Saturday 1 February 2020

Anita says...February 2020

Before I begin to express battle fatigue at the never ending dance season in Chennai and elsewhere in India, let me wish the 4 PADMA SRI dance awardees all best wishes for the honour bestowed upon them by the Government of India - - Shashadhar Acharya (Chhau), Indira PP Bora (Sattriya), Vajira Chitrasena (Kandyan dance, Srilanka) and Purushottam Dadheech (Kathak).

Significantly, there were no awards for Bharatanatyam, Mohiniattam, Kuchipudi and Manipuri. The bulk of the awards went to unsung heroes who have worked silently and tirelessly in their social and medical spheres. However, the special delight was to see the name of 85 year old matriarch of Kandyan dance, VAJIRA CHITRASENA in the honour roll. I have watched VAJIRA play the drum almost daily at the evening dance classes in Colombo. Such energy, dedication and passion are rare qualities and it is a wonderful gesture to honour great artistes from our neighbouring countries. Ramli Ibrahim was also a PADMA SRI recipient two years ago.

So, to all those dancers who were busy rushing to Delhi, brown nosing political scavengers and wearing orange in their costumes to curry favour - here is a piece of advice. Dance well. Dance brilliantly. Focus on excellence and minimise the IN YOUR FACE PR campaigns. Or perhaps, one needs both these days, but mere PR has to work doubly harder to camouflage mediocrity!

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2 comments:

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  2. Thanks for the review. None of them are my students except my daughter Kavya Muralidaran. We have announced very clearly on the day of the performance in your presence and I don’t know why you have mentioned that they are my students. Anyway they tried their level best to handle the Jathis

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