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 e-mail: khokar1960@gmail.com 25 years of Kala NADAM Festival 2024 December 15, 2024 Murali Mohan Kalvakalva is a rather foolish man. His partner in crime, Nandini Mehta, is more foolish. Between the two of them, they have shared and given much of their worldly wealth (time too and health) in promoting all shades of artistes - dancers, photographers, gurus, musicians, teachers and more. Youngsters. Wannabes and have beens. Could have been and never should have been (on stage!). They do this for their love of the art of dance. They also mount two of Bangalore's most popular and professional festivals: one in end-November every year and one for kids in August called Chinna NADAM. Lots of new, upcoming talents get a chance to dance. In India, most dancers today are born hungry. They may not have necessarily a hunger for art or excellence but mostly hunger for more (shows, awards, grants and titles!). Give them a hundred shows but the 101 you didn't give - as organiser, babu, neta or plain celebrator - that they'd remember said Surendra Mathur, my first boss, when I worked 40 years ago in Delhi Administration's Sahitya Kala Parishad. He was full of filtered knowledge. He created bawdy Punjabi plays of the times - Chadi Jawani Buddhe Nu; Kuddi Jawan te Gwandi Pareshan! - and thought he was better than Ebrahim Alkazi, the doyenne of theatre those days, who headed NSD (National School of Drama).  Murali Mohan Kalvakalva & Nandini Mehta Murali-Nandini created NADAM - the Nartanam Academy of Dance and Music, on Coconut Avenue, Malleswaram, Bangalore. What a quaint and cute name: Going cuckoo or in circles (Kathak ones) on Coconut Avenue! Here, Nandini teaches Kathak and Bharatanatyam. NADAM is today one of Bangalore's best Kathak teaching schools. How is Murali-Nandini's training in Kathak different? First, they teach foundation in a form, not just items. Then they make students sweat it out so it gets embedded in their system. Then NADAM spends time researching something unique or forgotten, creating compositions, items, works with music, mostly done by Praveen D. Rao, easily the most eclectic musician of the hi-tech city. He is a master of the medium, so no two scores are similar, yet each has his stamp. Also, there's joy in his music. One naturally dances listening to it. Then they rehearse, practice and practice until their skill becomes craft becomes art. Then NADAM folks are humble enough to go to real gurus in Baroda, Pune, Delhi or invite them to namma Bengaluru and acquire items, skills and meaning and more from them. This makes them serious and also deep in their work. Thirdly, they put their heart and soul into their work. What they know and do, they do well. Their solos are solid, duets deep and ensemble enchanting. NADAM's 13-day festival was a test in endurance, perseverance and patience. NADAM day one Opening was in a god-forsaken hall, in far flung boondocks of the worst metro in India for roads and traffic, Bangalore. NADAM logic was to spread the festival and fare far and wide, from outskirts of the city on the opening night to centre on city halls. Did audiences come? Strangely, audiences went 30 km outside the city to Damru - a stylishly odd hall - than come fill most popular central location of Ravindra Kalakshetra. On day of most exotic and less seen form Seraikella Chhau there were less than 50 in the hall. It proved that for a good show, many will trudge far. What was that good show?  Ashta Nayikas Eight Gurus of varying vintage coming together: the classic Kittu saar, M. R. Krishnamurthy - beauty, Lalitha Nupura - sassy, Rathna Kumar - staid, Revathi Narasimhan - sweet, Sunanda Devi - girlish, Vasundhara Doraswamy - serious, Radha Sridhar and smiling Chitra Venugopal. The Ashta Nayikas! Kittu saar included in this nayika list for a dancer is gender neutral. Despite the distance, braving Bangalore's mad traffic and horrible roads, one trudged two hours from centre of the city to a hall that was like a long train coach in a huge empty area. Whoever designed it? The architect must have seen a photo of Damru and made it so! From fifth row, with an insolent videographer standing bang in centre blocking the view of 75% viewers behind him (and this when the tall, lanky yokel was just watching his own cell while the camera was left on.) In Delhi he'd be beaten up, in Chennai he'd be outcast; in Bombay knifed and in Kolkata lynched but in namma Bengaluru, all cool folks just accepted him until my Punjabi blood boiled despite my Tamil brain trying to be polite and I just went and used my sher-e-panja and made him sit. Clap clap from 100 people behind. Why they didn't do it themselves beats me. Me thinks swalpa adjust maadi (kindly adjust little) culture here takes over