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* The tawaifs reached their zenith under the Mughal rule. "The best of the courtesans, called deredar tawaifs, claimed their descent from the royal Mughal courts," wrote Pran Nevile. "They formed part of the retinue of kings and nawabs... many of them were outstanding dancers and singers, who lived in comfort and luxury... To be associated with a tawaif was considered to be a symbol of status, wealth, sophistication and culture... no one considered her to be a bad woman or an object of pity." ('Tawaifs: The unsung heroes of India's freedom struggle' by Sowmya Rao, Scroll.in, May 14, 2019) * Right from the 17th century, even the 15th century, the word Bharatanatyam was mentioned. Purandaradasa, the composer from Karnataka, in one of his songs, Aadithano ranga, sings Rambhai Urvasi ellarum chandathim bharatanatyagal aadise. That means all these dancers danced Bharatanatyam. The term was already used in the 15th century. I have given a number of such instances. There was a foreigner who lived in India in Tamil Nadu. He spoke Tamil (1715). He married a dancer. He wrote in his autobiography that he married a Bharatanatyam dancer, a Bharatanatyam artist. A Jesuit, who used the word 'devadasi' for the first time in English literature, said that he had baptized a Bharatanatyam artist. ('In Conversation: Dr B.M. Sundaram,' Sahapedia, June 7, 2016) * In 1980, Master CR Acharyulu recounted the history of a now forgotten form called Veedhi Natakam, where once puppeteers and Kuchipudi dancers performed together, some characters on stage, live, interacting with others as shadow puppets. He explained how dancers started thinking it beneath their dignity to dance and interact with shadow puppets. The form had thus fallen out of history. Amma (Mrinalini Sarabhai) was always for recreating and salvaging ancient forms. By now I was dancing Kuchipudi professionally and had no qualms about dancing with puppets. With a male dancer from Darpana, also trained by Master, Indravadan, we recreated Veedhi Natakam. I remember the first performance and the gasps from the audience at the seamlessness with which Seeta or Ravana went from real dancer to shadow puppets as the chariot flew across the skies carrying her to Lanka. ('Masterji: CR Acharyulu' by Mallika Sarabhai, Nartanam, Vol XX, No: 1, Jan-March 2020) * King Serfoji II wrote many songs and choreographed several Nirupanas (narratives). His book Korvyache Sahityache Jinus contains many dance pieces in Marathi. Along with the musical notations and shollu (dance steps), it also provides the songs. These songs in Marathi are set to Carnatic style of music. Each Nirupana comprises 17 to 18 items of dance. A remarkable peculiarity of these Nirupanas is that they are set to only one raga and one taal. ('Revival of the royal Maratha composition for Bharatanatyam' by Sandhya Purecha, Nartanam, Oct - Dec 2019) * What is correct, nadaswaram or nagaswaram? Nagaswaram is correct. Nadam means sound. It is the sookshma, the subtle thing. When it becomes solid it is swaram. So there is no difference between nada and swaram. Whereas take nagaswaram, if you look at the instrument, it is like a serpent, its bottom portion is like a hood and the upper portion is like the mouth of a serpent, a cobra. So it is nagaswaram. Even in Rigveda it is mentioned as naga vadya, not nada vadya. ('In Conversation: Dr B.M. Sundaram,' Sahapedia, June 7, 2016) * Kalamandalam Kalyanikutty Amma, the matriarch of Mohiniattam was the first to comment on males performing the lasya-rich dance form of Kerala. In a conversation with this writer (G.S. Paul) years ago, she observed, "There is nothing wrong for boys to perform Mohiniattam. But if any one of them steps on the stage in the typical costumes worn by girls, he has to be scared away using a broom!" ('Breaking gender norms: Jolly Mathew's Mohiniyattam journey' by G S Paul, India Art Review, March 28, 2024) * Jolly Mathew was the first male Mohiniattam dancer to be awarded the Senior Fellowship from the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. * Guru CR Acharyulu was a multi-faceted personality; creative, enthusiastic and talented. I