Profile - Steps beyond sound: How Devika taught Devalakshmi to hear through movements - Bibin Balan

18-year-old Devika's story took a compelling turn when her guru returned to his native village, entrusting Devika with the full responsibility of running the dance school. With no time to hesitate, she had to swiftly transition from student to teacher, mentor, and guide, all at once. Among the first two students to learn under her was Devalakshmi....

Born to ordinary working parents in a humble household, the early years of Devalakshmi were marked by quiet struggles. Until Grade 7, she attended a regular government school, relying on basic gestures and lip reading to communicate with those around her. In Grade 8, when she joined Bishop Moore (Special) School, she learned formal sign language for the first time, giving her the confidence to express herself and connect more deeply with her dance teacher.

"The beginning was incredibly slow," Devika recalls. "I didn't know sign language well, and she struggled to communicate too... 

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Article - Unsung characters for adaptation in dance (Part 1) - Dr. Padmaja Suresh

Aesthetic experience says John Dewey in his Art as Experience, has been superimposed from systems of thought framed without direct reference to art. Rajashekhara in Kāvyamimāmsa, calls Sāhitya Vidya, Sarvapārṣada common to all Darshanas - hence we have drawn our aesthetic theory from concepts of Sānkhya, Nyāya-Mimāmsa, Vedānta, Tantra, Pratyabhijñya and all Bhakti schools. The Taittrīya Sootasamhita extolls the spiritual value of dance and music, both of which are performed incessantly by Śiva. Dance productions rely heavily on the poet, the scripts and the aesthetic value it holds. Choreography will depend on the artistic capabilities of imagination and skills to bring before the spectators, the popular legends and poems with added novelty or to bring to life a rarely exploited idea by inventing a production and discovering new possibilities of relish. The need to regulate Kama with Dharma and Mokśa sees the integration of beauty with goodness and truth all through our dance productions.

Bhārat is indeed the home of storytelling. It was from here that the Persians learned the art, and passed it on to the Arab continent, Constantinople, Venice and so on. The book The Ocean of Story of Somadeva's Kathāsaritsāgara is a magnum opus, the earliest collection of stories extant in the world. Somadeva was a Kashmiri court poet of the 11 century. It contains 22, 000 slokas, nearly twice as long as the Iliad and Odyssey put together. We can find well-known tales from the epics, as well as Rig-Veda, the Vetālapancavimśati and also some original ones. Embedded or Nested Stories can be traced back to the Rāmāyaṇa, the Mahābhārata, Pañcatantra, Jātakaṭṭhavaṇṇanā and the Kathāsaritsāgara.

The authors of the Mahākāvya-s and Nātaka-s gave a portrait of the sublime hero, Dheerodātta or a Mahāpuruṣa. Rama of Valmīki was both Dharmātma and Gāndharve ca bhuvi Śreṣṭha, a master of music (Ayodhya Kānda). The origin of the Ādi Kavi marks a sheet-anchor of poetic theory being the embodiment of Rasa, as cited by Anandavardhana in his Dhvanyāloka. 

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Anita says...June 2025

Welcome to the June monthly newsletter!

This month my writings will be brief. I have been travelling for most of May and have not seen many performances. Personal time has been uppermost on my calendar. May has always been a quiet month. The weather is blazing hot in most cities and academics take an annual break. I remember being in the mountains in Kodaikanal for summer vacations with my cousins and far away from dance classes, studies and examinations. It was a time to enjoy family, friendships and reset energies for the rest of the year.

For India based dancers, May is when many head to the west seeking opportunities in teaching, sharing and performances. Having just returned from the USA, I have seen Northern California already buzzing with musicians and dancers who have made their annual "Pilgrimage" to the Bay Area Bank of Mylapore! KA Ching! KA Ching! The sound of dollars is flowing in and the eager students are willing to part with significant sums of money to "enrich" themselves - for one weekend - through short intensives in technique through item learning. 

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Obit/Tribute - Radha Bhaskar Menon: A life in rhythm, a legacy in grace - Bijoy Anand Shivram and Neethi Srikumar

In the evolving cultural tapestry of Ahmedabad in the 1970s where classical traditions had already found fertile ground through pioneering institutions like Mrinalini Sarabhai's Darpana Academy, Kumudini Lakhia's Kadamb Dance Center and Elakshiben Thakore's Nrityabharti, emerged a school that was intimate in spirit, uncompromising in discipline and luminous in vision - Mudra School of Indian Classical Dances, co-founded in 1973 by Radha Bhaskar Menon and her husband and fellow artiste Bhaskar Menon.

For us - Bijoy and Neethi, a brother-sister duo who would later become the first such pair in Gujarat to perform their Arangetram - Mudra was more than a school. It was our sanctuary, our forging ground and most profoundly, our home of art. At its heart stood Radha chechi and Bhasker aettan, as we fondly called them - our beloved Gurus, mentor and the guiding light of our earliest encounters with Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi. 

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Unmute - Copyright Concerns: A Case study from Indian Music - Dr. Arshiya Sethi

At a time when the nation is mourning its dead tourists in the recent Pahalgam terrorist attack and containing enemy attacks through Operation Sindoor, I fear that not many would be interested about writings on music and the arts. Yet I do so because the bad times will pass and we will come back to being who we are- a civilization that values the arts and creativity, both of which flourish during times of peace. What I write today, is a tribute to those "achhe din" that lie ahead, round the corner, literally. It is also in keeping with the reason for my incessant writings on the lesser considered subject of arts and the law, as I want to imprint in the minds of all artists, the elements of the law that are uniquely applicable only to creative beings and which is both our right and our responsibility as stakeholders in the arts.

In this article, I focus on copyright. In recent days, the issue of copyright in the arts has been very much in the news, with the Delhi High Court hearing and then passing an interim order on case between Ustad Wasifuddin Dagar and A.R. Rahman. As this matter is sub-judice, I use only the facts in the public domain or those referred to in the order of Justice Pratibha Singh to reiterate some of the ideas and terms that are used in the understanding of Intellectual Property Rights.

 

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Article - Comedy Natyam - An experiment that marks the thick line between comedy and mockery - Ramaa Venugopalan

We all need to take life a little lightly. Laughing and adopting a comical perspective toward ideas or facts is healthy - so long as it does not cross the fine line into condescension and mockery.

History has shown us, time and again, how casual mockery, masked as "creativity," often leads to lasting consequences - for both individuals and communities. In the world of classical dance - Bharatanatyam in particular - we are witnessing a worrying trend: mocking our traditions, our Gods, our perspectives, and our very essence. This is not a new phenomenon. A slew of artistes, under the guise of being revolutionary, rebellious, or asserting creative freedom, personalize such approaches to gain quick fame and applause. 

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Tribute - A Dance Narrative Unbound, In memory of Kumudini Lakhia (May 17, 1930 - April 12, 2025) - Dr. Chitra Sharma

As I witnessed the arts unfold in their abstract dreams, my very being was drawn into the silent struggle of understanding the tangible through the intangible. To rebel against tradition, to transgress limitations, to give birth to something original - beyond theory, beyond scripture - must have been an unimaginable journey, Kumiben. And such a journey was never meant to unfold within the confines of Delhi. You left because what you sought had no precedent in Kathak.

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