Dear dancers, this is in a lighter vein (sorry this sounds like some
comedians who perform on American TV to a live audience...they have to
laugh or applaud when a light with the message flashes), so you can
laugh or smile, whatever...
Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, the great musician, was a family friend and
so I used to interact with him now and then. His humour was sharp.
Once at an awards committee meeting he said, “Does this carry any cash
or gold medal? If it is just a piece of paper why not give out more?”
Whenever anyone approached him to accept any honour he would jocularly
ask: "Panam ethanum unda?" (Any money included?) His humour
also showed that he did not take awards so seriously. But he always
tried to see that people who had contributed silently were recognized.
Read more in the site
It may sound like a clichéd statement, but I am a narthaki chiefly
because of my mother. I was taken to class when I was three! I cannot
recall my first few classes, but dance classes are a part of my early
childhood memories. To me dance class and Church Park convent go hand in
hand.
Read more in the site
During the season with so many performances taking place simultaneously,
one often has to choose out of the multiple performances, few which one
would like to see and forego others. I have selected a few in this
review of Festival Round up.
Read more in the site
Thomas Hardy remains the most enduring novelist writing stories based mostly on pastoral England. His Far From the Madding Crowd and Tess of the d’Urbervilles
remain compulsory school readings for students of English literature.
Mimi Partha Sarthy’s return to the stage was no less meaningful. A
hiatus of 14 years is like Ram's vanvas and Mimi left the stage for
family reasons. Nay, she was forced on stage because of her persistent
mother who saw her potential then and now.
Seeing her return to stage performance was like a mini wedding event,
full of assorted socialites and stars of dance in Bangalore. The night
of Jan 16th (Ayn Rand, another classic), Mimi chose that day to be back
in reckoning. Her daughter Hamsini did the intros and then her guru
Padmini Ravi conducted the show by walking on stage casually and
regaling the audiences with her dead pan delivery. She is the
eternal aunt of dance, having taught many in Malleswaram area. (What
Mylapore is to Madras, Malleswaram and Basavanagudi - hence Mal-gudi -
are to Bangalore). Padmini "aunty" can count two generations of dancers
as students to her credit because she started teaching very young
as the "neighborhood dance class aunt." That she has class and is not
crass (like new teachers calling themselves NATIONAL when they are
notional) shows solid work has no substitute or competition. Corporate
honchos Kiran Mazumdar, Sunil Alagh, (Padmini did state corporate
Bangalore does precious little for dance culture) super bureaucrat and
patron Chiranjiv Singh, educationist Vimala Rangachar and many local
dancers like Sridevi Unni, Lakshmi Gopalaswami, Subashini Vasanth were
in attendance, filling the Chowdiah hall to the brim.
Read more in the site
In this day and age, with the onslaught of artificial intelligence, when
the humanoid robot is being considered for ‘de facto’ as well as
‘de juro’ recognition as an ‘electronic person’, how anachronistic
would it seem to have the entire LGBT community to be derided and
detested for their third-gender orientation and legally recognized only
as non-persons? It would appear that way back in 1860, the British – as
part of their colonizing effort -- introduced a standardised Indian
Penal Code which replaced, among other things, a tolerant Indian
attitude to sexuality with a highly moralistic and hostile
Judaic-Christian one. Section 377 of the IPC was the legacy of an
archaic law against “unnatural” offences and stated: “Whoever
voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any
man, woman or animal shall be punished with imprisonment for life…”
Read more in the site
In the overcrowded festivals in Chennai during the season, one new
Margazhi dance festival has been added by Kuchipudi Art Academy for 7
days at the Academy premises. Conceived and curated by Venkat Vempati,
elder son of Vempati Chinna Sathyam, it aims at providing platform for
the young dancers. One welcomes it for this very reason as young dancers
need a platform to showcase their talent.
