On her first death anniversary which falls on 1st September 2015, I
dedicate my work to Guru Maya Rao without whom I could have never made
it this far. She is one person who dedicated her life for her students. I
was very fortunate to receive her love. I grew and gained world
recognition under her guidance and blessings. Only two weeks
before her sudden demise, she attended my show in Good Shepherded School
auditorium in Bangalore and blessed all my wheelchair-bound dancers.
She always had time for me whenever I called her and made it a point to
attend my new productions and give her insights. Some of her favourites
were ‘Sufi on wheels’, ‘Yoga on wheels’, ‘Bhagavad Gita on wheels’ and
‘Bharatanatyam on wheels’. I remember in 2001 how she specially flew
down from Chennai to attend my production of ‘Women of India’ performed
by hundred hearing-impaired children at Chowdiah Memorial Hall in
Bangalore. She was moved to tears.
Read the tribute in the site
The image slowly pixellates onto the mind screen. Like a million small
pieces of information gleaned from memory, reflection, direct experience
and nostalgia, each molecule falls into place onto the large canvas of
history. What we see is a giant portrait - of a savant, scholar,
musician, student, lifelong seeker, psychological salve, cultural
archeologist and a lifelong loyalist to the cause of Theosophy and the
vision of Kalakshetra.
S Sarada (Periya Sarada teacher) was a shadow. Not invisible, but more
like a clear silhouette, a visible presence whose mind proved a perfect
catalyst to Rukmini Devi's dazzling imagination. The founding of
Kalakshetra in 1936 attracted many great minds - Tiger Varadachariar,
Budalur Krishnamurthy Sastrigal, Mylapore Gowri Ammal, Mysore
Vasudevachariar and Karaikudi Sambasiva Iyer. Each was a giant in their
own right, every one a stalwart. But one young woman became the pillar
of the institution. She was 24 years old when she joined and became such
an integral part of Kalakshetra that Rukmini Devi herself acknowledged
that "Srimati S Sarada is my right hand and a rare embodiment of
knowledge, devotion and artistic ability."
Read the tribute in the site
As children we always wondered about this wonderful lady genius.
All those who were interested in delving deep into the subject of music
and naatya dreamt of scaling her heights, an impossible task
indeed. Periya Sarada teacher’s presence in the Kalakshetra campus
was a great boon and inspiration to everyone, irrespective of whether
they were teachers or students. Any subject, anytime and anywhere - a
person of her scholarship was available in Kalakshetra to us students
and she liberally shared her knowledge with others.
Periya Sarada was one of those great souls who have sacrificed their
lives for the development of Kalakshetra, with total commitment from the
inception. We used to wonder how Rukmini Devi managed to produce her
monumental dance drama productions in the languages she did not
know. Whether it was Telugu, Tamizh, Malayalam or Samskritam, only
Sarada Teacher could convincingly explain the deeper meanings of the
words to match the creativity of Athai – the other genius. Only
Sarada Teacher could convincingly interpret Athai’s compositions and
attribute a deeper meaning to her
choreography.
Read the tribute in the site
Our society is now experiencing the affects of information overload.
Notifications and blinking lights bombard us 24/7. Anyone with a smart
phone can find out just about anything they could ever want to know via
the Internet.
If our students can access information anytime, then why even have school? What does a teacher offer that no other system can?
The answer is meaning or purpose (Rosebrough and Leverett, 2011).
Only a teacher can show students how to think for themselves and use
information for a greater purpose. Only mentorship can inspire meaning
in life.
Mentorship contains a very important ingredient that no form of technology will ever reach – the human element.
The education process is not a dumping of information into an empty
vessel, but the nurturing of transformation, as in peeling away the
layers of an onion to reach its core. This process is also known as transformational teaching.
Read the article in the site
It was with sadness and shock that I recently learnt about the passing away of my beloved dance Guru Shyamala Mohanraj.
I was very fortunate to have Shyamala as my guru. My late father
Jugaheesan R. Devar accompanied me to Chennai (Madras) in 1973. Today I
believe that providence led my dad to Shyamala Akka who agreed to be my
teacher of Bharatanatyam.
Read the tribute in the site
An evening with the illustrious Balasaraswati’s only grandson, Aniruddha
Knight and you feel enlightened on the most exceptional expression of
dance-manodharma. A long forgotten feature with performing
artistes of today’s dance world, it was this very manodharma that made
Balamma immortal. Aniruddha has proved to be a chip off the old block
when it comes to a holistic approach to dance. He is an excellent
musician with an expert ear for rhythm, imbibing the intricate nuances
of dance with intuitive manodharma. What sets him apart from the rest of
the performing dancers is the striking clarity in holding mudras that
it is difficult to take one’s eyes off his hands when he is
performing.
Read the interview in the site
A mere mention of the word Kuchipudi readily evokes visions of grand
drama of gods and goddesses. From the delicate feelings of Satyabhama,
Rukmini, Usha to the aggressive Bali Chakravarthy, Mahisha, Bhasmasura,
and divine heroes like Lord Rama, Krishna and Siva, we visualize all
these wonderful characters. It is interesting to note that in spite of
Kuchipudi being a rich dance drama tradition, there are not many who
became synonymous with any character for extended duration. Legendary
Vedantam Satyanarayana Sarma who played the role of Satyabhama remains
one of the very few names of this exceptionally rare artistry.
