Chennai’s ABHAI (Association of Bharatanatyam Artistes of India), initiated in 1987 by Pakkirisamy Pillai was to encourage, amidst the highly competitive performance scenario, camaraderie among Bharatanatyam artistes. Since last year, ABHAI, in a friendly sensitive gesture, has mounted ‘Pravasi Utsavam’ solely meant for presenting proficient Bharatanatyam dancers settled abroad - who find it difficult to procure performance opportunities during the Season with its crowded calendar. And no matter how many opportunities for dancing one has in various countries, to present a Bharatanatyam recital on its home soil, has its own special appeal. After a brief invocation sung by Uma Namboodiripad Satyanarayana invoking Dakshinamurthy, followed by dancer Roja Kannan’s (President of ABHAI) very concise welcome address, the festival at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in Chennai, had USA settled Lavanya Raghuraman trained by the Dhananjayans in Bharata Kalanjali presenting the curtain-raiser recital. Beginning with a salutation to Nritta Ganapati as Parabrahma swaroopam, the dancer went on to the Swarajati (Nrityopaharam for the Dhananjayan school), Sakhiye inda velaiyil in Anandabhairavi, with zippy teermanams and the expressional part of the nayika cajoling the sakhi to go as a messenger of love to fetch Rajagopalaswamy residing in the holy town, rendered with the confidence of a frequent performer. She finished with abhinaya in the Javali Sarasamulade denduku in Kapi, the nayika trying to dodge the advances of the over eager nayaka for neither time of day nor the lack of privacy added up to an opportune moment for romance.
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It was very refreshing to find half a dozen reputed and well-respected gurus of classical dance in the Eastern metropolis join hands and produce a well conceived item each, with well trained disciples, many of whom were recipients of national scholarship or junior fellowship awards from Ministry of Culture. Indeed, it was quite thoughtful of Pushpak and their director Alokparna Guha to organize their annual dance festival on July 31 in a properly thought out format, reducing traditional mythology for Sahitya to a large extent.The evening began with Shibpur Omkar under Dr. Malabika Mitra presenting Chhanda Parikrama. Malabika is a veteran Kathak dancer, whom this critic had seen performing in Delhi as early as 1984 and who has not looked back since. According to an ancient Indian concept, dance is the source of creation and everything owes its origin to the rhythmic movement of dance of Mahashakti (Supreme Energy). We find different rhythmic patterns in every movement around us. There are also different rhythmic patterns in north Indian music: Aarh, Kuaarh, Biaarh and Barabar. The four dancers on stage played with pure dance patterns through footwork and traditional mnemonics like toda, parimelu and padhants set to different chhanda (rhythmic patterns). What emerged was quite an invigorating nritta that delights the heart.
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And this happened in the month of July in the year 2019...The setting is the MS University in Gujarat, India.- First, there is Dr. Parul Shah who serves both as the Head of the Department of Dance and Dean of Performing Arts at this University.- Then, after a meritorious service, having earned respect and all that good stuff, she retires.- Then, there is a Bachelor's Degree course in Kathak dance style offered by this same University.- Then, Dr. Shah, the 66-year-old ex-Dean, applies to join this course - as a student!- And then... she is REJECTED! That's right! She is denied course entry / refused /declined! The reasons? According to a Times of India article, there are four articulated by the current HOD Mr. Jagdish Gangani:- The other students will feel pressured by her presence in class - Her age and physical fitness will not allow her to keep up- The department is already over its student intake - This is a dance-career oriented degree courseOn the surface, the decision by the selection panel might come across as being practical, and resting on four solid legs. But, if we don our lens of reason, we can see that these legs are wobbly and their rationale falls so low on the moral quotient that one has to turn into a crawling centipede and hunt with one's antennae to find its justification. Of course, every educational institution is entitled to set its own qualifiers for admittance, but these should relate to the curriculum and the subjects being taught. Here, the reasons (IF these are the real reasons), that the dance department has chosen to publicly project as talking-points are so ludicrously wishy-washy, that I wish to address each individually, to cite its demerits both from the ethical as well as pragmatic perspectives.
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Abstract: This essay looks at the manifestation of Rasa and its resonance with Bhava, keeping in mind the tenets of the Natyashastra. In context of Kathak, Bhibhatsa rasa has been studied with respect to compositions composed by maestros and an analysis of the Vyabhicharis involved when resonating within this seldom depicted rasa. IntroductionThe journey of dance begins with first imbibing the aangik vocabulary of the dance into the body or the sthul sharir, which connects with sagun saakara (both quality and form). The next step is the transference of the effects of these movements into the physiological inner space or the sukshma sharira, which connects with sagun nirakaar (with quality but no form). This then transfers to the kaarana sharira or aatma that has no form or quality. What is absorbed into this formless space within us is an intangible imprint (sanskaar) that can best be described as 'bhaav'. These sanskaaras translate over lifetimes and are truly the only aspect of a human life that one can take forward from one lifetime to the next.
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Dance is a combined art form. Dance relies heavily on literature and poetry is the heartbeat of music. In the world of Kathak, Rasa is created through the myriad interpretations of poetry. A truly elevated Kathak performer imbibes the 'laya' or rhythm and with the help of word imagery infuses the 'prana'/ breath into the movements.Late Guru Lacchu Maharaj, one of the most versatile gurus of his time, laid emphasis on expressing the feeling within the form of the beat. In his Kathak journey, Guruji experimented and specialized in the execution of body movements. To him, every exterior movement had to be an expression of the inner 'sense'. The 'Gross' movement was the outer shell while the 'Bhava' the invisible feel, was the inner kernel.In his attempts to connect with the last viewer in the audience, Guru Lacchu Maharaj experimented within the gamut of the Kathak art form.
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LOVE is a fireThat dies outIf it does not kindle othersYOU have burned with joySo kindle them who come near youIf you canOr become a stone- Italian artist Giovanni PapiniIn the midst of rehearsals, performances and more gushing in the guise of reviews on Facebook, I turn my lens to fewer topics but those that have caught my attention this past month.
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