Woven round Jain philosophy of truth manifesting through multiple
realities, Natya Vriksha’s twenty-fifth anniversary, given founder Geeta
Chandran’s explorative creativity, became an exhilarating
experience, for artists and audience - the performance at the packed
Kamani auditorium in Delhi showcasing in a way, the elasticity of the
Bharatanatyam technique in expressing off beat themes. What impressed
was the overall package with the organisational details worked out
meticulously. Inspired by the research of author Sudhamahi Regunathan,
the two evenings could not have asked for a more fitting curtain-raiser
than the scholar’s own superb enunciation on the theme of Anekanta - of
truth being relative, its entirety realised only by one who has attained
that final state of consciousness (‘Kaivalya’). Now more than ever
perhaps the world needs to understand the wisdom enshrined in the
philosophy that apparent contradictions are but manifestations of one
ultimate harmony and that polarities can co-exist in perfect amity.
Read the review in the site
They all danced beautifully,
and the corporates rewarded him
with applause in heart they felt rich
returned journeys in the sleeper unreserved
he flew in the sky disturbed...
Read the poem in the site
Every dancer wishes for ONE GREAT REVIEW in the New York Times which
for the United States has been the arbiter of dance taste and values.
British critic and American transplant Alastair Macaulay has been in
love with classical Indian dance for decades and his continued
Orientalism is constantly overlooked for the prestige of the masthead he
writes for. Here is a recent example of his retro "take" on his
favourite group NRITYAGRAM of Bangalore.
The article
And here is a response to Macaulay's review from Bruno Kavanagh, no
stranger to the expressive arts, and spouse of dancer Preeti Vasudevan.
- Anita Ratnam
On November 3rd, the New York Times carried what can only be described
as a rave review of an Odissi presentation by Nrityagram, who’d
performed at the Gerald W. Lynch Theatre in Manhattan the previous
night.
“[Nrityagram’s performers are] among the world’s greatest dancers” oozed
the NYT’s most senior dance critic Alastair Macaulay, “I have sometimes
found Odissi the single most beautiful dance-form I’ve experienced.”
This is high praise indeed from Macaulay - a man not shy of wielding the
hatchet when he feels it’s merited.
I sent the review to an Indian friend, based in the US (a member of the
“Indian classical dance community” if such a thing can be said to
exist—which I think it can.). I thought she’d be pleased that an Indian
classical form was getting such positive attention from the senior
critic of the most influential paper in the United States.
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Dr. C.K. Gariyali’s My Beautiful Journey - Kashmir to Kanyakumari
published by Authors Upfront with foreword by N. Ram – the chairman and
the publisher of The Hindu Group of Newspapers, is a lovely story of a
young woman turned to a bureaucrat. The book delineates the author’s
journey as Chander Kanta – a young girl from downtown Srinagar where she
was born to Old Delhi. The story then takes us to her career front at
the National Academy of Administration in Mussoorie where she was
trained, met her fiancée Dr. Raj Kumar and then to Tamil Nadu
where she spent her entire working life and then later settled down in
Chennai.
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It was heartening to see the young generation of dancers putting their
best foot forward in a three-day (Oct 18-20, 2016) dance and music
festival organized by Raza Foundation. Uttaradhikar, conceived by Kathak
dancer Prerana Shrimali, under the series of Guru Shishya Parampara,
the disciples of senior dancers of Raza Foundation Awardees for dance
and music were presented at Habitat Centre, Delhi. Also leading art
historians and academic scholars were invited to give a brief history of
tradition of Guru Shishya Parampara.
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You
are reading this while I am in sunny southern California - SoCal for
short. Presenting an important paper for CORD/SDHS at Pomona College, I
am joined with the empathetic and astute academic Dr. Ketu Katrak of the
University of California, Irvine. Together we have created a template
that documents and shares my journey over the past 22 years in reviving
and restaging the 15th century ritual KAISIKA NATAKAM that is performed
annually at my ancestral village temple in Tirukurungudi, Tamilnadu.
Wherever we have made this presentation - Stockholm, Santiago, Barcelona
and now in Pomona, erudite audiences have watched and listened in rapt
attention. Granted, some find the layered braiding of religion,
performance, festival, celebration and social gathering a tad too
"enthusiastic" for their austere faith beliefs, but it is this very
"quilting" that makes performance traditions so rich and intense in a
society like India.
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