Profile - Pusthakam Ramaa: An artiste without boundaries - Jyothi Raghuram

Whether on stage or off it, she attracts attention, for the right reasons! The range, clarity and flexibility of her singing reflect the freshness of youth. In traditional silks and glittering ornaments, she is no less than a dancer in brightness and vivacity. A top concert singer and high-demand dance vocalist, Pusthakam Ramaa has gifted the arts a legacy that defies categorization.

 

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Article - What my Guru gave me, I struggle to give my students - Sushma Kotireddy

For me, Bharatanatyam has never been just a sequence of steps. It has always been a living conversation between rhythm, movement, and devotion. As a child growing up in India, I was immersed in this world from the very beginning. My earliest memories are not only of dance classes, but of the sound of the nattuvangam, the voice of the vocalist rising and falling with emotion, the steady heartbeat of the mridangam behind me. Music was never something I danced to - it was something I danced with.

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Classical genres perform to backdrop of dance immortalized on stone - Taalam: column by Leela Venkataraman

Come December and it is time for the magnum opus dance celebration at Konark, when the quiet tourist township surrounding the celebrated temple of the Sun God, sees a rush of high profile activity, with visitors of all denominations descending, to witness not just the dance festival but also the activities surrounding it, like the annual Sand Art festival. Alongside is a highly trumpeted, popular late night event, much patronized by the hoi polloi, comprising music, dance and drama.

Hosted by the Odisha Tourism Department Corporation in conjunction with the Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi, the programing of the five day fare (Dec 1 - 5), ensuring understandably, a major share of this dance patronage to its own classical dance of Odissi, has an established convention of one Odissi group recital on one half of every evening of the festival with the other featuring a dance genre from outside the State. Mushrooming Odissi bodies in the State notwithstanding, the five year gap in festival participation insisted upon down the line, poses challenges in ensuring Odissi groups of standard. 

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An evening in Paris! And a night in Stockholm - Dance Matters: Column by Ashish Mohan Khokar

AttenDance, India's only yearbook on dance turned 25 (years)! To have sustained a hard bound, all colour book for 25 years shows Punjabi spirit, Tamil mind, made in Baroda, Gujarat model! This silver jubilee issue focussed on Indian Dance in France in the last hundred years. No one in France or in India had attempted this subject in such in-depth and scope with substance. Sonya Wynne Singh did. 

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Profile - Dancing between worlds: Arunima Kumar's diasporic journey - Bibin Balan

Homecoming... It's a different feeling. It's been sixteen years. That is how long it has been since Arunima Kumar began her back and forth journeys between India and the United Kingdom. Yet this time, her return feels personal. After preparing for one year, she fulfilled her vital duty as a mentor guiding more than twenty of her students, all born and raised in the UK, on a cultural exchange that mirrors her own journey of discovery. For these children, this visit is a chance to feel the pulse of India, to understand the Guru Shishya Parampara, and to witness how classical art breathes within its homeland. For Arunima, it is a full circle moment, a return to the source after years spent carving her place abroad. 

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Article - From Aramandi to Allegro: How Bharatanatyam built my dance foundation - Samyuktha Gopi Raj

I was five when I first stepped into my guru's studio in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles County, my tiny feet learning the basic tattadavu. Nine years later, these foundational rhythmic patterns would become my secret weapon across all dance forms.

In those early classes, even the simplest sollukattu felt like trying to speak a new language. Now, in World Dance class at the Buckley School, Sherman Oaks, CA as we all work through complex beats together, I find myself quietly drawing strength from years of practicing tisram patterns, grateful for this foundation that helps me understand new rhythms. When working through the World Dance choreography, I silently thanked my guru for the years of rhythmic training that helped me understand these new patterns.

 

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Mozartayana: Column by Janaki Patrik

The title of India's great epic RAMAYANA includes the Sanskrit suffix -ayana. Literally translated, "Ayana" (अयन) refers to time periods -- the passage of the sun through the zodiac. Therefore, loosely translated, Ramayana means "The travels of Ram [through] time."

Linguistically improvising on the Sanskrit root "Ayana", I created the title MOZARTAYANA - The Travels of Mozart. It premiered on 28 July 2012 at the City University of New York, Baruch College, Manhattan campus. The title refers to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's travels. During his tragically short lifetime (1756 to 1791), Mozart traveled extensively in Europe, concertizing, playing his own and others' compositions, improvising and composing masterpieces.

 

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Impressive dance recitals across Delhi - Taalam: column by Leela Venkataraman

- WINSOME ODISSI AND KATHAK FEATURED IN BHARATIYA VIDYA BHAVAN'S 17TH SANGEET SAMAROH

- SPIRITED KATHAK

- DOUBLE DELIGHT IN DOUBLE BILL CONCERT

- DELIGHTFUL MOHINIATTAM

- KAMADAHANAM KOODIYATTAM BY MARGI MADHU

- YOUNGSTERS PERFORM TO THE MAGICAL SHEEN OF NEW IDEAS

- SOMA CATCHES THE MAGIC OF A MOONLIT NIGHT

- OBEISANCE TO THE GURU

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Anita says...December 2025

The month of November has gone by and we are at the end of the year!

It's December and all of India is buzzing with so much dance, theatre, music, visual art, installation and outdoor events - this is really the time to be in this country. Not just Chennai, but every city is dressed up and throbbing with multiple events every single day.

For dancers, it feels like we need a 360 degree spiral of our head on a stick. Everywhere we turn there are performances and premieres. Festivals, conclaves, conferences - name them whatever you choose to but the energy is there - vibrant and hopeful. It is a wonderful time to be a young and ambitious dancer. So many opportunities and so many openings for collaborations and cross cultural understanding. It is totally up to the individual artiste to seize the moment.

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