Anita says...July 2026

 I write this month's thoughts from the cool of the mountains. Watching the mist shifting shapes and sipping a cup of Nilgiris tea. Taking long walks in silence and reading. Writing a script for a new work and recalibrating for the months ahead.

It is that time of the year when sporting events abound. Amidst the summer outdoor dance and music festivals, my eyes turn to tennis (what else!) and the surprise that unfolded on the clay courts of Paris.

Even though the sport has moved onto the Wimbledon grass, I want to bring your attention to a surprising event that took place just before the women's and the men's singles final matches.

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Interview - Bringing Rasa to the Digital Stage: A conversation with Aravinth Kumarasamy - Dr. Siri Rama

With so much culture now experienced through screens, can the deep emotional connection of Indian classical dance - the Rasa experience - be felt online? Aravinth Kumarasamy, founder of Avai.Video, a streaming platform for Indian dance and arts, believes it can. 

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Obit / Tribute - Pratap Pawar (1942-2026)- Ashish Mohan Khokar

In the death of guru Pratap Pawar (20 May 1942 – 25 June 2026), a lifetime Kathak trotter came to an end.  A generous man but democratic personality, he was the FIRST ganda bandh (formally accepted student with a red thread on wrist tying ceremony) shishya of Pt. guru Birju Maharaj in 1970.

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Double Bill Summer Dance Festival at IIC - Taalam: column by Leela Venkataraman

IIC's Summer Festival, for its dance component on the second day (June 12), attracting a fair-sized audience, could not have envisaged a more rewarding recital than that of Sourav Mohanty - a rare male Odissi talent, whose evocative dance effloresced in both stillness and movement. A product of training under Durga Charan Ranbir and presently under Rahul Acharya, both hailing from the Debaprasad gharana of Odissi, Sourav's dance with its impeccable lines, could be a reference point for both delicate artistry and aesthetic sensibility in Odissi...

The next half of the program featured Bharatanatyam dancer Sandhya Easwar, this year's winner of the Spirit of Youth Series in Chennai. Trained at Chennai's Kalakshetra, followed by a spell under Roja Kannan with abhinaya lessons under Bragha Bessel, the dancer is presently pursuing her training under the Dhananjayans....

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Article - Guinness Record - Vazhuvoor Saravanan

Today, one frequently sees performances of our traditional music and dance being staged under the banner of "Guinness World Records." It is evident that students, parents, and - even more so - their teachers and organizers are keenly interested in showcasing these events. Does this seem sensible?

Our ancient traditional arts, preserved and cherished for centuries, form the foundation of our esteemed Indian culture. These arts are the identity of this land; language and art are like our two eyes. Until a few centuries ago, these art forms were practiced primarily as a means of worship.  

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From Entitlement to Embodiment A Nāṭyaśāstra Reflection on Desire, Dharma, and Śṛṅgāra - Rohit Viswanath

The internet is a storm chamber. One wrong gust and a petty quarrel becomes a cyclone. The recent dating refund controversy is one such micro-storm: a man treats the cost of a shared meal as an investment that ought to yield a return, and the court of public opinion quickly divides into camps. Some argue for splitting the bill; others condemn the attitude as a red flag or a violation of consent. These are necessary, defensive arguments. They tell us what not to do. They do not tell us how to rise.

To understand the poverty of this encounter, we must move beyond the mechanics of modern dating and recover a neglected civilisational dimension. Śṛṅgāra is the classical Indian aesthetic of cultivated desire, revered in Bharata Muni's Nāṭyaśāstra as the Rasarāja, the sovereign among rasas. Viewed through this lens, the controversy is not merely a matter of poor manners or questionable etiquette. It reveals a deeper aesthetic failure: the reduction of the unpredictable mystery of human relationship to the rigid arithmetic of a ledger. 

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Interview - Sandhya Raman and Suma Suresh on the layers of art forms that brought interdisciplinary Kintsugi to life - Shveta Arora

Starting late 2025 and continuing well into 2026, Lata Pada's Canada-based Sampradaya Dance Creations toured with the production 'Kintsugi'. Kintsugi is a Japanese art that honours broken pottery by mending it with gold lacquer, highlighting the breaks rather than hiding them and 'embracing embellished brokenness'. The concept of the production was that kintsugi is 'where rupture meets renewal and radiance', 'what we lose, what we mend and what endures'. It was applied to the Mahabharata, reimagining volatile and unresolved ruptures in relationships as points of transformation or healing. It was a rich amalgamation of Kathak, Bharatanatyam and contemporary dance, which was very well woven into the music and the rhythm. Plus, there was a natya element in enacting the stories - Eklavya and Drona, Draupadi and Yudhishthir, Kunti, Arjuna and Karna, Gandhari and her daughter Dushala.

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