Dr. Lalitha Srinivasan has been holding annually under the aegis of
Nupura, her dance institution in Bangalore, Nitya Nritya dance festival
for the past 30 years. There was a break for few years, but for past 7
years she has resumed the annual dance festival with seminars.
I have attended in early 80s and participated in seminars. With Aloka
Kanungo I had given an illustrated talk with slides of Odisha temple
sculptures to which Aloka had performed various poses as created by Guru
Kelucharan Mohapatra. In earlier years I was fortunate to witness
abhinaya by legendary Venkatalakshamma from Mysore. Ah, what a treat it
was! As a matter of fact it all started with Lalitha’s wish to visit
temples in Odisha, Tanjore, see Rasalila in Imphal, Manipur. Late BVK
Sastry, a friend of Lalitha and Srinivasan suggested why not organize a
conference in Bangalore and invite great gurus and dancers, hold
seminars and performances, so that dance lovers of Bangalore also can
witness their great art.
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Vienna University (Universitat Wien) confirmed my lecture and screenings
of the excerpts of films on Uday Shankar, Ram Gopal and Mrinalini
Sarabhai on June 16, 2016, well in advance, therefore the last leg of my
Europe tour was finalized and I had a glorious week in Vienna, the
beautiful capital of Austria. The lecture was held at the seminar room
of The Institute for South Asian, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies. By a
happy coincidence, celebrated Kathak exponent Shovana Narayan with her
husband Herbert Traxl, former Ambassador to India, was also in town.
After retirement, Traxl also gives lectures in the same university.
Radha Anjali, a disciple of Kamadev, Adyar K. Lakshman and Kalanidhi
Narayanan runs her institution Natya Mandir in Vienna for past 30 years.
Thanks to Kamadev, we had met many years ago when I had
visited Vienna with Kamadev. They were to perform Seraikella Chhau
dances in Vienna. I was instrumental in introducing Kamadev to
Seraikella Chhau in 1968 when we met In London. I had taken with me few
copies of special issue of Marg edited by me on Chhau Dances of India
(Dec1968).
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‘The liberating dance - Natya Tantra’ is an erudite exposition on the
subject of Natyam as a meticulously designed tool that enables its
practitioner to be truly spiritual. Appropriate illustrations and a rich
bibliography at the end make this profound subject a comfortable read
and conducive even for non-dancers. The author Dr. Padmaja Suresh
(Director, Aatmalaya Academy, Bangalore), places an overview of Tantra
and Natya in the beginning chapter. It explores the fundamental
principle of Tantra Sastra through the works of Dattatreya and the
essence of other Tantric treaties like Anukaranasabdasastram,
Chitrakarma, Sivaswarodayam etc. apart from also understanding the
significance of Natya as a consecration process.
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To bring back the glory of Kuchipudi Yakshagana is what every lover of
dance would welcome. And this would seem to be the aim of the new effort
which has been named International Dance Research and Training Centre
at Kuchipudi, the village where the entire story of this dance began
centuries ago. Abu Hassan Tanisha, the Nawab of Golkonda
(1672-1687 A.D), on a visit to Machilipatnam where he was treated to an
impressive performance by a Nataka group (harnessing music, dance and
the spoken word in a total theatre form) gifted land in appreciation to
the actors, for establishing a dance village. But today’s sleepy
Kuchipudi village, with hardly any survivors from the halcyon past of
the Yakshagana tradition, lives largely on memories.
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Durgapur is ‘a steel city,’ by road three hours away from Kolkata. It
does not boast of any major cultural events except as happens in Bengal,
the biggest event is Durga Puja. Therefore when I received the
invitation from Nrityabritti Batayan’s director Kalamandalam
Swarnadeepa, a Mohiniattam and Bharatanatyam dancer, I was quite
surprised. The line up of dancers for the two day festival was quite
varied, consisting of several dance forms including Bharatanatyam,
Odissi, Kuchipudi, Manipuri, Kathak, Yakshagana and Bharatanatyam
jugalbandi. The music component consisted of renowned Bengali musician
Sourendra Malik and Soumyajit Das from Kolkata, Sutanu Sarkar from
Santinketan and Inamee Chakravarty and Saurabh Gangauly.
The celebrated senior dancers were Sujata Mohapatra (Odissi) from
Bhubaneswar,
Vyjayanthi Kashi and her daughter Prateeksha Kashi
(Kuchipudi) from Bangalore. The child prodigy Shreenika with her mother
Sonalka (Odissi) from Bangalore, Sandip Malik (Kathak) and his troupe
from Kolkata, Swaranadeepa and her troupe from Durgapur, Surojit Deb
Barman from Agartala and S. Yogandan Singh (Manipuri) from Imphal, both
trained at Shantiniketan, Dipjyoti and Dipankar, Sattriya dancers from
Guwahati, Ullal brothers from Mangalore (Yakshagana and Bharatanatyam
jugalbandi) and dancers of Saurabh group (Bharatanatyam) from Kolkata.
Kalamandalam Gautam from Kolkata was to perform Kathakali but since he
was involved with back stage assistance, he dropped the idea of
performing traditional Kathakali with elaborate make up and aharya.
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THE ONLY THING NEW IS THE HISTORY WE DON'T KNOW
- American President Harry Truman
As war clouds collect across our national borders, the festival season has also descended.
It is a surreal time. Streets and shops are filled to bursting with
merchandise and buyers are everywhere loosening purse strings.
Armed guards stand vigilant at all public monuments and temples.
Airports and train stations have doubled security personnel as men and
women in brightly festive clothes stream onto the streets.
The immediate future looks filled with storm clouds waiting to burst.
YEH HAI MERI INDIA!
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