The festival was dedicated to late Chief Minister Jayalalitha. It was
inaugurated by Keshav Prasad, traditional Kuchipudi exponent from
Kuchipudi village and Mr. Natarajan, local MLA. With assistance from
Central Sangeet Natak Akademi, the festival from 25th till 31st December
2016 featured on the opening night Vempati’s granddaughter Vempati
Lakshmi Kameswari, Jayapriya Vikraman and Sahana Rao in Kuchipudi.
Read more in the site
Manipuri exponent Ranjana Jhaveri, 87, disciple of Guru Bipin Singh,
passed away on 17th January 2017 at Mumbai after a protected illness.
Ranjana was the second elder sister of the four well known Manipuri
exponents, the Jhaveri Sisters. The senior most was late Nayana Jhaveri.
The four sisters Nayana, Ranjana, Suvarna and Darshana were trained by
Guru Bipin Singh in Mumbai from early forties. The four formed a
group by 1950 and started performing in Mumbai. They were closely
associated with Bharatiya Vdya Bhavan and Indian National Theatre (INT)
in Mumbai. Their father Navnitlal Jhaveri was a very progressive person
and encouraged his daughters to learn dance. The early forties
were not very conducive and in favour of young educated girls to take to
dancing. Dancing was still looked down upon as an art form. But the
entire family was a great admirer of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore and his
love for the arts.
Read more in the site
The well-known tenets of Sangeet Natak Akademi, India’s apex body of the
performing arts, overview “the vast (tangible and) intangible heritage
of our diverse cultural expressions in music, dance and drama”.
Over time, SNA has been promoting the practice, growth and
awareness of various art forms and led to the setting up of such
constituent units as Jawaharlal Nehru Manipuri Dance Akademi, Kathak
Kendra, Sattriya Kendra and Rabindra Rangashala; and such centres as
Kutiyattam Kendra, Chhau Centre and North-East Centre. Arguably, all the
other southern classical forms as Bharatanatyam, Kathakali and
Kuchipudi, and the eastern Odissi have so far been left to fend for
themselves.
Read more in the site
With the division of Andhra Pradesh in Telangana State and new Andhra
Pradesh state, the Kuchipudi village now belongs to Andhra Pradesh with
its new capital Amaravathi. In order to celebrate the formation of
new Andhra Pradesh State under its Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu
Naidu, Anand Kuchibhotla, Founder /Chairman of Silicon Andhra from USA,
organized in collaboration with Dept of Language and Culture, Govt of
Andhra Pradesh, the 5th International Kuchipudi Dance Convention
at Vijayawada at specially constructed venue next to Indira Gandhi
Stadium from 23rd to 25th December 2016.
Known for his flawless organizing capacities, Anand Kuchibhotla with
Silicon Andhra volunteers and various local Vijayawada authorities, in
collaboration with Govt of Andhra Pradesh, gathered more than 6000
Kuchipudi dancers who arrived from abroad and within India to
participate in the three day festival, showcasing a staggering variety
of Kuchipudi dance drama tradition at the spacious Golden Hall which
Kuchibhotla managed to create for presentation of dance dramas and group
performances, including lec-dems and lectures, culminating into
Mahabrindra Natyam for Guinness World Records.
Large screens were placed on either side of the stage on which the
proceedings were screened so that the large crowds could watch the
various activities and also performances. The site was dazzling with
Dashavatara figures on either side of Lord Shiva’s statue in the centre.
And a moving camera was handled by the technicians projecting close ups
as well as various scenes of dance dramas. The camera moved
unobtrusively making it convenient for large gathering to watch the
proceedings.
Read more in the site
Art works are concrete symbols of human abstractions from life.
