Nritya Dhara’s two day festival of Indian classical dances - Dr. Sunil Kothari

Vani Madhav, an Odissi exponent and a disciple of Guru Sudhakar Sahoo, mounted  a two day festival of Indian classical dances titled Nritya Bibhabari under her institution banner Nritya Dhara, at Azad Bhavan Auditorium of Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) on 7th and 8th April 2012.

This was the second edition of the festival, since Vani Madhav moved from Bangalore to Delhi. She has been active on the scene for more than two decades and has started training young students at Gurgaon, where she is based.

Inaugurating the festival, former Ambassador to USA and former Director General of ICCR, Mr. Lalit Mansingh paid compliments to Vani Madhav for her initiative in the changing scenario of classical dances. The collaborative efforts on the part of dancers to come together and support each other are most welcome. The young generation respecting the senior artistes and presenting young dancers along with them augurs well under present circumstances when one notices the audiences dwindling for classical dances. Not fazed by that, the young dancers have taken up the challenges to bring to the next generation relevance and importance of Indian classical dances as a precious cultural heritage.   

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Mothers by Daughters - Demystifying Maya - Madhu Nataraj

It is indeed a daunting task to write about how one ‘perceives’ their guru and if the guru happens to be your mother, it gets even tougher!
 
Dr. Maya Rao’s name is synonymous with dance. Internationally renowned Kathak exponent, recognized for her path breaking choreographies and for her pioneering work in the field of dance education, she personifies grace and dignity and lives her life by example.
 
From my childhood days of falling asleep on her lap to the sound of ghungroos and the tabla, memories of her supervising my homework and walking me to school, cajoling my school authorities to grant me leave so I could travel with her on her international tours to teaching and guiding me through my initial years in dance to today, where she is my strongest consultant, critic and proud mentor. Every single day of our lives we traverse from our equation as mother and daughter to Guru and Shishya ...effortlessly.
 
A recipient of  several prestigious awards such as the President of India award, Shantala prashasti, the Emeritus fellowship , honorary doctorate, to mention a few, this year she adds 2 more awards to her awards kitty. I speak to her about her life, her dance…

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Commoditization of Art - Deepa Chakravarthy

The art scene today has undergone a metamorphosis of change. Do we attribute this change for the good or should we just step from within the circle and try to understand a bird’s eye view and look around.

There can be many and more for the media, and our own government institutions to project that our tradition is the oldest tradition. I don’t want to go into how many centuries old – I still read many different things in different places.  The cultural wing of the Government of India likes to grant grand funds for excavating dancing figures in order to project India as among the oldest civilization, evolved and advanced that had the aesthetics to promote art and culture even as early as 4500 years ago. This no doubt immediately puts India on the spotlight in the international scene for being the most sophisticated civilization then. The girl in the statue here conveys volumes of the time and space murmuring secrets of a cultural lifestyle followed in ancient times. And from there on there is no looking back in justifying the question of our heritage or the tradition that we follow now.

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The Margam is dead, long live the Margam! - Veejay Sai

Oh! We are drifting from the ‘Margam’ talk, are we? Just like the ‘Margam’ itself has drifted considerably from where it began and lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit that Tagore was anxious about. In today’s digital era when dance and music lessons are held on skype and social networking sites, who and what define a traditional ‘Margam’ or a proper guru? In a time when there are more festivals than dancers, who has the patience to sit and learn a ‘Margam’ the way it ought to have been done? This is the age of designer Margams. The economics of sabhas and festivals is directly proportional to a deterring performance. Dance is taught more in gymnasiums and human laboratories than in the custody of caring and concerned gurus. From obsession with lines to controversial content, anything can be presented. In an era of ‘Global baani’, anything can be patched to make an evening’s presentation. If one was to say that Bharatanatyam dance form in India was dying a slow torturous death, then the current state of the ‘Margam’ signifies its decreasing sluggish heartbeat. Who is accountable for this? 

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Visakhapatnam - City of Dance Destiny - B Venkat

Visakhapatnam is referred to as a ‘City of Destiny.’ Hills, sea and beaches, sizable middle class segment, education industry, growing film industry, simple and easy-going life style, enthusiastic celebration of culture and festivities (Shivaratri, Diwali, Sankranthi), make the city an ideal choice to be the city of dance destiny too.
 
Visakha has got its basics right; these include wonderful venues to host dance programs viz., Port Kalavani Auditorium, Vempati Kalakshetra, Kalabharathi; reputed dance and music gurus; University with dance department, sizable student community, and a dancers’ association.
 
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Margam Festival, Bengaluru (March 29 - 31, 2012) - Dr.Sunil Kothari

An unusual three day festival focusing on varnams in Bharatanatyam suite was conceived by Usha RK based in Bengaluru. She has been active since past 30 years and is organizing several dance events. As a part of the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of The Music Academy of Bengaluru at Chowdaiah Hall, co-sponsored by Dept. of Kannada and Culture, with support from SLV Enterprises, Indus Sports Resorts Pvt. Ltd, Vaishnavi Palace, Nrityanjali School of Bharatanatyam of Poornima Ashok, Usha succeeded in her aim at focusing attention on varnams.

Every evening at 6 pm, dancers took to the stage and within one hour performed a varnam, preceded by a number and included one more number either a javali or a tillana after the varnam. But the aim was to concentrate for nearly 45 minutes on varnam to retain its flavor to relish the structure and scope of abhinaya in a varnam with its musical excellence, bringing back the glory of a varnam in the present day dance scenario, where attention span of the audience has been wavering within 30 minutes and varnams are getting shortened to suit the patience of the audiences.

A praiseworthy aim and indeed succeeded as the audience, though thin (on account of forthcoming examinations towards end of March) responded with rounds of applause at the right moments. The evening performances were a connoisseurs’ delight. There was a conscious effort on part of the performers to give the best while enjoying the time frame that allowed them to relax and not rush through.

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Poll - April 2012

CAN TRADITIONAL SYSTEMS OF KNOWLEDGE 
BECOME COMMERCIAL COMMODITIES?
(The examples of classical dance ITEMS being marketed piece meal and 
specialised TEACHING of classical, traditional, ritual forms being sold to the highest bidder)

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