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ANITA SAYS..... We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at a time, meeting each thing that comes up, seeing it as not as dreadful as it appears, discovering that we have the strength to stare it down. - Eleanor Roosevelt, Former First Lady, USA 
At the end of a tumultuous year, when we are staring into several conflicts and possible further escalations, we pause to take stock of our lives and our journey in the dance arts. This is the final edition of ANITA SAYS for the year 2024. As we continue to wonder at the speed of passing time and the urgency and purpose of our lives, I would like to share my views and reactions to four performances I have watched in four cities over the 30 days of November. In New York City, Coimbatore and Chennai. Varied in content, purpose and intentions, these dance events have thrown up further questions about reinvention, re-purposing and revival. I will discuss each of these performances and add my personal take. These opinions are mine and mine alone and I hope that it is received in the spirit of someone who has been engaged in the performing arts scene for 6 decades. ROGUE GESTURES / FOREIGN BODIES Choreography by Nadhi Thekkek NAVA Dance Theatre Gibney Dance Studios, NYC   Rogue Gestures Photos: Stephen Texeira Photography A diasporic personal diary that expands into a community expression of fortitude, courage and resilience is a popular topic for many dance/theatre creators. The 1965 immigration act brought a generation of trained and skilled professionals to the USA. Among them was a nurse from Kerala, who forged a life for her family. She was the mother of dancer NADHI THEKKEK, who mined her personal story into a multi episodic dance presentation. The loneliness of being in a strange land, of a mother who worked and a father who stayed home to care for the family is not the general diaspora experience. Nadhi, as principal dancer and choreographer, attempted to make her mother's story a universal one. She recalls her mother working several jobs in multiple careers while becoming a community organiser AND trying to put down roots in a foreign soil. As personal diary is a popular motif for many diaspora dancers (I watched Akash Odedra climb out of a suitcase in his solo in London), I find myself wondering if the Bharatanatyam vocabulary is sufficient to tell one's personal story. The form seems more readily suited to channel the grander epic/legend/myth. Everyday life and experiences seem to demand a dismantling of very formal structures and yet Nadhi and her dancers managed to override my initial skepticism with their continuous montage of many scenes and high energy dancing. A truncated Tillana where the dancer "loses balance" (one of the more effective physical translations of grief) after a phone call from India conveys news of a beloved's passing, brought tears to many in the audience. I too received that dreaded phone call from India in 1998 about my father - a time before mobile technology. Do the familiar scenes of oiling and braiding hair (an intimate mother-daughter moment) invoke the same level of nostalgia today as it did 40 years ago when distances and time seemed greater and communication slower? The well-knit ensemble of dancers worked beautifully on several occasions and the light hearted invocation of the word game CONCENTRATION was clever, although it could have appeared earlier in the work. All the dancers seemed invested in the performance and the technical and aesthetic appeal of the ensemble sections was high. The multi genre music score was a stand alone "distraction". I use the word deliberately since the many notes of instruments and genres were marvellously seductive and pulled attention away from the core of the narrative on many occasions. Directed by Roopa Mahadevan and Kalaisan Kalaichelvan, the superb sound design often overpowered the dancing rather than complementing the choreography. ROGUE GESTURES has been in the making with earlier iterations since 2022. It is a bold and brave work, worthy of watching more than once. It shows a coming of age and confidence with some North American dance makers who are willing to interrogate and investigate what it means to be brown and a POC in a multi racial society. I applaud Nadhi for braiding the many strands of personal history, poetry, movement, dance and diaspora voices and for asking the larger question about labour, community organisation and about reclaiming one's identity all over again. My take - Personal diary is like an imprint. Your story is like none other. I yearned to hear some Malayalam phrases (Nadhi's family language) - a mother scolding her daughter, neighbours talking across the wall, a news report. Something to locate the seed of the story emotionally and geographically. Nadhi speaking live on stage, sharing a sliver of herself, her DNA, would have made it more compelling. The personal as universal. MOVING IMAGES Choreography and Presentation by Maya Kulkarni Martha Graham Studio Theatre, NYC  Mesma Belsare  Sonali Skandan  Deepa Mahadevan & Kaustavi Sarkar The reinvention of classical Bharatanatyam dancer Maya Kulkarni into her current avatar as mentor, choreographer and creator of the new vocabulary of SHILPA NATANAM has been an interesting journey. Trained by hereditary gurus, Maya was a busy performer and a professor of Political Science for decades in the New York area. Over a phone conversation, she expressed her many areas of interest that did not fit into the Bharatanatyam mould and how she yearned to find a way to bring them into the framework of performance. Quilting architecture, history, global mythology and poetry onto dancing bodies became her focus in a gradual shift of perspective over the past 10 years. It was during the pandemic that she fixed the name for her particular lens. SHILPA NATANAM, a dance journey that is a series of moving sculptures and images drawn from multiple strands but pixilated onto a South Asian trained dancer. It was on Mesma Belsare on whom I first witnessed this movement pattern - although I could not place my finger on what had changed with Mesma's dancing. Her androgynous body and supple limbs seemed an ideal palette for Maya's erudite brush to begin painting on. In the evening titled MOVING IMAGES, I watched Mesma interpret the Ardhanariswara text with strength and abandon - her final moment of hands outstretched and head flung back so effectively conveying the splitting open of the cosmic core. Sonali Skandan was at her perky and lighthearted best - as expected. I have seen her earlier BEE STORIES where she was perfect as the flitting and restless bee. In poet Vidyapati's multi generational verses, Sonali shone in the brief moments as the mature woman but they were too few and far between, the choreography remaining more on the joyous and impetuous young girl. The duet between Graham dancer Blakeley White-McGuire and Kaustavi Sarkar revealed some interesting sculptural and photographic moments but remained as a series of snapshots. I would have liked to see Blakeley in a more independent role rather than reacting to Kaustavi's movements. She is an excellent interpreter of the Graham technique which has an inbuilt architectural / epic structure that is an ideal complement to South Asian dance forms. The Indo-Tibetan Goddess Tara was the subject for Bharatanatyam dancer Bharathi Penneswaran. Her strong presence and startling facial expressions (tongue out, head tilted) were well suited for the theme and the choreography. Deepa Mahadevan and Kaustavi Sarkar were featured in perhaps the least impactful piece of the evening. Not in terms of the content or the quality of the performances but less effective for the SHILPA NATANAM concept that Maya Kulkarni attempted to draw out. Two pilgrims sharing lighthearted banter about legends of Lord Rama and Krishna enroute to the temple town of Pandarpur. Effective physical comedy by both dancers brought a brief smile on many lips. Maya Kulkarni stressed that SHILPA NATANAM is a vocabulary and not a language and that it is still evolving. She also stated that the dancers are not equal collaborators in the process. Rather, as I gathered from the conversation, they are malleable clay to have her lens shape the movement and the progression of ideas that she conveys to them. They are vehicles for her vision. Not partners in the creation. My take - SHILPA NATANAM is not a clear style. There is neither a formal pedagogy nor a distinctive vocabulary. What I saw were 5 pieces of dance, each dancer effectively illuminating the subject that was given to them. However, I noticed that each performer was typecast to their own strengths and physical structures, making for a predictable formula. Perhaps this is a sign of a journey that is still in progress. What I DO applaud is Maya Kulkarni's relentless curiosity, firm conviction and enthusiasm to engage with dancers outside the guru shishya paradigm and share her vision of the endless possibilities of Indian dance that can reinvent and adapt through time and geographies. MANDALA - BETWEEN MUSIC AND DANCE Amrita Lahiri & Chandana Bala Kalyan Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Chennai  Amrita Lahiri & Chandana Bala Kalyan (Photo courtesy: Serendipity Festival) In Chennai, I attended an interesting collaboration between Kuchipudi dancer Amrita Lahiri and musician Chandana Bala Kalyan. Titled MANDALA, it credited Leela Samson with Choreography and Direction. A bare stage was pierced with the haunting voice of Chandana in a flame red/pink sari singing strands of a Meera Bhajan. From her first few notes she had the audience in a spell. And the enchantment continued throughout the evening. Chandana is a superb musician - her diction in Kannada, Telugu, Sanskrit and Marathi is flawless. Her musicality and ease with her dancing "partner" was clearly apparent throughout the performance. Now to the dancing. Amrita Lahiri is a very elegant and expressive Kuchipudi dancer and this collaboration is a big step for a style which has been notoriously reticent to explore and expand its classical horizons. Facial expression / mukha abhinaya has long deserted Kuchipudi for the more energetic and rhythmic aspects of the style. So for Amrita to speak about "outer consciousness making a journey to the inner core" made me curious. Through various saint composers like Kanakadasa, Annamacharya, Kshetrayya, Dharmapuri Subbarayar, Kabir and Varkari poetess Tsoyrabai, both performers attempted to draw us from exuberance towards meditative calm. There were some beautiful moments but they were not sustained. The rhythmic "jugalbandi" was too simplistic for the Chennai audience and Amrita's waif like presence was no match for Chandana's powerful vocals that carried emotion and weight like a streak of lightning. MANDALA was certainly an interesting and hopeful example of how a solo dancer could partner with a talented and open minded musician to create an intimate evening of exploration into sacred poetry. The transitions between the dancing and the informal "chatting" with the musician could have been smoother. Amrita's technique displays a delicate strength but perhaps a deeper engagement with "abhinaya" and stillness would help the emotional weight of the narrative to "land" with audiences. This could be a challenge in today's environment where breakneck speed is associated with a Kuchipudi dancer. My take - Balancing the musician and the dancer is crucial. Shorn of all instrumentation, it is even more vital for both artistes to "expand" themselves towards one another and not merely respond to lyrics. While total equality may not be achieved, the work needs to be calibrated to showcase both performers' individual strengths along with a collective charge. JAHNAVI & KATHAMRITAM Lavanya Shankar & Abhyasa Dance Academy Coimbatore  20 years is a generation. It marks an important milestone for any artiste or organisation. Bharatanatyam dancer Lavanya Shankar's academy ABHYASA celebrated the landmark with a 2 day event. As a senior student of guru Vazhuvoor KJ Sarasa, Lavanya is a beautifully trained dancer with an impeccable technique. To see her guru's style clearly etched on her lithe body was a delight. Lavanya opened the celebration with her new solo JAHNAVI-the sacred river (Ganga). To hold the stage in a thematic solo for 90 minutes is challenging. To override the distracting and overdone lighting was a feat. To remain in control of a powerful orchestra (Malavika Vaidya's vocals and multi percussionist K Parthasarathy who deserve special mention) takes maturity and poise. All this Lavanya handled with ease. I particularly loved the BHAIRAVA ASHTAKAM, inspired by the presence of Lord Siva in a fierce form in Kashi / Benares. The abandon of the head thrown back, the tremors of a trance were all tapped into with surprising effect. I have never seen Lavanya in this avatar and hope she explores this dramatic side of her dance persona. My take - Lavanya did not need the props and the stage additions that were used. Her solo was enough to hold the narrative. A bit over long, JAHNAVI can benefit with some judicious editing but the premise of the production is rock solid.  With Shruti Gopal, PV Aditya & Parshwanath Upadhye The second day was the highlight. Selected to receive the ABHYASA NRITYA VARDINI award were the popular trio Parshwanath Upadhye, Shruti Gopal and PV Aditya. What followed was 2 hours of unadulterated joy. Titled KATHAMRITAM, Guru Lavanya wielded the nattuvangam and watched with pride as her 200 students charmingly illuminated various short stories of nature, animals and sections from The Mahabharata. I particularly appreciated that the disrobing of Draupadi was NOT enacted. Special mention should be made of the scene with the crawling red ants, the sprightly white pigeon, the powerful lion, wearing a Julie Taymor inspired head gear from Broadway's