From spending time at the Royal Academy of Performing Arts to attending a lot of Tsechus, her zeal for Bhutanese folk and mask dances made her publish a book titled “Footfalls from the land of Happiness: a journey into the dances of Bhutan”.
The book was launched yesterday in Thimphu. And the author is a New Yorker.
Karen Greenspan is a New York based dance journalist. Researching for over eight years, in this book, Karen has talked so much about the Bhutanese folk and mask dances.
“Bhutanese people being Bhutanese and inside the culture don’t appreciate truly how much we westerners do not know about you and the gulf of understanding between the west and the east. And so I wanted to take that process that I went through to try and learn about what you take for granted and include that in the book so that I could take any new person along for the ride and help them understand it,” shares Karen Greenspan, a Dance writer/Researcher.
In her book, she takes the readers to Bhutanese festivals for a close-up view of the colourful dances and rituals as well as interviews with dance masters, Buddhist experts and dance practitioners from both monastic and lay communities. Greenspan has authored numerous articles on global dance traditions and contemporary dance artists and trends.
Samten Dolkar