every aspect of life. His stylish salwar-kameezed boss was running here and there like a madhu-makhee (bumble bee, not honeybee!) - while those 200 viewers had sacrificed their time and energies to come so far for the show. The eight gurus showed the last set of gracious gurus who danced because they loved dance and not for glory or fame. Most could now only sit and show predictable fare, in the evening of their lives. Only two could stand and move and dance: Rathna - gem indeed - Papa nee Kumar, the first generation educated, city-smart Kuchipudi lot of the sixties and Vasundhara Doraswamy, all dressed-up to the hilt like a school girl on her first outing! That she can bend it like Beckham we all know, thanks to hard work and yoga but need a 75-year-old try to prove anything or impress how fit she is? Doing peacock, deer and assorted animals is so passe. Her dance surely can't be called a bani. This is just an individual take on an ancient form. In the 1970s, Swarnamukhi was a very good body bender. She had background in circus, that's why. Can't call it bani. Day 2 was Kathak by NADAM girls, one spiffier than the other: Arpita Banerjee, Smitha Srinivasan, Mitha, Samanvitha Sharma, Vaibhavi Shukla. Arpi-ta, Smi-ta, Mi-tha, Samanvi-ta (ta ta thaiya! Their parents were doordarshi to keep such names. Did they know at birth these lil ones would take to dance?). Add Vaibhavi Shukla. NADAM dancers are also groomed as comperes, facilitators, problem solvers, ego massagers and trouble shooters for NADAM on the other days. Must say, all are well turned out and each day there's a colour code. Red today, blue tomorrow, orange the next and purple soon after. Day 3: Washim Raja's Kuchipudi painted the town purple because he has something many dancers don't: stage presence. Either one has it or one doesn't. No amount of aharya will help if one doesn't have the inner shine and spark. In history of Indian dance very few had it: Ram Gopal was number one. He danced for hardly ten years. Ten active years but left such a mark. A high-society lad living in Benson Town (and by a strange quirk of fate, we live right behind his family Tourquay Castle), he strode the international dance scene like a giant. But he was humble to say Uday Shankar paved the way. As the authorised biographer of Ram Gopal (He was my "grandfather" as he adopted my mother baby Saroja when she was just 9! Adopted in the sense of dance; she had her own set of biological parents!), I realised how much his dance, especially in the West then, was about PRESENCE. His persona as quasi royalty and statuesque body mystified an already exotic frame. A journal in England stated: When Ram comes on stage, women swoon and their men are jealous of his good looks! Uday Shankar had it. Sitara Devi. Balasaraswati. Next generation Vyjayantimala, Kamala, Yamini Krishnamurthy, Indrani Rahman, Birju Maharaj, Durga Lal, Alarmel Valli, Aditi Mangaldas and Anita Ratnam. Today under 40 or so Anuj Mishra, Rukmini Vijaya Kumar and Washim Raja now, the latest to join that brigade. Presence is the extra part. Foundation is needed too. He has that. And grace can't be taught. Either one has it in dance or not. Washim Raja's dance just flows. And, his items sit well on him. His guru Vanashree Rao is sensible to create such pieces that suit him and at the same time reflect new sensibility in Kuchipudi. The melam version is almost gone; the masters too. What's left now is the shell. In that, guru Vanashree Rao has created items that suit a tall, fluid frame, Kaliyanartana and Ardhanarishwara etc. The festival had many more days of many more artistes, some who needed special platform created to sit and emote and some with new, shining costumes as seen in rather repetitive Chhau. Kathak by 5 dancers of NIKC was some familiar fare.  Rudra Shankar Misra  Sharmila Biswas The festival also proved Bharatanatyam was learnt and performed by most and then Kathak, Odissi or other forms. Other than the names shared above, these dancers participated in the 13 day festival: Abhayalakshmi, Deepa Raghavan, Anita Sharma, Arhi Sharma, Soniya Ponnamma, Sreedevy Lavanya, Gururaja, Archana, Chetana, Rudraprasad Swain, Ananya Parida, Anil Iyer, Anupama Kylash, Guru Shashadhar Acharya, Sukant Kumar Acharya, Ranjit Kumar Acharya, Shubham Acharya, Satish Kumar Modak, Bishwanath Kumbhakar, Govind Mahato, Janani Murali, Shruthi K.P, Sandip Mallick, Gowri Sagar, Srinivasan Rajendran, Hari & Chetana, Sri Janavi, Sirisha, Mahesh, Ananya, Manasa, Yashaswini, Navya, Varuni, Nidhaga Karunad, Rachana Karanik, Varsha Dasgupta, Sneha Bhagwat, Rupesh KC, Kirti Ramgopal, Nandini Mehta, Nikhil Parmar, Sowmya Ravi, Preeti Choudhary, Vibha Bhatt, Pavanee Kalvakalva, Murali Mohan Kalvakalva, Vaibhav Arekar, Kadam, Raina Parikh, Vidhya Subramanian, Shivanand