Therefore, “the process of creating art is a process of making the
universe knowable by bringing it within the range of man's
consciousness, by establishing its relationship to man. In regard to
human art, man has to be the measure, since he has to bring all things
into the realm of the humanly knowable. By a selective recreation, art
isolates and integrates those aspects of reality which represent man's
fundamental view of himself and existence. For this, the methods which
he has to employ require the most rigorous aesthetic precision, the most
rigorous compliance with objective rules and facts -- if the end
product is to be art.” [1]. Then, it becomes a criterion that all concepts
in art are related to humans and their experiences, within reason that,
although, all humans have different experiences in varying degrees of
intensity with regard to their relationships with other people, the
basic emotions of love and affection remain the same in all
civilizations, whether ancient or modern.
Read more in the site
Being anchored in core principles, while changing unconsciously or
deliberately, moving through the corridor of time, has been the history
of Bharatanatyam – as of many other traditional disciplines. Built round
the theme Sthiti Gati, the 36th Natya Kala Conference mounted by
Yagnaraman Centre for Performing Arts and Sri Krishna Gana Sabha brought
out these complementing polarities of the Constant and the Changing.
Amidst a host of high profile dancers who have conducted this
event, this year’s Srinidhi Chidambaran earned a hearty vote
of approval for her meticulously planned calendar of events each day,
(worked out with Aalaap as creative collaborator) giving equal
opportunity for all shades of expression, her own neatly worked out
introductions for artists /events to the point, flattering without gush.
Politely firm on adherence to time specifications, she maintained an
underplayed presence without hogging performance space or thrusting her
opinions on anyone - her greatest achievement being in painstakingly
contacting persons running dance institutions through volunteers,
ensuring a near full auditorium every day, with several young minds
instead of the handful of middle aged and senior faithfuls in attendance
every day.
Read more in the site
It was an eye opener for me to attend the 5th Margazhi Dance Festival
that spanned 3 different days at Vashi, New Mumbai, held by G.V. Ramani
Foundation’s Takshashila Dance Academy and Kalpavruksha Dance Academy.
Though I am a Mumbaikar, having moved away from there in 1980 to Kolkata
and then to New Delhi, my connections with Mumbai are strong. When I
visit Mumbai, it gives me an opportunity to see how in last 30 years
classical dance scene has developed. In particular, the development of
forms like Bharatanatyam in greater Mumbai has been quite impressive.
Besides the pioneers like late Kuppaiah Pillai and his sons Guru
Mahalingam, Kalyanasundaram and son-in-law Govindraj Pillai and their
Rajarajeswari Bharatanatya Kala Mandir, others like gurus Kalasadan
Mani, G. V. Ramani and Rajee Narayan have also contributed to popularise
Bharatanatyam . Mumbai has extended to Navi Mumbai with these two
principal institutions, running academies for dance and holding annual
Margazhi festivals.
Read more in the site
In an exchange with Malavika Sarukkai in the space her dance studio
opens out to, with the delightful bougainvillea at the side, its pink
blossoms lending a fine touch of colour, I ask her about the latest
‘acharya’ award bestowed on her by the Music Academy, which comes at a
time when she is on the verge of reaching the landmark of fifty years of
dancing and 45 years of performing, on the 6th of March. She plans to
be in Chidambaram before the Lord to offer her samarpanam.
How does the title of Acharya fit in?
I think it means in the sense of overall contribution to the art form -
your legacy and what you have achieved in so many years in the field.
Read more in the site
(This was first published in Sruti in 2014)
Most dance productions (solo/group) seem to have a Shakespearean
context. While most dancers would have us believe that their productions
are nothing short of ‘A mid- summer night's dream,’ more often than
not, they turn out to be ‘Much ado about nothing’ at least in content!
Critics often face the melodramatic “Et tu, Brute?” when artistes do not get to read what they wish to see.
Read more in the site
Manjushri Chaki Sircar, the ace scholar-choreographer-dancer from India
and the USA, had always her feet firmly rooted to the ground. Born to
dance and already dazzling the arts scene from her Presidency College
days of the early 1950’s, she chose anthropology for her scholastic
pursuit in Kolkata and New York, but dance remained in her genes. While
researching on Lai Haraoba rites practiced in pre-Vaishnavite Manipur,
she was struck by the myths of earth’s creation prevalent among its
priests: the Maitis and Maibis, and began formalizing her dance
language, Navanritya (new dance), for exploring a new body dynamic.