THE LION KING (brilliantly done!). Even the youngest set of dancers were given roles which they executed with discipline. Neatly designed costumes, flawless entries and exits, pithy explanations ("Gloves on! Ready to catch a friend in need!"), excellently trained dancers with good "araimandi" and "anga shuddham" - was a joy to see such attention paid to every aspect of the presentation. My take - Kudos to the guru Lavanya for 20 years of dedicated effort. I now know why she has not become as well known as a soloist as she deserves to be, having focused on building her academy and becoming a cultural icon in Coimbatore. Teaching is not easy. Especially as times change and today's young have such different dreams. Those who do AND perform deserve special mention. You may be asking - Did I enjoy the four performances I have just written about? The answer is YES. Each presentation was bold, brave and challenged the viewers. For that I applaud the dance artistes and their collaborators. Traditional vocabularies were interrogated, reimagined and repurposed to suit various ideas. All four performances had very good technique and I am noticing a huge improvement in the dancing standards in North America. To have an independent choreographer (Maya Kulkarni) shaping an evening with 7 artistes is not common in Indian dance. I would urge the principal dancers, who also serve as choreographers, to employ a "third eye" for their work. It definitely helps getting another perspective. RAFA FOREVER  Rafael Nadal My love for the game of tennis and for the Spanish icon Rafael Nadal is well known. When he retired from professional tennis last month, the world of sport erupted in a cross genre salute and applause for his contributions. Legends from football, soccer, golf, swimming, and athletics shared their personal admiration of Rafa's genius and his multiple achievements. There is no "official" retirement for Indian performing artistes. There is no farewell concert, no final hurrah, no formal goodbye that is marked. We just morph into "seniors", "legends", "mentors", "elders" or simply "has been/washed up aunties, Didis and Maamis." And when dancers "retire", there is no cross-genre recognition unless we have spent our creative lives consciously cultivating other interests and making the links with individuals and ideas that cross illuminate our art and our lives. If we remain narcissistic then there is nobody else to blame but ourselves when we fade away and are eventually forgotten. A young intern with a cultural magazine asked her boss, "Ma'am, can I get a sound bite from Rukmini Devi?" who passed away in 1986. I am not making this up. THIS is the state of our knowledge of dance history. It is truly appalling and there is no conscious effort to introduce this aspect in the thousands of dance classes across India and the world. A history lesson on Indian dance. Complex, messy, layered, fascinating. Covering all aspects of Dance rather than just the cacophonic din of identity politics and victimhood that has, unfortunately, become the focus of well-funded academic circles. IS LEGACY MEDIA DYING? That is the question being asked vociferously soon after the US Presidential elections. The soaring popularity of social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and the long form podcasts have seemed to attract both followers, viewers and listeners - enough it seems, according to media pundits - to sway the election outcome to favour the resounding win of the President elect Donald Trump. For a decade it has been coming. Lifestyles, travel across geographies and changing tastes among the young have led to digital news magazines and more immediate turnaround for the news cycle. The on air television anchors have slowly tilted towards their personal political alignments and are no more objective news platforms for both sides of the news. What does this actually mean for the arts? Food, fashion, cinema, travel and retail are flourishing with new and younger writers bringing their sharp focus and writing talents to their blogs. Dance, music and theatre are languishing with a lopsided ratio of too many performers and too few writers and interlocutors for the art forms. Dance moved to the digital media years ago and for Indian dance, the lacunae of sharp reporting and insightful writing has diminished significantly. If we are talking about entrenched media outlets, there is THE HINDU (nearly 150 years old) whose Friday Review pages still maintain space for the performing arts and SRUTI magazine (41 years old) with a macro view of South Indian art forms. This portal NARTHAKI turns 25 and is considered by