Hegde & troupe, Sharmila Biswas, Rudra Shankar Misra, Janardhan Bhatt and troupe. There was a huge diversity of forms presented: Andhranatyam, Bharatanatyam, Chhau, Kathak, Kuchipudi, Mohiniattam, Orissi, Sattriya and Yakshagana. Only Kathakali was missed out. Modern dance was given a go by, which is a pity because Bangalore today is the hub of so called modern dance movement (mostly borrowed from West because countries like Germany pay good monies to motivate or become clones). Only one dancer Vishwakiran Nambi (and there's nothing namby pamby about him!), the light of the modern dance in Bangalore, has shown independence from Western technique. I alone am not saying it; the pioneer of modern dance in India, Uttara Coorlawala said so. She left dancing long ago and took to teaching in Big Apple and having eaten the forbidden fruit, she now helps many dancers reach the city through the Erasing Borders festival, held every September.  Janani Murali  Anupama Kylash This brings one to the plus and minus of such festivals. Why do these? 13 days sounds like a death wish. When asked, NADAM thought and replied: Artistes are extremely happy to dance in the festival. They apply in large numbers and are genuinely happy to receive an invitation to perform. Bangalore experienced a showcase of diverse art forms and artistes. Numerous other artistes are inspired to host one-day festivals, creating new opportunities. Young talent is highlighted and visible as the audiences gather to watch renowned dancers. Such festivals have been primarily established to preserve and promote art and artistes, ensuring that our rich traditions and culture thrive. Without such efforts, these risk being cannibalised and consumed by Bollywood and Western influences. And returns? Bangalore emerges as a vibrant cultural hub and a showcase for artistic expression, eliminating the need to travel to major metros to experience such events. The orphanage chosen as charity received one and half lakhs from ticket sales and sponsors (friends and family). This festival also helped create job opportunities for designers, printers, lighting and sound vendors, photo and video teams, auditorium staff, caterers, taxi services, hotels, makeup artists, costume makers, carpenters. And for the organisers, what's the flip side? Sponsorship issues are first of all. Difficulties in securing sponsors becomes a significant hurdle, often leading to personal financial contributions to fund the event. Then too, dance shows are free for all. No one wants to buy a ticket. Most will buy ticket for a third rate film, even payTM karo for an over-priced fizz drink or popcorn plus the parking ticket but dance shows' Ticket Sales Marketing is the most creative and thankless task. Selling tickets for performances is a challenge. Artistes also demand much and unrealistically. They often have specific requirements regarding lighting, sound equipment, venue preferences, accommodations, and transportation, which can complicate logistics. There is a tendency for artistes to view the festival organizers as a corporate entity, expecting a level of professionalism and infrastructure that may not be feasible, particularly when sponsorship is limited. The culture ministry in Delhi or the apex dance-music body - the SNA - ought to support and award such art promotion. 200 dancers got platformed in two weeks! How often does that happen? Murali-Nandini and the entire NADAM team deserve kudos.  Critic, connoisseur, historian, author, artivist, archivist, administrator and more - editor, columnist and mentor Ashish Khokar remains true to his muse. More on attendance-india.com Responses * Congratulations to team NADAM for curating this 13-day festival! Humongous effort to bring artistes from all over the country. Your selfless attitude towards promoting classical dance has provided a platform for so many deserving performers. Ashish Sir's review/ article has validated your hard work. Glad to have caught a glimpse of the festival through his engaging writing.. - Sumana S, Dec 16, 2024 * Namaste. Your lucid narrative style depicting the various art forms staged by NADAM is really an eye opener. I can only imagine the passion coursing through art connoisseurs like you to keep pushing the boundaries to ensure the rich legacy of the Indian divine art forms sustain and flourish. May your tribe continue to grow stronger in the days ahead. - MV Krishna, Dec 16, 2024 * Amazing job by Nadam providing opportunity for 200 artistes and well written write-up on the festival. - Archana-Chetana, Dec 16, 2024 Post your comments Please provide your name and email id when you use the Anonymous/blog profile to post a comment. All appropriate comments posted with name and email id in the blog will also be featured in the site. |