Thoroughly down-to-earth, Navanritya became an organic synthesis of
several traditional Indian dance forms: an amalgamation of classical
moves (Bharatanatyam, Kathakali, Manipuri, Odissi), semi-classical forms
(Mayurbhanj Chhau, Kandyan dance of Sri Lanka), folk forms and martial
arts (Thang-ta, Kalaripayattu), blending them with earthy rituals, yoga
and daily life gestures.
In a sense, Manjushri (and later her highly gifted dancer-daughter,
Ranjabati) sought to apply ancient tools to express modern day tensions.
Under their dual inspiration, Navanritya evolved as a training method
which helped dancers to de-construct traditional movements so that they
could be used in a new context and still continue to draw on
representational abhinaya as a pointer to motivation. With its roots in a
variety of forms, mentioned above, and in textual traditions,
Navanritya gained its ground as well as grammar.
Read more in the site
4th Day
The session opened with V.A.K. Ranga Rao dispelling wrong impression
given when he had asked Padma Subrahmanyam to show Karana Valitoru. He
said that he did not compare it to cabaret, but such an impression was
created because of the hip movement. He reiterated that the text sung
for dance must have correct wordings.
The session between Nandini Ramani and Swamimalai SK Suresh was
illuminating for young generation of dancers. Nandini described how she
had received training from the legendary Balasaraswati. She and her
gurus Kandappa Pillia and his son K Ganesh held the tradition very high.
Fidelity was the key word. The dancer had to stick to one guru, one
bani. There were no questions allowed. One had to follow what the guru
taught. By osmosis one learnt a lot. The music, the movement, the
adavus, the abhinaya with reference to Balasaraswati was exceptional.
Bala later on went abroad to teach. But within India it was just
remembering whatever she taught. There was no specific
methodology. So vast and rich was her repertoire and music that
dancers who studied under her feel blessed that they had glimpse of her
greatness. Nandini maintained when young dancers asked if they could
learn from other gurus, she told them that she also believed in fidelity
to one guru and one bani.
Read more in the site
The 36th Natya Kala Conference in Chennai was inaugurated on 26th
December 2016 at Sri Krishna Gana Sabha by Vyjayanthimala. The convener
of the conference for current and next year is Dr. Srinidhi Chidambaram.
She received the Nritya Choodamani award in 2000. She had performed at
KGS when she was 11 and her association with Krishna Gana Sabha has been
for more than 30 years. She shares her views about the theme of the
conference Sthiti Gati - Bharatanatyam: constant, continuous. Sthiti
implies a sense of stability, rootedness and being constant. Gati
symbolises movement and progress. Bharatanatyam is ancient yet modern.
Archaic, yet alive. Traditional, yet an art form of today.
Read the review in the site
Welcome to 2017... the Chinese year of the Red Fire Rooster
As we said farewell to a turbulent and chaotic year across the globe, my home city reeled under a series of obituaries...
Our charismatic Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, a classical dancer and film superstar. Gone too soon at age 68.
Political satirist, theatre director and outspoken humourist Cho Ramaswamy.
Over 100,000 trees, 10,000 animals and over 25,000 hectares of
agricultural land were devastated by #CYCLONE VARDAH that hurtled
through at 120 km per hour on December 12.
With traffic choking the clogged roads littered by fallen trunks and
branches, our artistes were busy rehearsing time honoured themes of Gods
lifting mountains and saving damsels in distress! Except there was no
Krishna to sweep our filthy roads! And no connectivity to send or share
selfies!
Some musicians even performed on the morning of the Chief Minister's passing even as a 3 day official mourning was announced!
December was, however, a month filled with many events beyond
performance and beyond the borders of Chennai - several to which I was a
participant or an eager attendee.
Read more in the site
