Indian dance or natya as we all know was born with a purpose and has
been growing as a beautiful tree with its roots in the divine
earth. This tree has spread across the horizons with its
innumerable branches (shakhas), each branch representing a style of
dance. One can think of the tree being in its prime when its flowers are
in full bloom and spreading its fragrance worldwide. But as we enjoy
the fragrance, we should not forget the purpose with which its seeds
were sown on earth. Dance was born not only as a mere entertainment, but
also for ‘loka kalyanam’ or social welfare. Is our dance fulfilling its
objective today? Or would it ever fulfill? What is its state today in
our society? Are we as dancers doing justice to the art we have learnt
putting in so many years of hard work? With all these questions
revolving in my mind for a long time, a very fruitful talk with a singer
triggered me to pen down my thoughts into words.
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Visiting Bangalore soon after centenary celebrations of Mohanrao
Kallianpurkar to attend Varsha Utsav organized by Adhyasha Odissi Dance
Ensemble run by Odissi exponent Sarita Mishra, it was indeed a pleasure
to meet another devotee of Odissi based in Bangalore, performing,
teaching and organizing programs enlisting support from Bangalore based
local senior and contemporary dancers. I had not met her or known her
earlier, but seeing her work, dedication, enthusiasm and high standard
of her own dance, I was duly impressed. Sarita Mishra hails from
Bhubaneswar. Her husband Uttam Rath is a military officer. Though he has
to move from city to city, his stay in Bangalore offered Sarita scope
to start an institution to teach Odissi to young dancers and also elder
women interested in dance. Within two years she succeeded in gathering
around her few talented dancers, including those who have had training
in Bharatanatyam and worked assiduously to build up an enjoyable
repertoire.
She succeeded in inviting the luminaries from Bhubaneswar,
the leading lights of present day Odissi, both musicians and
exponents. Odissi exponent Guru Bichitrananda Swain, mardala
exponent Guru Dhaneswar Swain, Odissi vocalist, musician, composer Guru
Ram Hari Das, Odissi exponent Sujata Mohapatra and also Chittaranjan
Mallia, secretary of Odissi Sangeet Natak Akademi, an authority on
Gotipua dance tradition and a scholar, participated in the two day
festival, displaying their art and gave an enchanting glimpse into
Odissi dance and music. Sarita’s own repertoire, her choreography of few
numbers, and her solo showcased the sound training she has received and
also her attempts to choreograph a variety of numbers.
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And then fashion came calling! Again! We performed for designer Anju
Modi’s collection presented at Delhi Couture Week. The collection
labelled ‘Draupadi’ was all about the warrior princess look. Working on
the theme for her collection we depicted three scenes from Mahabharata –
SWAYAMVAR, GAME OF DICE and CHEERHARAN. The stories were well known but
never explored by us in the Indian Contemporary Dance context.
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In Bharatanatyam performances, audiences are treated to "poses" by
dancers. When I was a young girl learning dance, I used to attend
performances of senior dancers every now and then and I noticed that
some gurus had taught their students to give statuesque poses, while
others eschewed them completely. For example, Guru Vazhuvur Ramaiah
Pillai's students struck the Nataraja and other poses at frequent
intervals in their shows, whilst the students of Pandanallur
Chokkalingam Pillai were more reticent with poses. I noticed also
that Balasaraswathi never lifted her leg in the Nataraja pose. I assumed
then that perhaps it was because of her age (then in her forties) or
perhaps she was heavier in build as compared to many others whom I saw
in performance. Later, I read Dr. Raghavan, her mentor. He was very
disapproving of unnecessary poses and thought they were aberrations! He
used phrases like "rasabhasa" meaning contrariness to Rasa, which said
it all. I loved that brevity of expression.
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1. Stretch your IT Band
2. Strengthen your Quadriceps, Hamstrings and Gluteus
3. Yoga, swimming, brisk walking and cycling also help strengthen your knee
4. Change your eating habits
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There are moments in one’s life when destiny smiles in the face of
adversity. One such moment came in my life when I had an accident
in1969, which left me with a permanent injury and brutally cut me off
from performing Bharata Natya. Some of my well-wishers helped me to
overcome the initial shock and despair by encouraging, to the point of
coaxing and goading me, to teaching Bharata Natya in Montreal. “What a
formidable task to undertake,” I thought at the time; but, as if by
divine intervention, my gurus U.S. Krishna Rao and U.K. Chandrabhaga
Devi (Guruji and Amma to me) appeared on the horizon just when I needed
them most, to provide guidance and inspiration and above all, to help
regenerate my passion for dance.
The Rao couple was on a visit to North America in the spring of 1980 and
accepted an invitation from me to come to Montreal. They gave a
scintillating lecture demonstration on Bharata Natya, organized by the
India Canada Association of Montreal, to a packed auditorium of over 500
captivated listeners. On that occasion, not only did they enlighten the
Montrealers present on the intricacies and aesthetics of Bharata Natya,
but also endorsed, with warmth and generosity of spirit, my humble
efforts to start a dance school by agreeing to return to Montreal for an
extended stay. It was a wonderful way to re-establish our contact and
renew our ties which dated back to the late fifties when I had gone to
Bangalore for advanced training in Bharata Natya after having earlier
studied the art in Patna from one of their disciples, Guru Balakrishnan.
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Classical vocalist, composer and Odissi musicologist Pt Raghunath
Panigrahi passed away in Bhubaneswar on Aug 25, 2013. He was born on 10
August 1934 in Gunpur of Koraput District in Orissa. Pt Raghunath
Panigrahi learnt from his father Nilamani Panigrahi, the classical way
of singing Gita Govinda as preserved in the temple of Jagannatha in Puri
and is known for his lifetime contribution towards promoting,
propagating and popularizing the life and works of Jayadeva in the
Orissa style.
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