Ishita Singla defies all odds by managing not only a busy full-time career but also starting Madhuban, which is Calgary’s largest South-Asian performing arts crew.
Singla is a dancer and a choreographer. She has been dancing for the past 20 years, since childhood.
In 2016, after many years of performing as a solo artist, Singla came up with the idea of Madhuban as she didn’t feel artists were being treated fairly.
The name Madhuban was taken from the word Vrindavan, which is a place where mythological characters and the Hindu gods Radha and Krishna used to dance.
Just like the gods, she wanted to create a safe space for artists to perform.
“I felt like there was a gap for female artists and we were always seen as an accessory,” said Singla.
Madhuban initially started as a dance group, but Singla had always envisioned having a musical team as well.
“My initial vision was to have musical production, but I never imagined it would be to live music,” said Singla.
While she envisioned creating a musical team, she also dreamt of making a theatrical production.
Her dream of the theatre almost came true when they got a project with TEDxYYC, which was supposed to happen in 2020.
Madhuban pitched their story to TEDxYYC which was about the four Ashrams, the four stages of life — student life, household life, retired life and renounced life — in Hindu scripture.
This was going to be their first show which was 20 minutes long and had about 50 artists performing. But, as COVID happened it was not possible for them to go through with the show. That didn’t break her vision to work on theatre and as the world started going back to normal, Singla decided to attempt the performance once more.
While Singla was working on that script, she came across the previous one she had pitched and decided to use that for an independent show.
“We started working on it then one thing led to another and we had this magical thing ready,” said Singla.
The show, Jeevan, happened on Sept. 27 and turned out to be a huge success. Madhuban Performing Arts got a standing ovation from the audience.
Madhuban is planning to continue doing theatres for a very long time.
“This is just the beginning,” said Singla.
Madhuban’s success story under Singla does not stop here. Her group performed at the celebration of the arts festival hosted by Mayor Jyoti Gondek and a spokesperson said they “knocked it out of the park.”
“Everyone loved how they opened the show with energy,” said Allison Bates, a spokesperson for the mayor.
India is well known for its performing arts, and it holds importance because of the history of performing arts like theatre, dance and music.
Also, in most Indian festivals, performing arts hold a very important aspect. Most of the ceremonies are done with dance and music. This just goes to show the importance of performing arts in Indian, and now in Calgary.
Natya Shashtra which was written by Bharat Muni in 500 BC, is the oldest written production.
The Indian population in Calgary is growing at a very fast speed. This makes Madhuban an important part of city’s culture. According to 2021 Census data, South Asians make up seven per cent of the population of Canada and 10.46 per cent in Calgary.
Singla has been working as a senior communications officer in a full-time job while building Madhuban.
Even though working with a giant publication in a fast-paced environment she has given her passion enough time to mark significant achievements.
Since most of the members of the Madhuaban work full-time, Singla has tried to make sure that everyone would love to be there in practices.
“I wanted people to enjoy themselves and not feel like they came from one jail to another,” said Singla.
Bhupinderjit Chana has been a member of Madhuban’s dance and production team since 2019. She believes Madhuban is very approachable because of Singla’s attitude.
Other members of the team also had a lot of good things to say about Singla.
Shiv Thakar who has been with Madhuban since he was a little boy believes that the best word to describe Singla is “fearless leader.”
“She knows how to take control of everyone,” said Raval.
According to her team members Singla not only is authoritative, but she is also one of the sweetest people. She treats all the members of the group as her own family. Singla would help them with their personal and professional problems and make sure they felt comfortable.
Singla is loved by all the members of Madhuban.