can never forget the way he made his letterheads. After practice, he would at times take a white sheet, make cut-outs of different Nataraja postures, temple backgrounds, his dance poses and glue them together in a way to create his own layout for the letterhead. He would then take Xerox copies of the same and write letters to several artistes and organizers. ('Guru CR Acharyulu' by Vyjayanthi Kashi, Nartanam, Vol XX, No: 1, Jan-March 2020) * Guru CR Acharyulu was keen on experimentation and constant explorations. He used to draw the picture of Lord Vinayaka set to Vinayaka tala but eventually stopped teaching the same as it was considered inauspicious. In the Tarangam that he taught his disciples, in addition to dancing on the rim of a brass plate, he incorporated the act of balancing a brass pot filled with water on the head with lamps held in both the palms. He explained the same as the symbolic representation of Gynana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Karma Yoga respectively. ('Guru CR Acharyulu' by Vyjayanthi Kashi, Nartanam, Vol XX, No: 1, Jan-March 2020) * The film ONKARA directed by Unni KR, explores the connect between the Mavilan community, an obscure tribe of Kerala and Theyyam. Onkara is reportedly the first film in Markodi, a dialect of the Tulu language that does not have a script. ('The dance of identity' by Shailaja Tripathy, The Hindu Friday Review, March 29, 2024) * My first dance performance was way before my arangetram. My father was shooting for a film in a temple in Mysore. There was this American producer who was making a documentary in India, and he wanted me to do this snake charmer dance right outside the temple for a big festival. There were 10-12 snake charmers all around me; it was frightening but also an unforgettable experience. (Padma Subrahmanyam in 'Nobody in my family thought I would take up dance so seriously,' by Mantha Surabhi, Times of India, Feb 26, 2024) * Hema Rajagopalan (Artistic Director, Natya Dance Theatre) was the first Indian dancer to arrive in Chicago, as was Ranee Ramaswamy (Artistic Director, Ragamala Dance Company) in Minneapolis, and Rathna Kumar (Artistic Director, Anjali Center for Performing Arts) in Texas. The three of them are earliest founders of internationally recognised Bharatanatyam companies in the USA. * On Feb 20, 2024 at the golden jubilee (50th edition) event of the Khajuraho Dance Festival in Madhya Pradesh at the world renowned heritage site, 1484 artistes came together to set a new Guinness World Record for the biggest Kathak dance performance ever. The Kathak Kumbh performance marks the third consecutive world record achievement for Madhya Pradesh, following the successful events in Ujjain and Gwalior. In Ujjain, 1,171,078 diyas were lit to establish a world record, while Gwalior witnessed 1,600 tabla artistes playing in unison during the Taal Darbar at the Tansen Samaroh in Gwalior Fort, securing another accolade. The Kathak dance extravaganza at the Khajuraho Dance Festival added to the state's tally of world records. ('Cultural milestone for MP: Khajuraho Dance Festival sets world record' by DVLS Pranathi, Business Standard, Feb 22, 2024) * Dr.L Subramaniam is a violinist, composer and conductor whose compositions have been used in stage presentations of leading dance companies such as the San Jose Ballet Company and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Subramaniam composed the piece "Shanti Priya" for the Mariinsky Ballet. He composed the film scores for the films Salaam Bombay (1988) and Mississippi Masala (1991) directed by Mira Nair, in addition to being the featured violin soloist in Bernardo Bertolucci's Little Buddha (1993) and Cotton Mary (1999) of Merchant-Ivory productions. (Wikipedia) * Devadasi Tanjore Gnyana (born in 1857 in Tiruvarur) performed on 17 December 1875 at the Royapuram Railway Station in Madras. The occasion was the visit of His Highness Prince Edward of Wales during his tour of India. The audience included the Prince, several Maharajahs, the Nawab of Arcot, and numerous Indian royalty. ('My journey seeking the last Devadasis (Part 1)' by Lakshmi Viswanathan, for Sathir Dance Art Trust, January 22, 2018) |