With that introduction I should mention that Madhavapeddy Murthy,
disciple of Dr. Vempati Chinna Satyam is one who belongs to such rare
and unique accomplishment. He continues to play the character of Lord
Shiva since the last few decades and that is something incredible. It
did come as a surprise that it is Tamilnadu that honored him with
Kalaimamani award and Andhra is yet to acknowledge such a fantastic
achievement. Please note that he plays Lord Shiva opposite none other
than actress Hema Malini.
A visit to Siva Foundation, Murthy’s dance school in Chennai and
interaction with him in his class and in his home about his contribution
to dance, threw up some interesting information.
Read the interview in the site
My curiosity in finding out about Transformational learning sprouted a
few years back when ballet dancer and dance historian, Vincent Warren,
referred to me as a Bharata Natya guru. I pointed out to him that I
think of myself as a dance teacher and prefer not to be called a guru.
He came back with a quick repartee, "Your own Guru Krishna Rao gave you
Maha Maya Award in 1992 as one of the distinguished gurus he was
honoring." I did not have an answer to that and have been looking for
one ever since.
For some time now, I have been personally grappling to find a definitive
answer to who is a Bharata Natya guru - to enumerate the qualities of
head and heart that make him one, to define his distinctive style of
training and to discern the profound paradigm
shift that not only affects his immediate circle of learners but others
that follow, even when he is gone.
Sunny Cooper in an article On Transformational Learning mentions: "The
study of transformational learning emerged with the work of Jack Mezirow
(1981, 1994, 1997)." According to him, "Transformational learning is
defined as learning that induces more far-reaching change in the learner
than other kinds of learning, especially learning experiences which
shape the learner and produce a significant impact, or paradigm shift,
which affects the learner's subsequent experiences (Clark, 1993)."
Read the article in the site
Will
dancers stop to think about the annual Music Academy awards that are given out
in December? This year the prestigious Sangeeta Kalanidhi is being
awarded to Carnatic vocalist Sanjay Subramaniam and the Natya Kala
Acharya to Bharatanatyam artiste Alarmel Valli. The second award has
been instituted less than 15 years ago and shows the schism between
dance and music. Did you know that Balasaraswati was the only dancer to
be awarded the Sangeeta Kalanidhi title by the Academy in 1973? Why has
there been no dancer since to merit this award? Why has music been
dislodged as an inseparable component of the dance learning and
practice? With greater attention to the body, line, technique and the
ephemeral "perfection" that is being sought, recorded music and ready
make solutions seem the easy go-to option.
More and more young dancers in India and certainly in the USA lack the
awareness and choreographic imprint of one particular style or teacher.
We are witnessing a generation of generalists - dancers who flit from
one workshop and weekend tutoring from a large smorgasbord of visiting
performers, grazing at everything and digesting nothing. This emerged
from my conversation with contemporary dancer Mandeep Raikhy at the GATI
premises in New Delhi. Every year many apply for the opportunity
to be mentored in contemporary dance techniques by a roster of respected
professionals. Each passing year elicits less engagement and responses
to the basic questions about choreography and intention. The malaise is
everywhere. Less interest in process and more attention on the final
product. Learn one "dance item" and drop that into the dance menu box.
Next! With these trends, maybe it is time to reconfigure the familiar
guru-sishya relationship. Guru Purnima Day should now include not just
the first dance or music guru but the various teachers, mentors
and life coaches that populate our creative lives.
Is there a true community of dancers bobbing about in our minds but not in reality? Is the idea of a dance community a
mythical entity, floating in our minds but not a reality? Social media
is filled with dancers posting their events on several dance pages but
the question is WHO IS READING THEM? Are dancers discussing their
friends' performances or even recommending other shows to watch? I don't
see much interest on these pages except for self serving notices about
who is dancing when and where along with a stream of missable comments.
Can the newly formed DANCE UNION by GATI begin to address these lacunae
in Indian dance? Can we engage within ourselves and other interested
entities to create a web of dance lovers, supporters and dance
advocates? We have to hope that it will be possible.
One topic that is sweeping across tongues in India is the return of
Akram Khan. This British-Bangladeshi superstar of contemporary dance was
first seen in 2000 at THE OTHER FESTIVAL at the MUSEUM THEATRE in
Chennai. I remember meeting with Akram's manager Farookh Choudhry at the
South Bank Cafe in London to discuss his India visit. I had been blown
away after watching Akram and Mavin Khoo in NO MALE EGOS, a duet that
brought the NAVADISHA 2000 conference in Birmingham to a close. THE
OTHER FESTIVAL, India's first annual contemporary arts festival had just
begun in 1998 and Akram was THE rising star of British dance.
Inviting Akram was the natural option and he graciously said YES. I
recall him rehearsing on the uneven stage of the Museum Theatre, smiling
as we scrambled to create the most professional atmosphere and
delighted as we watched the audience rise to their feet in a unanimous
standing ovation.
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