February is now about the great Balasaraswati, who passed away on 9th February. Her acolyte Dr. Nandini Ramani celebrated her centenary in a grand 2 day function held in Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Chennai, and a monograph compiled and written by Nandini Ramani, published by SNA was released on the occasion. Bala's story is stuff myths and history is made of and in India now her principal follower-disciple Nandini Ramani, with sister Priyamvada - both talented daughters of giant scholar Dr. V. Raghavan - continue to worship and propagate her art. Aniruddha Knight, Bala's grandson, was only 5 when Bala died and has lived and grown and worked mostly in USA. Bala was celebrated in a big way when Chennai dancers came together (a riot of talents and colours) to dance for her or speak on her. Nandini Ramani and family left no stone unturned to propitiate Bala's memory and art.
Read more in the site
Gina Lalli died on 16 February 2019 in Austin, Texas, after an extended illness.Gina was born in Binghamton, New York. Her intrepid nature drove her after initial Bharatanatyam lessons with Nala Najan (a student of Muthukumaran Pillai) in New York City to India where she shared a time of vigorous training in the 1950’s with Gina Blau under Chokkalingam Pillai. Subsequent travel to India and chance path-crossings brought her to learn Kathak, first from Vikram Singh and then over an extended time from Birju Maharaj. She credited her acquaintance with and profound admiration for T. Balasaraswathi for encouragement to keep dancing and enjoyed a close friendship with Bala’s brother T. Ranganathan. She also trained under Nageswara Rao on the veena and learned to play pakhawaj and tabla when she went to Lucknow and Delhi.
Read more in the site
Steeped as we are in our love for dance, we fail to recognise sometimes that we are not alone in the dancing world. Many more species in nature dance as impressively if not more, than man. It is while watching the migratory birds visiting Delhi that urged me to talk of dance in the avian world.Actually, very few animals really dance - that is to say that they can consistently move to music. I will talk about this in a subsequent column, but for the moment I must point out that the most attractive dancing is by birds.There is a well-documented case, also a case that was the first to be scientifically explored, of a cockatoo called Snowball. This species come from Australia and New Guinea, where sadly they are regarded as pests. Snowball, with a distinctive, almost punky sulphur crest, had a rare talent. Snowball could dance, nodding and stamping to a variety of tunes, but his especial favourite was the Backstreet Boys tune, "Everybody". Snowball used his skills to appear on TV, initiate neuroscience research and raise funds for disadvantaged children. He was featured on an episode of 'Animals at Work', which described Snowball as a professional dancer.
Read more in the site
(First winner in the junior category in the ‘Nrutya Shabda’ essay writing competition conducted by Neha Muthiyan’s Loud Applause and Swarada Dhekane’s Samvaad blog) Just yesterday, I was browsing on YOU TUBE, when one video caught my attention. It included a “Bharatanatyam Fusion Dance” on the famous pop song “The Shape of You”. When I glanced to check the number of views, lo and behold – One Million!! And surprisingly the views included not only Bharatanatyam learners or lovers, but people from diverse fields across different states and countries! This got me thinking on how wide and crucial the impact of social media is on various facets of dance including of course, the Indian classical dance.
Read more in the site
(Second winner in the senior category in the 'Nrutya Shabda' essay writing competition conducted by Neha Muthiyan's Loud Applause and Swarada Dhekane's Samvaad blog) Restoring Indian tradition and culture Indian traditional dance styles are more than two thousand years old and there arises the need to create awareness and interest in the minds of younger generation, so that they are able to enjoy classical dance learning and performances in the real sense of the term keeping our age old tradition and culture intact. The perception of guru-shishya has endured despite all the contemporary methods adapted in dance pedagogy in India. The modern guru-shishya relationship is an intermingling of the traditional gurukul system and the modern teacher-student relationship. It is constantly changing by inventing new methods of teaching, innovative choreographies, differently interpreting our mythological stories but tries to maintain the hierarchy and unquestioning respect that existed in the traditional gurukul system. The modern guru-shishya trend is yet to find its balance in the space between tradition and modernity that Indian dance is currently undergoing.
Read more in the site
I have been regularly attending the festival since its inception in 2003. Held at the backdrop of Dhauli peace pagoda, its ambience is enchanting. The Dhauli stupa and nearby temple are lit up. The artists, dignitaries, organizers are invited on the opening evening to hold mashals, the torches aloft and to the sound of the conch, the festival is inaugurated. The ceremony is awe inspiring. It suggests cherishing the idea of love, peace, compassion and humanity. The festival is a grand celebration of harmony between history and modernity. This is the very place where after the Kalinga war, on banks of Daya River, emperor Ashoka took to Buddhism. The festival held on this spot gives signals for peace in contemporary times.At the very outset, I would like to congratulate dancer, choreographer, guru and an organizer par excellence Aruna Mohanty for mounting such an amazing festival. A worthy disciple of late Guru Gangadhar Pradhan, she has imbibed his style admirably, runs Orissa Dance Academy, teaches there and has to her credit several large scale dance works, doing her guru proud. The first opening ‘Gita Mahatmyam’ and the final ‘Make in Odisha’ took one’s breath away. The conceptualization and flawless execution using the classical dance forms with stunning visuals and melodious music are the hallmarks of these productions.
Read more in the site
Dr. Malini Ranganathan, a French national of Indian origin, settled in France for the past 35 years, has been conferred the PBSA Award by the President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind on the 23rd of January 2019 in Varanasi, for dual domains: Academics & Arts. The Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award is the highest distinction given by the President of India to a NRI and only 15 persons per year are selected worldwide. On this occasion, Malini was invited by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Minister of External Affairs, Sushma Swaraj, as a State guest of the Khumb mela at Prayagraj and for 26th January Republic Day Parade in Delhi. She is the first lady to be honoured from France.
Read more in the site
