Described as saakshaatdakshinaamurthi and kantheshaavataarah, Abhinavagupta, the towering Kashmiri genius and great acharya of Saiva darshan,
whose contribution to Indian philosophy and thought in the areas of
theatre, music, dance, and tantra is immeasurable, was a scholar with
immense range. Like Shiva combining in himself the ascetic and the
erotic, or to quote renowned scholar Navjivan Rastogi the prajna –purusa embodying features of Saraswati and Nataraja fused into one,
Abhinavagupta’s intellectual capacities encompassed a
diversity of disciplines from Tantra and renunciatory religious
philosophy and metaphysics to aesthetics, not excluding historiography,
literature and what have you. The three day seminar at IGNCA in this the
thousandth year of Abhinavagupta, with reputed scholars and younger
enthusiasts contributing papers, was an attempt to look at the totality
of this encyclopaedic mind - the first in-depth analysis of this
intellectual giant being the path breaking work in 1935 of Dr. K.C.
Pandey (a scholar from Lucknow, joined later by K. C. Iyer). But for
Abhinavagupta’s commentary Abhinava Bharati, deciphering Bharata’s Natya Sastra Karanas
in depth would have been impossible. The seminar featured several
papers on the acharya as the interpreter of the Trika system with
his versicular commentary Malinivijaya Vartika on the Malinivijayottaratantra and his works like Paratrisika Vivarna,
and his vision of non-dualism where “fullness, harmony and integrality”
are but connotations of a changing universe built on one unified
essence.
Read more in the site
Perhaps the only all pervading truth is that everything has a beginning,
a primordial source that causes Genesis. So it is with art forms, be it
dance, yoga, or any other martial art. The 108 dance forms of Lord
Shiva form the basis for both Yoga and Dance. Moreover, the ultimate
purpose of both Dance and Yoga is the same- Union with the higher self,
with the Supreme, The Divine. For both the Yogi, and the dancer,
limitations of time are dissolved and they go beyond worldliness to
transcend one’s individual self. To speak of Dance and Yoga in separate
terms would thus be a trifle ignorant.
From a performance enhancing perspective, it is important to recognize
that Yoga and Dance are complementary art forms.
Read the article in the site
As the year rolled by, what trended most? All over India, all just
wished to perform. No matter what level of training or technique, as
though nothing else mattered! Problem is, where is the opportunity for
all to perform and who is even there in the hall to watch? There are too
many performers and too few platforms. An average show doesn't even get
attendance, leave alone audience. Big festivals have less than
fifty folks sitting in the hall, half of whom are the organisers
themselves! Or family and friends. Then why is everyone so desperate to
dance? Those very established or cultured, are not. A Valli or Malavika perform
only once a year in city outside their own. Next generation of stars
Geeta Chandran, Aditi Mangaldas, Sujata Mohapatra also seem satisfied.
It is the twenty to thirty year olds, those with recent wings who wish
to fly. Nothing wrong in that, just that after a show or two they think
they have seriously arrived in the professional dance circle and then
get airs.
Read the article in the site
My mother… my dance… I can’t separate one from the other. I dance
because my mother wanted me to. I am living her dream. As a child,
I resented having to learn dance which ate into my playtime... Little
did I know that this would be the greatest gift that she gave me.
Now, I cannot imagine my life without dance. Bittersweet indeed.
Born and brought up in Srirangam in a conservative family, my mother
could not learn dance formally. But dance was her passion. She got
married early and settled into the role of a wife and a mother before
she was twenty, but her love for dance kept growing. She finally had the
opportunity to learn dance from Guru Vazhuvoor Ramaiah Pillai at the
ripe old age of twenty-one! She performed her arangetram which was a
great accomplishment for those days. Once I had my arangetram, we
performed together as “a mother and daughter team.”
