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April 2022

ANITA SAYS.....

"This alone is denied to God
The power to undo the past"

- Greek Playwright AGATHON

"The enemy is a very good teacher"
- The DALAI LAMA

Anita Ratnam
Hello dance world!
I am trying to be upbeat and positive about our lives, our colleagues, our art and our eco system. But there are too many forces and events around us that are creating questions and diversions that cannot be ignored or brushed aside.

I have always said that dance and politics are converging. That the two worlds are coming closer together and that we as a creative community must take cognizance of. No longer can we hide behind tradition, repertoire and memories. This month I have chosen to focus on matters that are affecting us all, in ways that may or may not have an immediate impact on our lives but are certainly affecting the way we create, share, converse and engage with our families, friends and the public.

Having shared my thoughts once a month for almost 20 years has given me an optic of the dance world both inside India and abroad. 55 years after my arangetram, I think writing what I think and feel does not need the permission or sanction of others. I acknowledge the enormous power and privilege that creating and managing this portal has given me and hope that my thoughts and words are read as personal views of a mature global artiste.
Read on...



Anubandh - Connectedness By Malavika Sarukkai


TAKITATOM


NARTHAKI @30 kicks off its celebrations with a discussion and a film on April 23rd.

PECDA contemporary dance festival in Bangalore is from April 18 to 23 at various venues. The last PECDA winner was Aseng Borang.

The 2ND DINANATH PATHY KALA SAMMAN goes to veteran chitrakar Jayadev Maharana and the book 'The Kumbh Mela-Joined in dance, a Malaysia-India Experience' by Sutra Foundation will be released on April 2, 2022 at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bhubaneswar.

Malavika Sarukkai performs ANUBANDH in Bangalore on April 8 at Chowdiah Memorial Hall.

SINDHU FESTIVAL is on April 14 & 15 at Pune's Yashwantrao Chavan Natyagruha.

IME presents Contemporary dance BIRD funded by INKO Centre, Chennai, choreographed by Preeti Athreya on April 2 at MLR Convention Centre, Bangalore

School of Arts and Aesthetics, JNU - Theatre and Performance Studies Dept is holding screening of video installations, film screening and conversations on dance and other embodied practices from March 30-April 6. Titled 'Our Contemporaries: Embodied Practices in Current Times', it features works by Ananya Chatterjee & Darren Johnson, Masoom Parmar, Meghna Bhardwaj, Soumyabrata Choudhury and Sumedha Bhattacharya along with the film "Sharira" on Chandralekha.

The newly formed UTPAL SAMPA KALA KENDRA in Kolkata, the brainchild of scholar/writer Dr.Utpal K Banerjee, has plans for Research, Documentation, Publication and Workshop Initiatives. The aim is to be creative and innovative; widely relevant; speedy execution; modest goals; and result-oriented.

NATYA VRIKSHA celebrates World Dance Day 15th edition on April 22 & 23 at IIC, Delhi.




AWARDS
The President of India bestowed PADMA SHRI on duo Nalini-Kamalini Asthana (Kathak), R Muthukannammal (Sadir), Padmaja Reddy (Kuchipudi) at a special function at Rashtrapathi Bhavan, New Delhi.
Muthukannammal is the only living Sadir dance exponent in India and serves as a repository of knowledge about the history of Bharatanatyam. Many of those who received the Padma awards on March 21, 2022 from the President of India were "unsung heroes" including 125-year-old yoga practitioner Swami Sivananda. He is the oldest man to be conferred the Padma Shri award ever. Nalini-Kamalini Asthana and Padmaja Reddy received the award on March 28, 2022.

Geeta Chandran received the ISAW WOMEN ACHIEVER'S AWARD from ISAW (Institute of South Asian Women) in Delhi on March 28, 2022.

On March 27, ANITHA GUHA received the Stree Shakthi Award from the popular TV channel SRI SANKARA TV in which programs are mainly based on spiritualism, Art and culture, at IIT Madras.

Dr.Rathna Kumar received the WOMEN ACHIEVEMENT AWARD from Bharathi Kalai Manram, Houston, TX on March 8, 2022.

BUDDHA SAMMAN instituted by Orissa Dance Academy since last 15 years, goes to an eminent art personality from the field of creative and performing arts and carries a citation, anga vastra and cash award of Rs. 1 lakh. This year Prof Priyambada Mohanty Hejmadi, eminent Odissi dancer and former Vice-Chancellor, Sambalpur University, received this award during the Dhauli-Kalinga Mahotsav, Bhubaneswar on March 24, 2022.

