Book Review - Tracing the roots of Odissi in the Geeta Govinda - Leela Venkataraman

Title: Odissi and the Geeta Govinda

Author: Ileana Citaristi
Publisher: Manohar Publishers & Distributors
Year: 2022
Hardcover
ISBN: 9789391928575
Price: Rs.1500 approx.

An Odissi dancer and teacher of Italian descent, Ileana Citaristi, who made Odisha her home forty one years ago, has established credentials as an author, with her books Making of a Guru on Kelucharan Mohapatra (published in 2001), Traditional Martial Practices of Orissa (2012) and My journey-A tale of two births (2015). In her latest book Odissi and the Geeta Govinda brought out by Ajay Kumar Jain for Manohar Publishers and Distributors, she not only reiterates Odissi's special love for Jayadeva's prabandha, but also builds up a strong case for the Geeta Govinda having sown the very seeds of Odissi in the Orissan soil.

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Interview - An imaginary interview with Guru Gopinath - Part 10 - Tapati Chowdhurie

Pt Nehru invited you to a tea party at Teenmurthi Bhavan when you were in New Delhi for the All India Dance Seminar in 1958. What do you remember about your memorable interaction with Pt Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India?

I was a little hesitant when Panditji came, shook my hand and said "Aao, Aao" and offered me a cup of tea. I could hear non-stop clicking of cameras and flashing of lights. I was at the top of the world. I am being photographed having tea with Pt Nehru? After having tea, I mustered up courage enough to request Panditji as politely as I could, if I could get his autograph. He was more than happy to oblige. He signed in a small diary and handed it over to me, patting me on my shoulders gently. That was the first time in my life I had ever taken an autograph signature from anyone. After all, was he not the Indian Prime Minister, whose signature I had taken?!

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Prism - Gender study through Nayika Bheda as applied in Indian dance tradition - Srabani Basu

 (Srabani Basu started writing this article as part of the 'Indian Classical Dance Pedagogy' certification program that she has done from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2021. She continues to develop it with further studies for research aspirations.)

Introduction
India is a country from south-east Asia that preserves an ancient yet rich cultural heritage of literature and performing arts going back to over two thousand years. This format of art that hail from different parts of the country consisting various styles of music as well as dance, have been refined and restructured post India's independence from British rule in the 20th century. These are recognized as Indian classical art forms and are dedicatedly practiced in the 'Guru-Shishya Parampara' or the teacher-disciple tradition. This tradition is predominantly influenced from Natya Shastra, which is an encyclopaedic treatise on the performing arts [1][2] written in Sanskrit by sage Bharata dated between 200BCE and 200CE [3][4].The text consists of 36 chapters with a cumulative total of 6000 poetic verses. The subjects covered by the treatise include dramatic composition, structure of a play and the construction of a stage to host it, genres of acting, body movements, make up and costumes, role and goals of an art director, the musical scales, musical instruments and the integration of music with art performance [5][6]. The Natya Shastra is also notable for its aesthetic 'Rasa' theory asserting entertainment as just a secondary goal of performing arts while primary goal being to transport the audience to a parallel reality experiencing own consciousness and reflecting on spiritual values [7][8]. The grammar or technicalities of Indian classical dance is primarily derived from Natya Shastra, while its choreographic elaborations on abhinaya or expressional aspects are largely influenced by episodes from mythological epics such as 'The Ramayana', 'The Mahabharata', literary creations by poets Kalidasa, Jayadeva as well as numerous regional folklores.

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Stylization par excellence - The Eastern Eye: Column by Dr.Utpal K Banerjee

Rasa-Bala-Buddhi, presented on March 20, as part of their Natyadharmi Utsav 2022, by Chidakasha Kalalaya, was an adaptation of Saugandhika Haranam (a favourite of Koodiyattam and Kathakali). It was the maiden dramatic direction by Kalalaya's principal student Sayak Mitra working on Natya Shastra. Additionally, Sayak's Shivadashani Scholarship under Inlac in 2021 enabled him to train in two different surviving ancient theatre art forms: Ankiya Nat of Assam and Chakyar Koothu of Kerala. In both, his focus was on Sutradhaari (storytelling). Sayak dazzled with his all-round concept and visualization by developing the one-act play as a fully blown dance drama performed in several zones of the theatre space, with a narrative style for telling a tale within a tale. As a curtain raiser, Hanumana is seen in an elevated zone as an old, decrepit monkey reminiscing on his past to two glove puppets (coloured in the style of pacha characters), who enthusiastically respond and keep playing gleefully with his long dangling tail. In another zone, the Pandava queen witnesses the Saugandhika blossoms being caressed by her dancing companions in the windswept space and seemingly floating by. Soon from the back, Bhima leaps forward into yet a third zone, gallivanting about his mighty mace and physical prowess, showing an instance or two!

