The searchlight on art of critiquing in Amrit Yuva Kalotsav by SNA - Taalam: column by Leela Venkataraman

The Late Subbudu (P.V. Subramaniam), a music and dance critic whose caustic pen scorched many an art reputation without compunctions, and who seemed to thrive on unpopularity, often quipped that more than art, criticism was in peril, in a world where journalistic space for critiquing was getting to be minimal, with artistes who had 'arrived' so to speak, not open to accepting less than flattering comments about their work. In India, where no formal degrees specify credentials for art critiquing, dance and music critics form a mixed group - some coming from learned backgrounds and others acquiring knowledge on the run. Along with writing skills, art critiquing needs to be driven by a passion for the art form, since the very modest remuneration critiquing fetches in our country, has meant its being pursued more as a labour of love, rather than as the main occupation of a person earning his living. Where, society in its total scheme of things places art and its assessment, will finally determine the level of proficiency in art critiquing.

Sangeet Natak Akademi's Amrit Yuva Kalotsav 2022-23, in collaboration with Kalakshetra Foundation, initiated its two day event at Chennai, with the searchlight on an Art Critiquing workshop for aspiring youngsters, held at Kalakshetra's Rukmini Arangam.

Dashabhuja Gotipua Odishi Nrutya Parishad from Odisha, is one of those groups whose Gotipua presentation has not become far too sophisticated -robbing it of all the rustic charm.

Read more in the site

Please provide your name and email id along with your comment. Anonymous and derogatory comments will be removed.

Article - Feedback on SNA-A Mirror - Usha RK

Why is the Sangeet Natak Akademi in the news? The organization bombarded the cultural space with over 100 awards for three years 2019, 2020 and 2021. The most recently appointed Chairperson held two back to back meetings almost flouting the mandatory notice period before any meeting, and the second four day meeting was to finalize the awards for the three years. The former Chairman completed his term in early 2020 and in turn the GC and EB were dissolved. Some members were nominated by the MOC as recent as mid 2022.

The announcement of the three years pending awards created a chaos and lots of reactions some publicly and the gossip mills ran amok. Awardees never heard of or seen before at the national stage, non- existent categories included, un-nominated persons were awarded, adherence to qualification for the appropriate category and so on.

Read more in the site

Please provide your name and email id along with your comment. Anonymous derogatory comments will be removed. 

RASA - Dance Matters: Column by Ashish Mohan Khokar

RASA: Ravi, Aditi, Shama and Ananya. That's R.A.S.A. That was the highlight for the end of the year in namma Bengaluru, a city away from the power and pelf of other metros, arrogance or aplomb of seasonal culture activities of other cities. Bengaluru is a year-around cultural destination, with something going on every week and every month. And not just dance but books festival, music, theatre, fashion, food and aero shows as well. Add, a city where ten months in a year the temperature remains around 25C with little or no necessity for an AC and one lives in heaven. No winter, no summer, just rain. When one comes down from this heaven to earth, then one has to deal with bad roads and bad civic facilities. Since my blood group is B positive, I mostly am! So, I look for and find that my glass is mostly half full. 

Read more in the site

Please provide your name and email id along with your comment. Anonymous derogatory comments will be removed.

The festival sun rises again at Konark - Taalam: column by Leela Venkataraman

After two torrid Covid years, followed by being rained out last year, the sun rose again for the Konark festival, attracting a handsome turnout. In a world driven by the sense of isolation on the one hand and dissension on the other, starting the festival with Malaysia's Datuk Ramli Ibrahim's Sutra Foundation presenting Jaya Ram in the Odissi style, for me as a dance writer, represented a symbolism demonstrating the healing power of culture as soft power. Here was India's famous epic, the Ramayana, (which, over time, has caught the creative imagination of artistes in several parts of South East Asia) in a production fashioned through an Indian/Malaysian bonding, comprising Guru Gajendra Kumar Panda's concept and original dance composition, presented by Sutra artistes of Malaysia, under the artistic direction of Ramli Ibrahim - both artistes sharing the background of having been trained in the Debaprasad Odissi school, under the late Guru.

Read more in the site

Please provide your name and email id along with your comment. Anonymous derogatory comments will be removed.

