Please provide your name / email id along with your comment. Anonymous and derogatory comments will be removed.
Please provide your name / email id along with your comment. Anonymous and derogatory comments will be removed.
Wednesday 22 March 2023
Nritya Veerangana - Brainchild of Dr. Sonal Mansingh - Taalam: column by Leela Venkataraman
Wednesday 15 March 2023
Article - Note to Myself - VP Dhananjayan
During the pandemic - between 2020 and 2022 - every artiste engaged themselves in creative endeavours. Some were blown big and some blown out of proportion. Some got good attention among the art connoisseurs and some went obscure, swept under the carpet.
The two major ventures Bharata Kalanjali launched during the vacuum period, I should confess did not get much attention or exposure, even though they were on air for international online viewing. The local audience was least bothered to know what was brewing in Bharata Kalanjali. We also could not explore the possibilities of putting up stage performances for the discerning connoisseur audience of Chennai with adequate publicity.
Please provide your name / email id along with your comment. Anonymous and derogatory comments will be removed.
Saturday 11 March 2023
Dhauli-Kalinga Mahotsav: When war games transform into peace messages - Taalam: column by Leela Venkataraman
Please provide your name / email id along with your comment. Anonymous and derogatory comments will be removed.
Thursday 9 March 2023
Warrior Queens: Ranis of Dance! - Dance Matters: Column by Ashish Mohan Khokar
In the clime of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav today, quite a few senior dancers have presented their patriotic flavoured works with the ball set in motion last year in April, by Delhi-based veteran Sonal Mansingh, the ruling party's nominated MP to the Upper House. Her works on women leaders before connected to Buddha or recently on the queens of Kashmir and mythological characters before - like Draupadi - have always made her someone who has taken up women's issues and causes. In that, she is a pioneer of Indian dance in this segment.
Senior dancer Prathibha Prahlad has come up with a wholesome production where patriotism meets pride and art meets warrior queens. This production is a good introduction to the canvas of history of a few chosen women warriors of India in last 200 years.
Please provide your name / email id along with your comment. Anonymous and derogatory comments will be removed.
Wednesday 8 March 2023
Article - On being mentored and the Pratiroop Project: Voices in my head - Mythili Maratt Anoop
If Asan's presence for me was a quiet luminous lake of many riches for me to delve into, Guru Vyjayanthi Kashi was a brilliant storm of all things benign. Always probing, never letting me lapse into a lazy spell, unrelenting in her comments and expectations, but with infinite patience. She wanted the best from everyone, the script, the musicians, and me of course! She would never settle for less, and that was a life lesson for me!
Please provide your name / email id along with your comment. Anonymous and derogatory comments will be removed.
Sunday 5 March 2023
Interview - Leela Samson: The creative process is a response to theme and music - Shveta Arora
Please provide your name / email id along with your comment. Anonymous and derogatory comments will be removed.
Tributes to the legendary Mohiniattam dancer Dr Kanak Rele - Vijay Shanker
Since Mohiniattam is considered the sister style of Kathakali, Kanak Rele was slowly drawn towards Mohiniattam, which was almost extinct, due to the distorted version of the dance form. The term "Mohiniattakari" was used as a word of abuse, hence many dissuaded Kanak Rele from learning Mohiniattam but she was determined to delve deep into the aesthetics, sensitivity and sensuality of the lyrical classical dance of Kerala. In 1972, The Ford Foundation grant enabled her to make a film on the three pioneer mentors of Mohiniattam - Chinnammu Amma, Kunjukutty Amma and Kalyanikutty Amma. After observing and learning from these three mentors, she gradually evolved her own style, based on her theory of body kinetics, wherein the body movements were divided into two main segments; the upper body movements that involves the hands and the graceful sway of the shoulders, which is symbolic of movements of the palm trees of Kerala and the lower body movements that involves the torso and the feet movements that moves accordingly. Kanakben's style was distinct and quite different from the traditional style of Mohiniattam, as taught in the premier institute of Kathakali and Mohiniattam - Kerala Kalamandalam.
Please provide your name / email id along with your comment. Anonymous and derogatory comments will be removed.
Friday 3 March 2023
Getting to know Vitasta's gift to India - Taalam: column by Leela Venkataraman
VITASTA, the ever flowing legacy of Kashmir, a four day event, sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, on the occasion of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, held amidst the spacious environs of Chennai’s Kalakshetra, proved to be a once- in-a-lifetime experience. It provided intimate, vital, and ineradicable glimpses, of that part of our country, symbolising its very spirit and consciousness. A well-knit effort, involving a host of names like Siddharth Kak as resource person, Bharat Gupt, Trustee and Executive Member IGNCA, Director of Kalakshetra Revathi Ramachandran, who played an active role in laying out the basic format, Dr.Chandrakant Gariyali with her vast experience in the Centre and Tamilnadu (committed enough to come all the way from Australia where she was visiting her son, to participate in the event), the Sahitya Kala Parishad which organised seminar talks on the first day (followed by two days of lectures arranged by Revathi), the North Zone Cultural Centre which provided cultural groups from Kashmir to stage performances, the Lalit Kala Akademi which sent craftsmen to participate and organise stalls, Seerat Narendra who provided the décor for the festival, et al, in different roles - all participating in what was by any standard, an extremely well-crafted endeavour.
Please provide your name / email id along with your comment. Anonymous and derogatory comments will be removed.
Wednesday 1 March 2023
Anita says...March 2023
One is shaded, the other illuminated
One’s a sheep, the other a shepherd
One’s the feet, the other a towering head
One’s a glutton as the other starves
One rides the winds as the other is trampled underfoot
One blossoms, the other fades
Geetanjali Shree, Booker Prize Winner RET SAMADHI (Hindi)
From the English translation TOMB OF SAND by Daisy Rockwell
March opened with sadness. My guide, well-wisher and long distance mentor, Guru Kanak Rele passed away. It was on the morning of February 22 that she took her last breath. Ailing for several weeks, the end was predicted. But nothing prepares us for the finality of the end. In this instance, Kanakben departs with an amazing legacy of an institution, pedagogy, performance, teaching and 50 continuous years of dance-obsessed service!
Please provide your name / email id along with your comment. Anonymous and derogatory comments will be removed.