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Dr.Saskia
Kersenboom, a professor of linguistic anthropology from Netherlands has
done a detailed work on the 'Mohamana' varnam. She is also the author of
'Nityasumangali', a study of devadasis. |
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Film
maker Satyajit Ray first saw Balasaraswathi in 1935 when he was 14 years
old and she was 17. He wanted to make a film on her in 1966 but the
project worked out only a decade later. |
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Ahmedabad
based dancer Bharat Bharia utilises folk dance - drama to educate villagers
about literacy, health, AIDA, widow remarriage and other social issues.
He has won the Gujarat state Sanskar Samvardhak Award for the year 2000
for his contribution to dance as a means of communication. |
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Ratna
Kumar had her Bharatanatyam arangetram in Chennai in 1956 as the first
disciple of dance guru K J Sarasa. |
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The
famous Nandi Chollu that is being performed so widely by dancers toady
was created in the home of Chennai based Bharatanatyam dancer Anita Ratnam
by the late great mridangam vidwan Trichur P Ramanathan in 1970. He died
in a tragic plane crash in 1978. |
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The
GOTIPUA dance came into being in the 16th century under Ramachandradeva.
The Gotipuas of Orissa were basically boy dancers who dressed like female
dancers and danced like the 'maharis' (temple dancers). The word goti means
'one' and pua means 'boy', but they always danced in pairs. The Gotipuas
were trained in gymnastics and self defense to protect the temple and town
from intruders.They were
travelling entertainers who sang, danced and performed acrobatic
feats.
Gotipuas were not allowed to perform in temples after they
reached
18 years of age. Odissi guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, once a
gotipua,
is one of Odissi's greatest gurus. |
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Between
1561-1614, Achyutappa Nayaka, a ruler of Thanjavur, granted a village Achyutapuram,
now called Melattur, to 501 refugee families of Kuchipudi dancers who migrated
to Tamil Nadu after the fall of the Vijaynagar empire. Considered
an offshoot of the Kuchipudi dance tradition, BHAGAVATAMELA, a temple ritualistic
dance tradition of hereditary male dancers, is based mostly on plays written
in Telugu by Melattur Venkatrama Sastry, a senior contemporary of Thyagaraja
who authored 12 dance dramas of which 6 are in vogue today. A fine blend
of music and mime, this dance tradition represents in essence, the total
Sanskrit theatre prescribed by sage Bharata. The Melattur Bhagavatamela
Natya Vidya Sangam organises the Bhagavatamela Dance Drama Mahotsav every
year at Melattur. It takes place in front of the small shrine of Sri Lakshmi
Narasimha Swami. |
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