many as part of legacy media in the light of platforms like META and GOOGLE. While instant reviews and a slew of emojis accompany many dancers' posts, when it comes to reaching for quotes to use for touring, PR kits, visa applications and serious consideration by presenters, traditional media scores. Reviews that appear on this portal have been used by numerous dance artistes on their websites and for their visa applications. However, let me not get ahead of myself. What I say or write has little effect on the actual careers of dance artistes. They may take a quote here and there and share it on their personal blogs and SM platforms, but no legacy media can claim to make or break the career of an artiste. There was once a time when a negative review in the New York Times meant the end of a career. No longer. As the maverick TESLA founder Elon Musk states, "You are the media now!" It is the public's opinion, word of mouth, interesting and brief writing on alternate platforms that create an accumulative groundswell of opinion that can help the career of a creative person. When the first NARTHAKI directory came out in 1992, it democratised information and contact sharing. Today, the concept of a phone book is outdated. Contacts, performances, workshops, tours, merchandise and brands are being created outside the traditional channels. And it is as it should be. In the meantime, I continue to write, watch, speak and share my thoughts. For whoever wants to read, listen and for however long I remain engaged and curious about the arts. MARGAZHI MANIA BEGINS And so Chennai once again becomes the navel of the Carnatic music and classical dance world. Or so it seems to think. The December season roster reveals that more than 75% of the artistes programmed are from outside Chennai and outside India. So what do the talented local dancers do? Wait for an opportunity or plan to travel to the BAY AREA, California and other foreign shores to replenish their coffers? There is a growing grumble from the Chennai dance scene and perhaps ABHAI can respond as a formal cultural body to this statistic. Chennai needs to look around and see the vibrancy of the cultural calendar in neighbouring Bengaluru. The BENGALURU HUBBA which starts on December 1 for 2 weeks contains 400 assorted performances and cultural installations in 40 venues. And then there is the magnificent SERENDIPITY FESTIVAL in Goa, which is India's best cultural event. The brand expands to Birmingham, UK, next summer and the first international edition of Serendipity courtesy Piali Ray of Sampad Arts. Read all about the various Chennai sabhas and their programme calendars in our special festival edition in this monthly newsletter. To all visiting artistes and creators - welcome to my home town, where a city meets the ocean and hosts the world's largest privately funded performing arts festival. To all the awardees, a huge shout of CONGRATULATIONS. Especially to the younger generation who are truly deserving of the honours coming their way. Buy tickets, buy sarees, shop endlessly, get your costumes and accessories done, your new music scores recorded, gossip endlessly, show off your new clothes, buy tickets for all the shows (a huge THANK YOU for this!) - your generosity helps the TAMILNADU GDP jump for this month. The annual KAISIKI NATAKAM returns on December 11 in my ancestral temple for the 26th consecutive performance at Tirukurungudi, Tirunelveli district in southern Tamilnadu. Over 2000 devotees throng to watch the engaging story of Nambaduvan, the devotee/musician and the arrogant Rakshasa/demon. Happy Holidays! It is Margazhi and my beloved ANDAL returns in all Her glory! It's also time to have some fun. I walk the ramp with Carnatic icon Aruna Sairam in an entertaining evening alongside other dancers and musicians. Why not? We take ourselves too seriously sometimes! This year, if the iconic Martha Graham Dance Company can be a part of the very public and popular Macy's Thanksgiving Parade in NYC, it's time for us performers to also let our hair down - just a bit! Live! Laugh! Sing! Dance! Now, thanks to a 79-year-old President elect, there is public permission for everyone to dance - even those with two left feet - to just pump your fist in various directions! Stay healthy and joyful! Be grateful for all that we have and hold your loved ones close. Thank you for another year of reading and following our platforms. Until we meet again in 2025. - Anita R Ratnam Chennai / Tirukurungudi / Goa / Pondicherry anitaratnam.com  Do listen, share and subscribe to our podcast ANITA SAYS on Spotify. 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