December 2023
ANITA SAYS.....
Where do stories come from?
They come from other stories
From deep within ourselves and from the cave of memories
Stories bind us and release our imaginations to swoop and soar
- Author SALMAN RUSHDIE award acceptance speech, Germany
We ask that same question each December!
"Where did the year go?"
"What? Already?"
"Gosh! How time flies!"
For us performers, it is THE time to share and yes, show off, our
accumulated training and experience to a global audience. Here in
Chennai, citizens still pride themselves on having the best "KAAN SENSE"
(a keen listening ear) for music. And, by association the most
discerning audience for Bharatanatyam. There are many dancers who will
disagree with this assumption but there is one aspect that cannot be
denied. In the month between December 15 to January 15, it IS still
possible to watch most of the celebrated Bharatanatyam dancers in one
city. Never mind the awful acoustics, lack of tech rehearsals, no
parking facilities and deplorable infrastructure. People still arrive
from other cities and shores and dancers still look forward to ascending
the Chennai stage.
Read on....
Listen to this episode from Anita says... Episode 3, December edition 2023
APPLE PODCAST | SPOTIFY
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TAKITATOM
Dr.Padma
Subrahmanyam's 80th birthday was celebrated with a special event 'PADMA
80' on November 30, 2023 at Narada Gana Sabha, Chennai. The book 'Nayana
Savana' by Shatavadani Dr. R Ganesh and Arjun Bharadwaj tracing the
artistic works of the dancer was released by Dr.Sandhya Purecha.
Revathi Ramachandran steps down as director of KALAKSHETRA on Oct 31,
2023 and Aneish Rajan, Deputy Secretary at the Union Ministry of
Culture, takes over as acting director from Nov 1, 2023.
The 25th edition of ritual dance theatre KAISIKA NATAKAM supported by
Anita Ratnam's Arangham Trust, took place at Thirukurungudi, Tamilnadu,
on November 23, 2023.
The 22nd edition of NATYA DARSHAN presented by Kartik Fine Arts titled
'Breaking New Grounds - The Diaspora Experience' will take place from
15th to 17th December 2023 at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Chennai. The
convenor is Bharatanatyam dancer Roja Kannan, who curates for the second
year.
The North East's leading dance charity, Dance City announces renowned
dance producer FAROOQ CHAUDHRY of Fengling Productions as the
organization's Associate Producer.
Krishna Gana Sabha's 41st edition of the NATYA KALA CONFERENCE convened
by Bharatanatyam exponent Rama Vaidyanathan will be held from December
26 to 30, 2023 at Krishna Gana Sabha premises, Chennai. The theme this
year is 'TranscenDance - Natya that Traverses, Transposes and
Transforms.'
KK Gopalakrishnan takes additional charge as director of South Zone Cultural Centre, Nagpur.
Silambam Houston, one of the leading Indian arts organizations in the
city (founded in 2002), has been designated as a 'HOUSTON CULTURAL
TREASURE'. The designation, awarded by the BIPOC Arts Network and Fund,
recognizes Silambam's foundational work and contributions towards equity
and access in the BIPOC arts ecosystem in the Houston area. Silambam is
one of 11 organizations to be awarded this rare distinction.
'A SOUND DEMOCRACY' by Dhananjai Sinha is a documentary film, which
explores the journey of a song, its music and meaning - from the
musician who creates it - through the DJ sound system which amplifies it
- and which eventually becomes a soundtrack to a volatile, moving mob
which creates violence in its wake.
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AWARDS
Ashish Mohan
Khokar's ATTENDANCE ANNUAL AWARDS 2023 will be given on December 9, 2023
at ADA Rangamandira, Bangalore, during the Kalanadam festival.
RAMGOPAL BEST MALE SOLOIST AWARD: Laxminarayan Jena
MOHAN KHOKAR DANCE DOCUMENTATION AWARD: Lalitha Venkat
UDAY SHANKAR CHOREOGRAPHY AWARD: Guru Shama Bhate
RUKMINI DEVI AWARD FOR BHARATANATYAM: Alarmel Valli
OVERALL CONTRIBUTION: Mysore B Nagaraj
LIFETIME IN ART AWARD: Chiranjiv Singh
The first GURU MK SAROJA AWARD: Vidya Passard (Paris) & Deepa Krishnamurthy
The DR SUNIL KOTHARI AWARD FOR EMERGING ARTIST 2023 supported by
Drishtikon invited submissions sent by artists, nominated by Gurus from
different genres. These were sent to a prestigious international jury:
Anand Bhatt (UK), Aravinth Kumarasamy (Singapore), Uttara Asha
Coorlawala (USA), Samar Jodha, Sandhya Raman, Sanjoy Roy, Shveta Arora
and Uma Dogra (India). Each jury member sent in their selection and the
winners are:
First: Ivana Sarkar (Manipuri) / Grey Matters
Second: Sai Venkata Gangadhar (Kuchipudi) / Maro Prapancham
Third: Kalyani Sharda (Contemporary) / My Voice
Ivana Sarkar will receive a citation and a cash prize of INR 75,000.
