American Institute of Indian Studies/Smithsonian awarded her a Fellowship for research in India; she interviewed gurus of several classical Indian dance styles. Her work in India in 1983-84 and the Fellowship from AIIS/Smithsonian gave her the information and understanding for her award winning presentation.

At the October conference, Leslie will present her talk, lead a discussion, and ask the audience to join her in a short, easy dance. The audience is open to non-members of the Fulbright Association. This year the conference takes place in Denver. The talk begins at 11:15 a.m., come by for an interesting, entertaining hour!

Artist in Residence: Dr. Leslie Friedman, Dancer, Choreographer, Writer

This is an article by author Don McPhail. It appeared in the November issue of OMVNA (vol. 31, Number 4) which covers the Old Mountain View, CA area.

ARTIST IN RESIDENCE: Dr. Leslie Friedman, Dancer, Choreographer, Writer

With quiet energy and a generous nature, Leslie Friedman is a local treasure. Her willingness to share and motivate other is distinctive. Residents who have participated in Leslie’s dance classes or the International Dance Festival@Silicon Valley which she founded and directs may be surprised to learn that this same unselfish teacher is an award winning, world-renowned dancer and ambassador of art. All of Leslie’s classes, the Festival, and other Lively Foundation events take place at Mountain View’s Masonic Lodge, in the heart of Old Mountain View.

Leslie Friedman’s extraordinary background is documented on The Lively Foundation’s website/blog  www.livelyfoundation.org   Leslie’s remarkable career as a dancer and choreographer has earned her acclaim from audiences and critics alike on four continents. She has performed with the support of the US State Department and host countries in Russia, China, India,England, Spain, Poland, Egypt, South Korea, Japan, and more. A writer and former history professor, she received her Ph.D. in Modern British History from Stanford. She taught at Stanford, Vassar, and Case Western Reserve before returning to dance professionally.

An invitation to introduce American modern dance to the artists of India’s National School of Drama led to a Fulbright Lectureship to support her work and travel. Beginning at Viswa Bharati University, home of Tagore, India’s Nobel winning poet, she performed across India: new Delhi, Bangalore, Madras, Calcutta, and Jaipur. Her work was so well received that each place invited her back for more performances.

Representatives of Indian arts institutions, US consulates or Fulbright in India took her to the next plane or train, but she traveled as she danced: solo. She was welcomed by people with whom she maintains long friendships. On China or Bulgaria she says, “I met wonderful individuals and learned so much.”

The success of her first India trips led to more. She performed and taught in Sri Lanka, Egypt, and Tunisia on that journey. Word of her beautiful dancing and ability to relate to new people and places spread, leading to more journeys touring her art. Next: Budapest, Pecs, and Gyor, Hungary; Barcelona and Madrid, Spain; Moscow and Leningrad, USSR. She knew these were peak experiences and was thrilled to be doing what she loved for appreciative, knowledgeable audiences.

The US State Department and The Place, London’s foremost theater for modern dance, co-sponsored her performances there. She taught her choreography to London’s Ballet Rambert. In China, she taught modern dance and created choreography for the national ballet academies: Beijing, Shenyang, and Shanghai. She introduced modern dance to Poland’s national ballets, making four extensive trips to Poland and Romania performing and choreographing.

Lively Foundation Artistic Director Leslie Friedman

She continued performing concerts across the US and the Bay Area. She and her company performed education performances about the the Gold Rush for thousands of students from San Jose to Marin. She created several firsts: concerts honoring the many holidays at year’s end; benefit concerts for breast cancer patients; Heroic, Beloved, a concert for Women’s History Month performed in multiple states’ universities and arts centers.

For this writer, Leslie Friedman’s delight in sharing her art is most inspiring see in the context of tumultuous historic events going on around her as she keeps dancing.

Current book:  The Dancer’s Garden, published in April, 2019

Current project: International Dance Festival@Silicon Valley, Founder & Artistic Director