Read the article in the site
An art work or piece is a creative unit made by man, in which he
abstracts a special moment from life experience and integrates a whole
meaning to it, by which the spectator is able to experience that moment
as valued by the artist. The art body bears a likeness to that instance
of abstraction as viewed by the artist of the special moment. It
embodies thoughts and values about an aspect of reality as experienced
or intuited by the artist. The concept formed is given concrete shape
through images like pictures, statues etc. This image of art stimulates
the senses of the spectator and makes him aware of the idea implicit in
art work. This image is at a perceptible level, and enables the
spectators to comprehend the importance or experience a heightened sense
of the reality of the presented abstractions. The dominant emotion in
the art presentation pervades through spectators giving them a
pleasurable experience. Since viewing and appraising art work is an act
of perception and not cognition, all art works need to be sensuous to
attract and hold the undivided attention of the spectator. Thus the
importance of the sensuous element i.e. “intrinsic perception of
sensation” as one of art’s most characteristic features has been
acknowledged. Therefore, art piece is a sensuous embodiment i.e. a work
of art is directly available to the senses.
Read the article in the site
On November 27, 2016 Kala Bharati organized a meaningful event where
many artists and promoters of the arts in the city gathered for
brainstorming and contributing to an initiative Kala Bharati is
undertaking called Building Bridges. It is a proposition made by Carole
Poirier, MNA, Hochelaga-Maisonneuve in Montreal, under which various
possibilities of twinning Kolkata and Montreal through sharing cultural
exchanges are being explored.
Carole Poirier is the elected member of the official opposition in the
Quebec National Assembly, from the very district in which Dr. Mamata
Niyogi–Nakra and Dr. Harbans Nakra reside and Kala Bharati, the
Bharatanatya center she founded is based.
The evening also gave an opportunity to celebrate a momentous occasion
in Dr. Mamata’s presence on Quebec’s cultural scene. This was a perfect
moment to recognize her receiving the Medal of Honor in March this year,
awarded by the National Assembly of Quebec for “perseverance in sharing
our cultures.”
Read more in the site
Bangalore based Bharatanatyam and contemporary dancer, choreographer and
teacher, Mayuri Upadhya has been credited for the dance recreation of
K. Asif’s classic Hindi film Mughal-e-Azam in the play format. Mayuri
has also choreographed the dance sequences for the poetic rendering of
Dr Harivansh Rai Bachchan’s “Madhushala”. Mayuri reveals her varied
experiences as a dancer, teacher and choreographer and much more
Read the interview in the site
Captivated as one is by the razzmatazz of glaring footlights and glamour
of the sinuous bodies of live dancers on the proscenium stages, how
does one visualize the long lost legacy of a past master performer? Can
one reconfigure -- from the mere paraphernalia left behind -- the magic
of the dazzling shows that have vanished into oblivion? One
wonders.
Uday Shankar, whose 116th birth anniversary was celebrated recently by
Udayan Kala Kendra from Kolkata, was such a luminary - both as a
performer and as a showman – best remembered by all those who had
witnessed even his late flowerings: either in the magnificent shadow
play on the Buddha, or in the scintillating dance-drama on Tagore’s
Samanya Kshati (The Negligible Loss), or in the superbly-imagined
Shankarscope that amalgamated dance, drama and cinema, all rolled
into one seamless whole.
In the exhibition mounted by Udayan, the effort was not only to present
the photographs, musical instruments and props used by the maestro, but
also to enlighten people about the immense contribution of Uday Shankar
in the field of performing arts in general and dance in particular.
Read the article in the site
Dance is a movement experience that takes us along a journey: with or
without words. As a unique physical discipline in which emotional,
psychological, spiritual, intellectual and creative energies are
unified and harmonised, dance allows our bodies to feel, think, speak,
memorize, express and communicate effectively through movement. Dance
also liberates people’s bodies and allows them to use unusual movement
styles outside the limited restrictions of their daily lives.
The recent workshop on Creative Movement Therapy, organised by
Rhythmosaic from Kolkata and facilitated by Tripura Kashyap, co-founder
of Creative Movement Therapy Association of India – and herself a noted
choreographer, movement therapist and dance educator: groomed first in
Kalakshetra and later in the USA - focussed on free-style movement
techniques that unlock our body capacity to communicate and express
better. The accent on movement was essentially non-judgmental and
adapted itself to a wide variety of body types and personalities. It
also helped participants to liberate from habitual movement patterns and
to discover a new, dynamic body language.