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For the Meerabai-s of Dance there is No Prescribing, No Proscribing: Dance is India's unfettered soul - Soch: Column by Dr. Arshiya Sethi

When I set out to write this piece it had a definite but narrow focus. Its focus was prohibiting dance, even certain kind of dance and about rebarbative relationships among dance and patron communities. But within days, the matter spread to a larger issue. I would use a colloquial Hindi phrase 'raita phailana' to describe what happened. An attempt has been made in this column to include all the new developments as well because this column sees itself as one that compels us to apply 'soch' to contemporary issues. It is a long read but a very important one. I hope the reader will realise its import and stay till the end.

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Fond memories of generous contribution of Guru Kallianpurkar - Kathak's non gharana legator - Taalam: column by Leela Venkataraman

Conceived by Kathak teacher Subhash Chandra as a tribute to his beloved late Guru Mohanrao Kallianpurkar, and sponsored by the Guru's family in celebration of their father/grandfather, with patronage provided by the design and fashion house Elara Productions run by 'yuvakalakars' Devika Agarwal and Shreejeeta Ghosh (students of Guru Subhash Chandra), the evening of Ek Antarang presented at Vivekananda Auditorium in association with the Kathak Kendra, despite the technical glitches testing the online viewer's attention, had its moments, while remembering a great Guru. Describing the Guru as the lighthouse in a dark world, director of Kathak Kendra, Suman Kumar, the guest of honour, specially referred to the contribution of a Guru who had left his creative legacy for the entire Kathak world - irrespective of the family line or Kathak school one represented. In a gharana bound community, this kind of open ended approach was rare. It can be explained by the fact that as a highly educated scholar (whose designing of the entire teaching method for Kathak is still the prescription in the Bhatkhande School), Mohanrao Kallianpurkar's lifetime (12 August 1913-1985 ), with most of his years spent in Kathak, was spurred entirely by love for the dance - hailing, as he himself did, from Hubli in Karnataka from a totally non Kathak family background.

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Book Review - Abhinaya Darpanam: Mudra-s: single hand gestures - Sharmila Rao

SERIES: Abhinaya Darpanam

TITLE: Mudra-s: single hand gestures
LANGUAGE: English
AUTHOR: Dr. Pranitha J Kamat (kamat.pranitha@gmail.com), Dr. Anita Vallabh
YEAR: 2021
PAGES: 66
PUBLISHER: Vedathek Publishing House, Bangalore, India
ISBN: 978- 81-9535-732-1

This review is for the book titled 'Mudra-s: Single Hand Gestures' from the 'Abhinaya Darpanam' series by Natya Chittra.

"Mudra-s: Single Hand Gestures" is a children's book that introduces children to Indian dance gestures. The basis for this activity book was Anita Vallabh's 'Message in movements: Abhinaya Darpanam, an illustrated translation.' The author Dr. Pranitha Kamat wants to stimulate children's creativity with the coloring pages and illustrations of the meaning of each gesture. It is important to her that children can discover and understand the book independently, without having to rely on instructions from adults or a dance teacher.

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Tribute - Veteran costume designer Ghulam Bhai is no more - Vijay Shanker

Mumbai based veteran costume designer Ghulam Rasool, popularly known as Ghulam Bhai, left for his heavenly abode on January 25, 2022. He is survived by his son Sajid known as Raju, daughter-in-law and grandchild. During the lockdown, he almost retired from work and was also suffering from arthritis and heart ailments. He was 80 years old.

Ghulam was the most prominent costume designer in Mumbai, having designed costumes for several personalities from the film industry, classical dancers and actors from the theatre world as well.

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Anita says...April 2022

Hello dance world!
I am trying to be upbeat and positive about our lives, our colleagues, our art and our eco system. But there are too many forces and events around us that are creating questions and diversions that cannot be ignored or brushed aside.

I have always said that dance and politics are converging. That the two worlds are coming closer together and that we as a creative community must take cognizance of. No longer can we hide behind tradition, repertoire and memories. This month I have chosen to focus on matters that are affecting us all, in ways that may or may not have an immediate impact on our lives but are certainly affecting the way we create, share, converse and engage with our families, friends and the public.

Having shared my thoughts once a month for almost 20 years has given me an optic of the dance world both inside India and abroad. 55 years after my arangetram, I think writing what I think and feel does not need the permission or sanction of others. I acknowledge the enormous power and privilege that creating and managing this portal has given me and hope that my thoughts and words are read as personal views of a mature global artiste.

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