Pulse of Bangalore; Surats of Delhi and mahurat in Surat! - Dance Matters: Column by Ashish Mohan Khokar

Surat is the diamond capital of India; from all over the world, famous companies send their stones to be cut, polished, shone here. Textiles too, this city boasts of as Amit Patel, sari specialist tells me, "Making a sari has 36 processes". Thirty six! From preparing the field to plough to grow cotton to cultivate, cut, collect, clean, cater, categorise to mills for treatment, transport, traction in market by design, depth and diamonds even (yes, a sari can cost up to ten lakhs!) the whole gamut is like guru gyan.

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Retaining authenticity while catering to contemporaneity - Taalam: column by Leela Venkataraman

It was a praiseworthy interactive initiative, spurred by Odissi dancer Madhulita Mohapatra heading Bangalore's Nrityantar - to round off the institution's annual celebration of Naman festival - with the invited dance critics and art column editors from different parts of the country, addressing the gathering of students in Bangalore's beautifully appointed Presidency University, on the occasion of the Performing Arts Colloquium 2026. The subject for the event Beyond the Performance, what sustains an Art form, saw proceedings comprising different aspects of this theme, allotted to each speaker. Opening remarks, warmly welcoming the guests, came from the Vice Chancellor Vidya Shankar Shetty, and Pritha Sanyal, Head of Presidency School of Liberal Arts and Science, Presidency University....

PROMISING SOLOISTS IN LASYAAYAN'S RAGANGA FESTIVAL

It is amazing how Odissi, having caught the imagination of the dance loving world within the span of seventy-five years, has been steadily attracting a larger clientele of dancers. At the Shri Ram Centre, Delhi, Lasyaayan, the Odissi institution headed by dancer Shimran Zaman, presented their Biennial Raganga Festival. 

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Article - The Instagramization of Indian classical dance by Dr. Rohini Dandavate

Social media has given Indian classical dance something previous generations never had: an immediate, global, and largely uncontrolled platform for visibility. A dancer in Bhubaneswar, Mumbai, Chennai, New York, or California can now reach thousands of people without waiting for a festival, Sabha, or institution to provide a stage. This became particularly evident during the pandemic years, when social media became an important means of maintaining visibility, communicating with audiences, and continuing artistic engagement. Since then, its role in the dance world has only continued to grow, bringing enormous opportunities for artists.

As someone who has spent several decades learning, performing, teaching, and choreographing within the Odissi tradition, I find this development both exciting and worthy of reflection. I have seen how access to dance has expanded through the screen. Artists who might once have remained known only within a particular geographical or cultural community can now be discovered by audiences across the world. At the same time, I have begun to wonder what happens to a form whose richness often lies in its gradual unfolding when it enters a medium designed for speed.

Every medium has its own visual grammar. Instagram and short-form video reward immediacy, visual impact, repetition, novelty, and compressed viewing. Classical dance, on the other hand, often requires time for development - a repertoire that unfolds gradually, a musical structure that opens incrementally, with subtlety and anticipation, and a relationship between the dancer and live audience that develops over time. 

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Article - The Sovereign Art and the Administrative Web: Sadhana in the shadows of the portal by Dr. Lata Surendra

 We celebrated 80 years of Independence, but let us finally be independent in thoughts, deeds, and actions. True independence cannot merely be a date on a calendar; it must live in the uncompromised truth of our cultural conscience. To safeguard the pristine in all walks of life, we must actively strip away the petite barriers of power politics, institutional lobbying, and the manufactured noise that dictates modern success.

Art, in its highest form, must remain our great didactic mirror. It must boldly reflect the raw, actual reality of our human experience, ensuring that what we sustain is truly authentic. If not, we will watch good, authentic artists fade into obscurity, leaving a concerned fraternity standing in the shadows - carrying heavy whispers, forever wondering at the how with a desperate, unanswered why.

Yet, today we find ourselves suffocating in a hyper-optimized social media landscape. We watch as innocent childhood, budding genius, and seasoned mastery are all forced into the same frantic arena - vying for fleeting digital footprints in 30-second reels. This desperate chase of quantity over quality dilutes the sacred.

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Anita says...October 2026

And just like that, I feel exhilarated to be a dancer, a performer and everything that has given me an inside view of this fabulous and frenetic world. I must confess, that the past few months had left me a bit wistful, maybe even a tad sad and uncertain about the future of our classical and neo classical styles. Despite all the efforts of recasting Bharatanatyam especially, in various moulds - stand-up comedy, Nightie Natyam (wearing kaftans for abhinaya) and Hip Hop, twerking and what not - there is so much energy and talent out there. Amidst the barrage of festivals and performances, I am seeing some phenomenal energy in the performing arts space.

And so, I share my travels and thoughts this month on a true high!

MELBOURNE

This vibrant and culturally diverse city called me back after 6 years. This time, my flight Down Under was to watch and lend solidarity to my long-time dance colleague, the dance diva of Australia, Anandavalli. 

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Modern Moksha - Dance Matters: Column by Ashish Mohan Khokar

Moksha is the ultimate quest for most evolved souls but in dance how to achieve it? No, I'm not referring to the often concluding item in Odissi repertoire, which is a joke now as all are smiling as if there's no tomorrow! Moksha? They are thinking of momos for dinner or what their mummies have made for dinner post-performance!

Minal is both a mummy and moksha seeker and if her Moksha was a quest for a new dance aesthetics in Bharatanatyam then she succeeded admirably at Alliance Francaise, Bangalore. Bringing in an international cast was both a boon and doom because one each student from London (Ritika Srikanth), Boston (Manasi) and 'Frisco (Janaki) showed virtual learning and internationalism in Indian dance and yet a repeat show will not be easy to collect them again, unless someone bank rolls it or sends their private plane to fetch each and drop back. Manasi and Janaki are sisters, besides. 

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Malavika Sarukkai's inward journey into dance/space relationship keeps audience spellbound - Taalam: column by Leela Venkataraman

Speaking of a world she inhabits, where dance is the language of communication, Malavika Sarukkai's talk at the IIC titled Dance Speak, held a rivetted audience enthralled. Totally divorced from textual theory and based entirely on her own intensely personal journey into the relationship of how dance sculpts and interacts with space, she had arrived at the conclusion that 'Space and Dance were partners'. Dance for her had become a language. Her natyadharmi, she discovered, was decided by space. Mudras and hastas don't speak by themselves. The gravitas of a hasta stems from its placing in space - as for example showing a 'sitting bird', just holding the mudra is not enough. One has to make the hand in hasta travel through the air and settle down to convey and suggest the message of a sitting bird. It is the elaboration of the hasta and its movement and placing in space, that conveys the full meaning.

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