May 2023
ANITA SAYS.....
People will forget what you said,
They will not remember what you wore
Or how you looked
But they will always remember
How you made them feel
- African American poet Maya Angelou
With World Dance Day just behind us, it is a good moment to indulge a
bit longer in the delightful and sensorial plunge into a weekend of
watching, listening and thinking about our world of Dance. I was in New
Delhi and was able to attend some very interesting performances.
Read on...
|
|
ROVING EYE
|
Natya Vriksha celebrated World Dance Day at India International Centre, New Delhi, on April 22 & 23, 2023
|
TAKITATOM
San Francisco's Asian Art Museum presents 'Beyond Bollywood: 2000
Years of Dance in Art,' a multi-media extravaganza of Himalayan, South
Asian and Southeast Asian artwork featuring dance. The exhibition opened
on March 31 and runs through July 10, showcases sculpture, painting,
textiles, jewelry, photographs, music and video installations that
illustrate the rich history of dance in the regions. On select days,
museumgoers can also enjoy live performances through biweekly pop-up
performances inside the galleries.
The postage stamp release honouring four legendary personalities of
Odisha who have immortalised Odisha on the map of India, includes the
stamp featuring Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra for Odissi dance.
A book by Dr. Panruti Suresh of Cuddalore chronicles the life and
contributions of Natyacharya Pandanainallur Meenakshisundaram Pillai. It
was released by Nandini Ramani.
Banaras Hindu University presented a series of hybrid online lectures
cum video showing on the Traditional Dance and Dance Drama forms of some
of the South Asian countries for the Dance Program of the BHU.
Dr. Parul Shah was the guest speaker.
Chennai based Kuchipudi dancer Sailaja has become the State Secretary of Art and Culture of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
On 7 April 2023, dancers from the transgender community gave a
Bharatanatyam performance at Raj Bhavan (Chennai) in the presence of
Chief Guest, R.N. Ravi,
Governor of Tamil Nadu. The dancers Rose, Vaishnavi, Dr. Selvi
Santhosam, Omana, Vishali, and Karthi Subramaniyam, are being trained by
Bharatanatyam dancer/teacher Shanmuga Sundaram.
Serendipity Arts Foundation presents INDIAN CLASSICAL ARTS MENTORSHIP
GRANT. It offers financial support to practitioners in the field of
Indian classical music and dance who wish to train under a mentor for a
period of six months. The model for training follows the traditional
Guru-Shishya format of knowledge transmission and practice whereby the
student learns and resides under the tutelage of the mentor for the
period of their education. The goal of the Grant is to facilitate the
enhancement of the applicant's practice either through further pursuance
of their discipline or through the acquisition of allied art practices
and skills within the Indian classical music/dance traditions.
Application deadline: 15th May 2023
Visit this link to know more
The 53rd all India classical dance festival takes place in Thanjavur on May 21, 2023.
|
AWARDS
Bharatanatyam Guru Hema Rajagopalan received the NRITHYA SEVA RATNA
award from Indian Fine Arts Academy, San Diego, on April 1, 2023.
The Bhavan's Executive Director Dr. M.N. Nandakumara has now become an
Honorary MBE for services to the teaching, performance and accessibility
of Indian classical arts in the UK.
Kalamandalam Rajeev (mizhavu), Kalamandalam Sheeba Krishnakumar (dance),
Bijula Balakrishnan (dance), Kalamandalam Radhamani (Thullal) to get
the KERALA SANGEETHA NATAKA AKADEMI AWARD for 2022. Chenda/Edakka
artiste Kalamandalam Unnikrishnan gets the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka
Akademi fellowship.
Kalamandalam Kalluvazhi Vasu (Kathakali), Kalanilayam Kunjunni
(Kathakali), Kavadiyar Suresh (dance drama) will get the GURUPUJA
PURASKARAM.
Odissi Guru Ratikant Mohaptra received the first UTKAL PRATIBHA SAMMAN
2023 on the occasion of Utkal Divas on April 1, 2023 at Bhubaneswar. He
received the SURAVI SAMMAN on April 12, 2023 at the 21st Ekamra
Nruthya Mahotsav in Bhubaneswar
Mohiniattam Guru Sreedevi Unni received the MES KALAVEDI PURASKARA from
MES Kalavedi on April 16, 2023 at Bangalore for her contribution to
Mohiniattam especially in Karnataka.