GURU GANGADHAR PRADHAN SMRUTI SAMMAN instituted by Orissa Dance Academy in memory of its founder Guru Gangadhar Pradhan was given to four eminent personalities of different fields during the Dhauli-Kalinga Mahotsav on March 22, 2022 at Bhubaneswar. The awardees are Odissi Guru Durgacharan Ranbir, music composer and singer Laxmikanta Palit, Sanskrit scholar Pt. Nityananda Mishra, and Somdutt Behura, promoter of Odissi dance in USA. This award carries a citation, anga vastra and cash award of Rs. 25,000.

Tridhara Bhubaneswar conferred the GURU DEBAPRASAD AWARD for 2021 on Ramli Ibrahim (Odissi), Saswati Sen (Kathak), Sadashiv Pradhan (Mayurbhanj Chhau) on March 29, 2022 at Rabindra Mandap, Bhubaneswar. The GURU DEBAPRASAD LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD goes to flute maestro Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia. The GURU DEBAPRASAD YUVA PRATIVA SAMMAN for 2021 goes to Kaori Naka (Odissi), Alok Bishoyi (Saki Nata) and G Nageswari (Odissi).

Belgian and Moroccan choreographer, dancer, and director Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui is the recipient of the 2022 JACOB'S PILLOW DANCE AWARD. Cherkaoui will accept this award and present a new work at the season opening Gala on June 18, 2022.




Veerabhadra temple, Lepakshi, Andhra Pradesh ; Photo: Deepa Narayanan Sashindran
Veerabhadra temple, Lepakshi, Andhra Pradesh
Photo: Deepa Narayanan Sashindran



ANNOUNCEMENTS
Kalasri presents
Ajala-Earth

March 12 - April 10, 2022
Switzerland

Art Vision presents
18th Remembering Guruji

Odissi Research Centre Auditorium, 6.30pm
April 7, 2022 Bhubaneswar

Masterclass in Kathak
By Shambhavi Dandekar

April 9 & 10, 16 & 17, 2022
On Zoom
Attakkalari Summer Camp
For ages 5 - 24

April 18 - 30, 2022
Bangalore

Natya Vriksha presents
World Dance Day-15th edition

IIC, 6.30pm
April 22 & 23, 2022 Delhi




TAALAM: COLUMN BY LEELA VENKATARAMAN

Collaborative excellence marks Twelfth Pragjyoti Festival: Part 1
The twelfth Pragjyoti International Dance Festival, hosted for the last eleven years in Guwahati by Kalpa, a collaborative online event this year thanks to pandemic compulsions, featured some of the finest online workshops, built round aspects crucial to the art world today.

Collaborative excellence marks Twelfth Pragjyoti Festival: Part 2
In the session on 'Modern Languages and Literary Studies' in association with Guwahati University, Priti Patel spoke of working along with television personality and researcher into traditional art, Sadhana Srivastava, who has curated a film highlighting the perils Manipur's indigenous art forms face in the world of today.


SOCH: COLUMN BY DR. ARSHIYA SETHI
Notes on NEP (New Education Policy)
What is good about the New National Education Policy, 2020? It is undoubtedly an ambitious pan Indian overhaul, envisioned to cost up to 6% of India's GDP. It appears to be a body, mind and soul project.


PRISM
Kalan Kolam from Kadalimangalam, 2018
Postmodern meets Pre-Dravidian
- Marc-Paul Lambert
It is remarkable to see how, some fifty years after Paris, the term "contemporary dance" settled in hotspots like Mumbai or Chennai, breaking with semantics of Indian classical legacy.



Don't just see but also hear the Dancing Child-Part II
- Dr. Arshiya Sethi
The Unmute.help website is an open, free resource to which people go when they want to understand arts and the intersection with the Law.




ATMA SHANTI



GHULAM RASOOL
Mumbai based veteran costume designer GHULAM RASOOL, popularly known as Ghulam Bhai, passed away on January 25, 2022. He was 80.

THANJAI A HEMNATH
THANJAI A HEMNATH, eldest son of Thanjai M Arunachalam Pillai, passed away due to heart attack on March 17, 2022 in Chennai. He trained students in Thanjavur bani of Bharatanatyam and in nattuvangam through Shanmugananda Bharatanatya Palli which was founded by his father. He also served as a Bharatanatyam lecturer in Tamilnadu Government Music College.

NAN MELVILLE
Born in Kimberly, South Africa, NAN MELVILLE was a photographer and videographer based in New York City, specializing in performing arts photography. She passed away on March 20, 2022. She worked for the NY Times, Juilliard, World Music Institute and for 'Dancing the Gods' Festival. She has captured images of visiting Indian artistes including Nrityagram and is known for her short documentary 'Nrityagram: For the Love of Dance.'




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