It is heartening to see that youngsters are on the lookout for new directions, with novel themes as base for performances. The more encouraging factor is that organisations like Bhagyam Fine Arts and Ideas are willing to sponsor such attempts, at the risk of not getting sizeable audiences. What with minds full of the archetype of the slim and shapely dancer performing, to watch Dakshina Vaidyanathan Baghel, the Bharatanatyam dancer present Ayoga Vaatsalya built round the anticipation and excitement of a mother-to-be, with the dancer herself now in the seventh month of pregnancy, was to say the least, out of the ordinary....
Aditi Mangaldas Dance Company Drishtikon Dance Foundation, in collaboration with Oddbird Theatre in the third of its Zeroing In series, presented a Jugalbandi of two art forms - Kathak and Bharatanatyam. The attempt is itself bold, for dancers of the two dance genres, exceptions apart, have not been known to work very closely. The mini auditorium, ideal for experimental theatre, with ticketed shows evoking a good response, aside from close performer audience interaction, accommodates about five rows of audience on chairs at the same level as the performers, with five to six rows beyond of galleried seating....
Once again, outside the conventional box of dancers, particularly in Kathak, is Sudip Chakraborty, trained initially in Kolkata's Kalakshetra in Bharatanatyam before branching out to Kathak under Kolkata teachers Pranab Sanyal and Sandip Mallik - to finally - (in his 17 years spent with this dance form) come under Jaikishen Maharaj in Delhi. Now running his institution Nirvana Arts Foundation, he has caught the public eye, with his ability (stemming from a deep seated interest in literature, and general reading) for fresh perspectives, to bear on what would be deemed, cliched themes....
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