The Bhavan Centre - Institute of Indian Art and Culture is the largest centre of its kind outside India. Its purpose is to preserve the tradition and heritage of India. The Bhavan was founded in India in 1938 and there are more than 100 branches of the Bhavan in India. The UK Bhavan was the first independent overseas branch and it was inaugurated in 1972.

The Bhavan teachings closely follow those of Mahatma Gandhi. In the light of this philosophy, the Bhavan is a secular, non-political organisation open to all. HRH The Prince of Wales, Prince Charles is an Hon Life Member. Our patrons include The High Commissioner for India, HW The Mayor, Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, Lord Attenborough, Pandit Ravi Shankar.
 
 
What's on offer

The Bhavan provides courses in north and south Indian music, dance, languages, art and archaeology and yoga. Some 900 students attend our courses during the year. Courses are taught at different levels. We are also associated academically with Trinity College of Music (Trinity Laban) London.

Some 100 performances are given each year on our premises. We have presented concerts by artistes of the highest calibre –Pandit Ravi Shankar and Dr. M. Balamurali Krishna to name just two. We have recently started a series of collaborative concerts featuring western and Indian classical musicians called Bhinna Abhinna (Separate yet one) with the aim of diversifying our student and audience base.  

Location

The Bhavan Centre is located in West Kensington, a very short walk from West Kensington Underground station (District line) and Barons Court station (Piccadilly and District lines). It is also easly accesible by bus.

Facilities

The Bhavan has a wide range of facilities that are available for use by our regular patrons and are also available for hire by outside parties. Our facilities include:

• Mountbatten Auditorium - 300 seats and equipped to professional theatre standard
• Hathi Hall - For yoga and seminars
• Large and smaller Dance Studios
• Classrooms
• Art gallery
• Library  
   

Subject Strengths

The Bhavan Centre in partnership with Trinity College of Music (Trinity Laban) offers a degree course in the performance of Indian music and is validated by City University. This four-year course is taught mostly at the Bhavan's West Kensington site, where a strong tradition of Indian music and dance teaching/performance has been established over a number of decades. In the latter half of the course, students also study the degree at the world famous Trinity site in Greenwich.

Both Hindustani and Karnatic music are offered. The curriculum is organised into two core areas of study, performance studies and contextual, each of which contains a number of components. Performance studies carries approximately twice the weighting (and allocation of time) of contextual studies. Students are assessed mainly through performance examinations, coursework portfolios and seminar presentations. The strongest emphasis will be on practical and performance work, as is appropriate to an honours degree in performance. 
 

Student Story

Priya Sivashankar

Bharatanatyam Post-Diploma Course 

'At the Bhavan we are not only able to learn dance but we are also given the opportunity to perform in a professional auditorium. Learning Bharatanatyam here is a good way to keep fit, and also gives us a chance to keep in touch with our roots, because many of the dances we learn portray stories from Hindu mythology.

The Bhavan makes it compulsory to also learn the theory behind Bharatanatyam on top of the dance. It also offers us music lessons which are an invaluable asset, because music is vital to dance. The systematic way in which we are taught, with a firm foundation in adavus (classic steps) really disciplines us. Dancing in large groups gives us co-ordination skills, and dancing solo allows us to build confidence.

We are extremely lucky to have renowned teachers who are 100 per cent committed to sharing and imparting their knowledge to the next generation.' 

Open Days

We hold regular open days and events called India Awareness days, where organisations like schools can spend a day here sampling all the various art forms taught here. Contact us for more information.