Spaces for Engagement: art on a pavement (possibly) - Vikram Iyengar

During a recent trip to the UK, I encountered various examples of the relationship between artworks, the public domain and the rejuvenation of urban spaces. These experiences underlined several issues about how, why and where an engagement with the arts as a social concern is both possible and necessary. A space to learn, to play, to gather, to grow, to appreciate, to imagine … and to have a whole load of fun.

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Bharatanatyam: Present and future at the hands of NRIs - Prathiba Natesan

In recent times, I have witnessed several jaw-dropping, wonderful performances in Dallas and Houston (Shijith Nambiar, Rama Vaidyanathan, Spanda) that I have left the auditoriums giggling like a teenager, almost drunk with the beauty of these performances. Today’s dancers, even the traditional ones, incorporate interesting and different movements in their dances to add dynamism – an excellent example of evolution.  At the same time, there also seems to be something that is stagnant in its practice and even an evolution in the wrong direction, if I may be so bold.

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Uma Sharma - Ashish Mohan Khokar

“Nazar bana! Nazar bandh!” These words of my guru Shambhu Maharaj echo in my ears. He taught me how to use eyes for dance. He said, if you don’t know this, you are not meant for dance,” reminisces Uma Sharma.

Born in Delhi on November 20, 1942 to a family of litterateurs, which comprised of Acharya Pandit Vasudeva Sharma, Sanskrit vidwan for a father and Ratna Devi for mother, Uma grew up with her elder sister Rama.

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Natyapriya institute of Bangalore acquires a new open air auditorium - Dr Sunil Kothari

On 15th and 16th October 2011, Bangalore based Bharatanatyam guru Padmini Ramachandran, Director of Natyapriya, saw her dream come true. She had acquired a plot of land on which she by her own dint of hard work built an open air theatre, which was inaugurated in the presence of a large number of admirers, contemporary gurus, dancers and well wishers in Bangalore including leading gurus Radha Sridhar, Lalitha Srinivasan, Bhanumathi and others. 

Padmini Ramachandran's fond dream was of a centre for cultural excellence and well rounded education in dance and music. Therefore when the Government of Karnataka granted her an acre of land to build her cultural institution, she felt that her prayers were answered. Through dance, she has touched many lives and continues to mould the careers of the young generation.  The students of Natyapriya are known for their outstanding performances. Many have performed in national festivals at Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and main cultural centers in Karnataka. Several students are Central and State government merit scholarship holders. Her daughter and disciple Kanya Ramachandran Tayalia, has dedicated her life to carry forward the legacy of Natyapriya.

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Rathna Kumar: Cannot imagine my life without Kuchipudi - Lalitha Venkat

Hailing from a family of musicians and writers, Rathna Kumar is an internationally renowned dancer, teacher and choreographer. She trained initially in Bharatanatyam under Guru KJ Sarasa, and in Kuchipudi under gurus Vedantam Jagannatha Sharma and Vempati Pedda Satyam. She later learnt from Guru Vempati Chinna Satyam at the Kuchipudi Art Academy in Chennai. A child prodigy, Rathna Kumar was known as ‘Rathna Papa’ and performed around India from a very young age.  She emerged as a front ranking Kuchipudi dancer in the 1970s. She subsequently moved to the United States, where she established the Anjali Centre for Performing Arts (1975), the first Indian dance school in Texas and one of the first in the US, and the Samskriti Society for Indian Performing Arts (1994) at Houston. She has served as Dance Instructor at Rice University, USA, since 2002. As a performer-teacher and as a member of several organizations and committees, she has contributed significantly to the practice and promotion of India’s dance forms in the USA. 

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Malaysia Diary - Dr. Sunil Kothari

Asia Pacific International Dance Conference
 

Theme Hybridity in Dance: Researching, Performing and writing Old and New Genres.

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Video piracy - Ananda Shankar Jayant

There is a website http://www.dancingindia.net that is uploading brief video clippings of Doordarshan recordings as well as DVD clippings of different dancers.

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