The Bharat Kalachar awards will be given away on December 16, 2023 at the sabha premises in Chennai. The awardees are:
GNANA KALA BHARATHI (Dr Mrs YGP Memorial Award)- Dr. Rajkumar Bharathi
VISWA KALA BHARATHI - Narthaki Nataraj, ACHARYA KALA BHARATHI - Urmila
Sathyanarayanan, KALA SEVA BHARATHI - Bhagavatamela Melattur Kumar
Special Commendation Awards: Sai Shravanam - Soundscape, VVS Manian - Konnakkol, Lavanya Venugopal - Theatre
YUVA KALA BHARATHI for dance: Bhairavi Venkatesan - BN, Lekha Prasad - BN, Arthi Vasudevan - Kuchipudi, Sharmada Viswanath - BN
RAJAM PUSHPAVANAM MEMORIAL AWARD: Samanvita Sasidharan- All Rounder
On December 3, 2023 Kathakali artiste and Guru Sadanam Harikumar will be
bestowed with the title KALAA BHAASKARA by Bharata Kalanjali at Chennai
for his immense contribution to the art world as master craftsman -
Kathakali actor, teacher, Malayalam poet, sculptor, painter, musician,
composer and choreographer par excellence.
Urise Vedic Sangeetha Academy gave the NRUTHYA SURABHI awards on
November 26, 2023 at Bangalore to the following artistes: Dr.Ananda B
Bhavanani, Anupama Kylash, Dr.VR Devika, S Jayachandran, Kiran
Subramanyam, Minal Prabhu, R Muralidaran, Padma Murali, Priya Murle,
Pulikeshi Kasturi, Raghavendra Prabhat, G Gurumurthy, Sheela
Chandrashekar, Ramaa Bharadvaj, Vijaya Marthanda.
On November 27, 2023 at the Trinity
Arts Festival in Chennai, Chitra Visweswaran received LIFETIME
ACHIEVEMENT AWARD, Radhika Shurajit got BHARATA KALA RATNA Award for
2022, and Padma Subrahmanyam was felicitated on her turning 80.
Dr. Sreelatha Vinod, Bharatanatyam artiste and Founder/Director of
Anthara Center for Performing Arts, receives the NRITYA CHOODAMANI award
from Krishna Gana Sabha on Dec 14, 2023 at Chennai.
ABHAI confers the first PRAVASI NATYA KALANIDHI award on Rathna Kumar of
Anjali Center for the Arts, Houston, on December 15, 2023 at the Natya
Darshan conference's inaugural evening, at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan,
Chennai.
Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra presented the SUMITRA CHARAT RAM AWARD FOR
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT (2023) to Shobha Deepak Singh on November 17, 2023
at the Kamani Auditorium, New Delhi.
In Mumbai, the French government bestows the award of CHEVALIER DANS
L'ORDRE DES PALMES ACADÉMIQUES, one of their important civilian awards,
on Vasumathi Badrinathan, for her contribution to French language and
culture.
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ATMA SHANTI
Renowned art historian, critic and a world authority on miniature
paintings, DR.B.N. GOSWAMY passed away on November 17, 2023 at
Chandigarh. He was 90. He authored more than 25 books on the subjects of
Pahari paintings, miniature paintings, court painters, and masters of
Indian paintings among others. He was best-known for his scholarship on
the Pahari style of paintings and Indian miniature style paintings. He
was a Padma Shri (1998) and Padma Bhushan (2008) awardee.
More info:
Art historian and critic BN Goswamy passes away at 90
- Vandana Kalra
Author of over 25 books on art and culture, Goswamy is considered the last word on miniature art in India.
Guru UMA DEVI DUTT, an old alumnus of Kalakshetra, passed away on 19
November 2023. She was a contemporary of K.P.Kunhiraman, Adyar
Lakshman, D.Pasupathi, Mani Krishnaswamy and Pushpa Shankar etc, a
senior contemporary of the Dhananjayans. She was then known as
Kollankode Uma of the royal family. She was a guiding light whose wisdom
and teachings have touched the lives of countless individuals. She was
not merely a mentor, but also a pillar of strength for all those who had
the privilege of being under her guidance.
Kathakali dancer PRABAL GUPTA expired on November 14, 2023 at Bangalore,
aged around 45. A disciple of Guru Sadanam Balakrishnan, Prabal
portrayed both male and female characters on stage, but he specialised
in stree vesham. He was artistic director of 'Centre for Kathakali Art'
in Bangalore. He has choreographed productions like Chitrangada,
Cleopatra, Macbeth, Kshaatrabala, and Manipurakshiti Rakshanotka. He was
a recipient of the Outstanding Citizen of New York award and
acknowledged by the Ministry of Culture as an Outstanding Artist in the
field of performance. The documentary film 'Advan - The journey of my
life' based on the life of Prabal Gupta, scripted and directed by Anoop
Rajan Thomas, and produced by LV Prasad College of Media Studies,
premiered on August 26, 2023 at Bangalore. Prabal was also a writer and
contributed to the Narthaki portal.
Prabal Gupta had no family or relatives. Sangeet Natak Akademi
(in a message from the Chairperson Sandhya Purecha) agreed to
underwrite all the expenses incurred towards Prabal's hospitalisation,
cremation and ceremonies. SNA will reimburse World Dance Alliance
(headed by Veena Murthy Vijay) that had borne the expenses. The
Bangalore dance fraternity arranged dignified last rites for Prabal.
More info
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