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 A unique panorama of dance and music - Vijay Shanker e-mail: vijaydance@gmail.com April 12, 2017 A unique panorama of dance and music, pertaining to a vast collection of newspaper clippings, a one of its kind exhibition, was held at Balagandharva Kaladalan in Pune for two consecutive days on April 1st and 2nd. The collector of this unusual exhibition is Pandithar Shivakumar Perumal. For more than fifteen years, Sivakumar has been quite passionate about this hobby in which he collects various news clippings, which includes periodicals and magazines and exhibits them at various venues. For the past few years, he has been conducting this solo exhibition with no sponsorship from any quarter. Sivakumar says, “It is a hobby I am quite passionate about. Unlike movie stars, the exposure a classical performing artiste gets is quite limited, hence I felt I must contribute a little which reflects on the devotion of the artists concerned. Strangely after contributing a lifetime as a performing artist, you are relatively still unknown to the common man. With such exhibitions, on the same platform, you get to see the immense contribution artists have made to promote and propagate classical arts both on the national and international level.”
The clippings were from newspapers and magazines like Asian Age, Business India, Expressions, Femina, German News, The Hindu, The Hindustan Times, India Today, Lokmat, Loksakta and Sakal (Marathi), Maharashtra Times, Maharashtra Herald, Navbharat Times, Mid-day, Outlook, Pioneer, Sahara Times, Sudha (Kannada), Taranga (Kannada), Economic Times, Financial Express, Statesman, Times of India, The Week, Udayavani (Kannada) Weekend Today, Sunday Observer and the Golden Sparrow. Sivakumar has been getting inputs from 13 countries and sometimes some contributions as well. Sivakumar's wife Dr. Lakshmi Basavaraju is a Bharatanatyam exponent and helps in maintaining and collecting clippings. While the legend section featured prominent dancers like Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam, Sitara Devi, Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, Sucheta Chapekar, Vyjayanti Kashi, Sonal Mansingh, Birju Maharaj, Rohini Bhate, Astad Deboo, Malavika Sarukkai, Madhavi Mudgal, Jhelum Paranjape, Alekhya Punjala, Surupa Sen, Anupama Kylas, and Rita Devi, another section was specially devoted to Lavani, the folk dance of Maharashtra. Besides covering all classical dance styles and folk dances, there were articles on contemporary dance and western dances like the Ballroom as well. The earliest display of an invitation card of BK Vasanthalakshmi,11th May 1963, the earliest English newspaper included Sunday Observer (6-12 April 97) and the latest display included was of Marathi daily Sakal of dancer Gauri Dhavale, 31st March 2017. More than 400 persons from different age groups visited the exhibition on both the days, and enjoyed the excellent display of a wonderful collection. Vijay Shankar is a Kuchipudi and Kathakali exponent, teacher, bilingual journalist, arts critic and actor. |
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