Obit/Tribute - Dr. Suresh Desai (2 Nov 1937 - 13 Dec 2022)- Ashish Mohan Khokar

A beady-eyed man was furtively buying books at Darpana at launch of Gujarat issue of attenDance, 2005. I was surprised anyone in Gujarat bought books! I had done a survey before and in this city of millionaires there were only two, read TWO bookshops. It shows the index of culture and reading habits too. Bangalore had 30; Delhi being publishing HQ, 55; Bombay 15 , Kolkata 70! Chennai about 30. I'm talking of 2005, pre-Internet penetration and coming of kindle etc. He bought each past copy of attenDance and the new one too. He looked over his shoulder that no one was watching and quietly paid the monies. I didn't know him then, else would've gifted him most.

Read more in the site

Please provide your name and email id along with your comment. Anonymous derogatory comments will be removed.

Gems shine at NADAM fest - Dance Matters: Column by Ashish Mohan Khokar

When people ask me which are, say, the three best festivals of dance in India, or in each metro or region, I have a fair idea and in namma Bengaluru it used to be Kinkini, Nupura (Lalita Srinivasan) and Bangalore Habba but for last few years, it is the NADAM (Nartanam Academy of Dance and Music) festival, then others. A brainchild of Nandini Mehta and Murali Mohan Kalva, this do-gooder organization has been serving art and social causes. For 23 years, this festival has grown from strength to strength and added to the cultural landscape of Bengaluru.

 
I returned from an ICCR selection panel from Delhi just in time to attend the concluding day of this three-day festival. And am I glad for it, for the final day offered many fine talents in  Odissi,  Bharatanatyam and  Kathak.

Read more in the site

Anonymous derogatory comments will be removed. Please provide your name and email id along with your comment.

Interview - Raja Reddy: It is the duty of the Guru to create rasikas - Tapati Chowdhurie

What was the concept behind the presentation of your new choreography for the 26th Parampara festival?

"Universe that is God" was inspired by Dr. Pandu Ranga Rao's book of the same name. It is an exploration of one's connection with universal one, which is crucial to maintain the balance of life on earth. Meditating to realize the Supreme spirit will help us understand how all life is interconnected with each other and ultimately how all life is connected to the one Supreme being manifested as 'Venkateshwara'. By meditating on 'Venkateshwara' one can try to understand the ultimate goal of life, marching towards something eternal, everlasting and inexplicable and what better way to do this than through dance and music. From the Vedic periods, ritualistic practices have been centered around engaging and enlightening people on to the spiritual path. These ritualistic practices with highly stylized gestural movements were usually accompanied by dance and music as an offering, 'Nritya Nivedana' such that through dance one can enter a meditative state similar to ritualistic chanting which can bring about an electronic change in the physical and metaphysical status of an individual. 

Read more in the site

Anonymous derogatory comments will be removed. Please provide your name and email id along with your comment.

Life's dreams spun into weaver's thread - Taalam: column by Leela Venkataraman

At the Habitat Centre, Ileana Citaristi, in a recital featuring her with students of her institution Art Vision founded in 1996 in the old city of Bhubaneswar, presented her own choreographies. Underlining the problems in arranging out-station programmes with no sponsorship, was the appallingly thin audience. Beyond providing auditorium space, Habitat was not directly involved with the event in any way, and with another programme of dance being held in the same building downstairs, the non-local group was at a distinct disadvantage.

Starting with an invocation to river Ganga based on Shankaracharya's Ganga Stotram strung to Rohan Dasgupta's music, dancers in squatting position as if in water, paid homage to the river adorning Shiva's head . Rushing with restless energy to meet the Ocean, like a nayika her beloved, are the Ganga's pearl like waves which wash away sins, earning salvation for the worshipper. For the devotee, being a turtle or a fish in its waters is a greater boon than being a wealthy king.

Read more in the site

Anonymous derogatory comments will be removed. Please provide your name and email id along with your comment.

Anita says...December 2022

Dance there upon the shore
What need have you to care
For wind or water's roar?
And tumble out your hair
That the salt drops have wet;
Being young you have not known
The fool's triumph, nor yet
Love lost as soon as won,
And he, the best warrior, dead
And all the sheaves to bind!
What need that you should dread
The monstrous crying of wind?

- A CHILD DANCING UPON THE SHORE
William Butler Yeats



In the last month of 2022, much has happened. And I share my thoughts.

Read more in the site

Anonymous derogatory comments will be removed. Please provide your name and email id along with your comment.