Read the interview with the facilitator in the site
With the magnificent tower of the historic 13th century temple of the
Ganga King Narasingha Deva dedicated to the Sun God as backdrop, the
elaborately decorated open air auditorium at Konark (with the road
leading to it showcasing the aesthetics of hand crafted lanterns,
tomba-s and colourful Pipli umbrellas hung upside down, not
to speak of the intricacy of the Rangoli patterns on the floor),
once again became the venue for showcasing group productions of Odissi
along with other pan-Indian classical dance forms. The Odisha Tourism
department has over the years added attractions like the Sand Art
Festival at the nearby Chandrabhaga Beach and a Handloom and Handicrafts
festival – all built round the main dance event, enhancing the
tourist’s interest. Spacing for the audience has been neatly expanded.
Another fine improvement was in the Sand Art arena with artists given
independent slots near the sea with its rippling waves and plying boats,
with the entire walk from exhibit to exhibit carpeted, and the visitor
spared the cumbersome ploughing through mounds of sand. Given its
glorious sunrise behind the sea, and attractions of hawkers selling
their ware, Chandrabhaga beach was a daily crowd puller.
Read the review in the site
How does a seminar on an interaction between two countries, relate to a
dance event, one may well ask. It does, specially, when the regions
involved are Indonesia and what was the then Kalinga Empire in India,
which comprised much of present day Odisha. There was also the special
relationship with Indonesia shared by late Chief Minister of Odisha,
Biju Patnaik, whose significant interventions at a very important point
in Indonesian history earned him recognition as ‘Bhumi Putra’. The
Sadabha-s who set sail from ancient Kalinga, took with them their ideas
too, to the countries they traded with. If Odisha events like ‘Boita
Bandana’, the Ballad of “Taw-Poi” and Khudurukuni Osa and “A-Ka-Ma-Bai”
in Odisha are a throwback of the past ties, the temples of Angkor Wat,
Angkor Thom, the Javanese Prambanan, names like Sita Suleiman and
Maulana Vishnu (mentioned in his talk by Prof. V. Suryanarayana
specialising in South and South-East Asian studies), Buddhist monuments
and flourishing Hinduism in Bali and pockets of other places like Java
and Sumatra in Indonesia tell their own tales of the past interactions.
Two highly populous nations, multi-ethnic, multi-religious and
multi-cultural, India and Indonesia apart from shared values, have been
linked by over two thousand year old cultural ties. Both won
independence in mid-twentieth century, shaking off the shackles of years
of colonial domination.
Read the review in the site
The Capital was agog with a series of dance performances of dancers
within India and abroad, as Delhi International Arts Festival filled up
the various venues with mind boggling variety of performing arts. The
open air Meghdoot Theatre of Sangeet Natak Akademi was one of the venues
for classical Indian dances. With a tree at the back of the stage and
sky as the canopy with full moon and stars shooting in all directions,
the dancers performing there created magic.
Read the review in the site
Can you define your relationship with Bharatanatyam? How has your relationship with the dance form evolved over the years?
It is like an intense love affair that has grown, evolved and matured
over the years. My understanding of the nuances of the dance form grows
deeper with every passing day, and the constant dialogue I have with my
dance enhances our relationship and makes it reach higher realms.
Read the complete interview in the site
#ONEYEARLATER
A year ago. The evening of December 1, 2016, two Tempo vans were
floating in a sea of torrential rain water. The vans were carrying 10
dancers en route to the airport for a tour of Thailand. The passengers
never reached their destination. After 2 hours of nerve wracking traffic
and abandoned cars, the vehicles returned to my home filled with teary
eyed, dejected dancers. It was ARANGHAM DANCE THEATRE’s South East Asia
tour of Thailand and Cambodia - a tour that the #CHENNAIFLOODS ensured
did not happen.
What followed in my city over the next 5 days is history.
The paralyzed state government was unable to handle the crisis of their
own making. The rains did less damage than the opening of the reservoir
pipes at midnight while we were asleep! What did emerge was the
citizen’s call to action and the thrilling way in which strangers helped
one another. The city of Bengaluru rushed - it seemed en masse - to
help our marooned Chennaites! Artistes were homeless and many lost
everything in those terrible, dark and gloomy days. The national and
international call for aid was met with a spontaneous and generous
outpouring of aid in so many forms besides cash - a heartwarming display
of generosity and camaraderie.
Read the message in the site
