Interview - Raja Reddy: It is the duty of the Guru to create rasikas - Tapati Chowdhurie

What was the concept behind the presentation of your new choreography for the 26th Parampara festival?

"Universe that is God" was inspired by Dr. Pandu Ranga Rao's book of the same name. It is an exploration of one's connection with universal one, which is crucial to maintain the balance of life on earth. Meditating to realize the Supreme spirit will help us understand how all life is interconnected with each other and ultimately how all life is connected to the one Supreme being manifested as 'Venkateshwara'. By meditating on 'Venkateshwara' one can try to understand the ultimate goal of life, marching towards something eternal, everlasting and inexplicable and what better way to do this than through dance and music. From the Vedic periods, ritualistic practices have been centered around engaging and enlightening people on to the spiritual path. These ritualistic practices with highly stylized gestural movements were usually accompanied by dance and music as an offering, 'Nritya Nivedana' such that through dance one can enter a meditative state similar to ritualistic chanting which can bring about an electronic change in the physical and metaphysical status of an individual. 

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Life's dreams spun into weaver's thread - Taalam: column by Leela Venkataraman

At the Habitat Centre, Ileana Citaristi, in a recital featuring her with students of her institution Art Vision founded in 1996 in the old city of Bhubaneswar, presented her own choreographies. Underlining the problems in arranging out-station programmes with no sponsorship, was the appallingly thin audience. Beyond providing auditorium space, Habitat was not directly involved with the event in any way, and with another programme of dance being held in the same building downstairs, the non-local group was at a distinct disadvantage.

Starting with an invocation to river Ganga based on Shankaracharya's Ganga Stotram strung to Rohan Dasgupta's music, dancers in squatting position as if in water, paid homage to the river adorning Shiva's head . Rushing with restless energy to meet the Ocean, like a nayika her beloved, are the Ganga's pearl like waves which wash away sins, earning salvation for the worshipper. For the devotee, being a turtle or a fish in its waters is a greater boon than being a wealthy king.

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Anita says...December 2022

Dance there upon the shore
What need have you to care
For wind or water's roar?
And tumble out your hair
That the salt drops have wet;
Being young you have not known
The fool's triumph, nor yet
Love lost as soon as won,
And he, the best warrior, dead
And all the sheaves to bind!
What need that you should dread
The monstrous crying of wind?

- A CHILD DANCING UPON THE SHORE
William Butler Yeats



In the last month of 2022, much has happened. And I share my thoughts.

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P3 - Panchavaktram, Purvajanmam, Prabhu - Dance Matters: Column by Ashish Mohan Khokar

 

Rarely, if ever, there's one production that leaves one mesmerized for its complete artistry. Rarely, if ever, a group of 25 dance equally well on stage. Rarely, 5 Indian classical forms merge seamlessly and simply, like a bunch of blossoming flowers. Rarely, all other aspects of a huge dance drama work - music, costumes, colors, commentary, contexts and concepts - become one wholesome canvass of arts and aesthetics. R for rarely and R for Reva University on outskirts of Bangalore, just 10 year old. Its Performing Arts and Indic Studies Dept. has put up this all-students production Panchavaktram and thereby hangs a tale.

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Parampara Festival features changing face of inheritance in dance - Taalam: column by Leela Venkataraman

A Pariwar Parampara, at least over two generations, the Reddy family of Raja, Radha and Kaushalya, have diligently passed on the Kuchipudi heritage to daughters Yamini and Bhavana, at a time when children taking to the parents' profession, particularly in dance, is not very common. The annual Parampara Festival conducted by the Reddys in the open-air auditorium, so thoughtfully constructed as part of their residence cum school in Delhi's Saket, has been featuring annually through this festival, the contemporary face of various dance forms, which trace their birth to a deep past.

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Sparkling Spanda synergy - Taalam: column by Leela Venkataraman

Choreographies of Leela Samson presented by her group Spanda, at the Kamani, Delhi, showed how group energy can be an experience of immersive joy in the dancers, while executing within the same space relationships both reciprocal and distancing. Within the group symmetry, Leela's choreography getting away from the frontal faced dancing looking at the audience, comprises movements having dancers facing different directions, the simultaneity of various types of actions forming part of a larger picture not spelling dissonance. An example was the curtain raider - an obeisance to the Sun, Bhaskaraya Namaha, based on verses taken from the Krishna Yajurveda Taittiriya Brahmana, with the Beejaksharas as the seven colours of the sun representing the seven horses of Surya's chariot. The sounds Ha and Ra, standing for Akash (the void of the sky in which the Sun rises and sets), and Agni (fire ball that the sun is) respectively, both constituents of the sun. Addressing Surya as the Mitran (friend and well-wisher) and destroyer of all evil, the dancer praying for the welfare of all, energizes her/his body, the instrument of movement, by offering salutations through the Surya Namaskar. There is stillness punctuated by sudden bursts of energy. As the sun rises, the world wakes up, with plant, bird and all living creatures coming to life. Each of these actions gets performed in unison, with dancers in varied actions facing different directions, all as part of one large frame - with Rajkumar Bharati's music in all morning ragas - Suryakanti, Ravichandrika and Surya....

It is after a gap of several years that one got to witness the Modern Dance creation of Kolkata's Sapphire Dance Creations headed by Sudarshan Chakravorty. The Company is celebrating its 30th year of existence - no mean feat, particularly for an institution pursuing 'creative dance', which does not have the kind of support that, what is known as 'classical' dance in India, enjoys.

Sapphire's evening of Interface began with the Subijaya awards in memory of Sudarshan's parents who perished in a plane accident, conferred on persons in the field of arts viz...Odissi dancer Sharon Lowen, Dadi Pudumjee the puppeteer and Kathak specialist Shovana Narayan....

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Young talent played its part too - Taalam: column by Leela Venkataraman

While much of my writing surrounds high profile events held in the capital, one tends to forget the part played by young talent. Belatedly, to compensate for the lack of coverage given to their participation, I begin with mention of Nava Lavanyam, presented by International Academy of Mohiniyattam, wherein one was treated to how Mohiniattam dancer Jayaprabha Menon's approach to training her students with constant exposure to Theyyam, Kalaripayattu and Sopana Sangeetam, along with providing sufficient room for self-expression by the student, supported, when needed by teacher guidance, would seem to be paying dividends. The evening saw a presentation of self-choreographed, original items by most of the students, and what impressed was the apparent effort, varying ability in each performer notwithstanding, at internalizing the chosen theme, instead of a superficial treatment. The evening began with a Swathi Tirunal lyric Madhupavalitakhandam, sung in viruttam and set to ragam Hamsadhwani, dedicated to Ganapathy, presented by the entire group, and even while each dancer seemed involved, Jayaprabha's concept of group choreography, while adequate, is not exceptional.

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