The NATYA VRIKSHA LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD was presented by Natya
Vriksha to Kamalini Dutt for her seminal work in documenting dance on
April 22, 2023 during the World Dance Day celebrations at India
International Center in New Delhi.
At the18th edition of International Dance Day organized by Srishti
Center on May 1 & 2, 2023 at Ravindra Kalakshetra,
Bengaluru,Yakshagana artiste Keremane Shivananda Hegde will be honoured
with SRISHTI NATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR DANCE.
Preeti Vasudevan wins the VEGAS MOVIE AWARDS for Best Choreography for 'Resilient.'
|
 Mallikarjuna Temple, Basaralu, Karnataka
Photo: Lalitha Venkat
ATMA SHANTI
Renowned guru of Manipuri Nata Sankirtana SOUGAIJAM THANIL SINGH passed
away at his Singjamei Yumnam Leikai residence in the early morning of
March 31, 2023.
Sougaijam Thanil was born to Sougaijam Ksher Singh and Ibemhal on
February 1, 1946. He completed diploma in Manipuri dance and post
graduate diploma in Nata Sankirtana (pung) from Jawaharlal Nehru Manipur
Dance Academy (JNMDA), Imphal. Later, he joined JNMDA as Guru of Nata
Sankirtana (pung) in 1976 and was promoted to Pradhan Guru in 1988. He
held the post of director (in-charge) of the academy in 2005 before
retiring from service the next year.
He was conferred Padma Shri in 2005 in recognition of his contribution
in the promotion of Nata Sankirtana. He was honoured with Manipur State
Kala Akademi Award (1980), Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1994), Manipuri
Sahitya Parishad Vadya Bhushan (1997) and Vadya Ratna (2011) among other
awards and recognitions.
His notable books on Nata Sankirtana are Meitei Pung Rajmel Humphumari
(1971), Khomjillaba Meitei Punglon Tanjao (1981), Punglon Rajmel
Taranithoi (1986), Nata Sankirtana Raag Punglon (1999) and Raas
Humphumari Seishak (2007).
JALABALA VAIDYA (12 Aug 1936 - 9 April 2023), eminent theater actress
and founder of Akshara Theatre, is no more. She was 86 years old. Born
in London to Indian author and freedom fighter Suresh Vaidya and English
classical singer Madge Franckeiss, Jalabala began life as a journalist,
writing for various national newspapers and magazines in Delhi. She was
briefly married to well-known journalist and columnist, C.P.
Ramachandran, but soon after, met and married the love of her life and
lifelong partner in the arts and life, poet-playwright Gopal Sharman.
Jalabala's theatrical life started in 1968 with Full Circle, a
dramatized selection of poems and stories, which became an instant
success on its first European performance tour, culminating in seasons
at the Mercury Theatre and the Arts Laboratory in London. The critical
acclaim for Full Circle led to an invitation to her husband Gopal
Sharman to write and direct a play based on The Ramayana for the Royal
Shakespeare Theatre's World Theatre Season. Gopal wrote the play for a
cast of 25 actors, but the play became internationally famous as a
one-woman performance in which Jalabala played all the characters, in a
style based on the traditional 'katha'. Gopal Sharman's The Ramayana, a
contemporary interpretation of the epic as a play in English is still
the only Indian production to have played on Broadway where the New York
Times called it 'India's Gift to Broadway'.
Jalabala and Gopal Sharman are co-founders of the Akshara National
Classical Theatre in New Delhi, an exquisite arts complex and much-loved
hub of theatre performances, designed and built by Sharman, where she
has played the lead role in more than 20 plays. She directed various
plays at the Akshara Theatre, as well as its highly successful
dramatized book reading series. In recent times, Jalabala presented
another version of The Ramayana, where she performed the opening and
closing Acts of the play, supported by a brilliant group of young actors
of the Akshara Repertory to perform the rest of the play. Jalabala
produced, performed in and narrated most of the Akshara Theatre's
television films, such as India Alive, The Kashmir Story, The Sufi Way,
etc.
She is the author of five books: Be, This Is Full, That Is Full, Life Is
But A Dream and The Akshara Acting Method. She was awarded the Sangeet
Natak Akademi's Tagore Award, the Delhi Natya Sangh Award, the Andhra
Pradesh Natya Akademi Honour, Honorary Citizenship of the City of
Baltimore, USA, and recently in February 2023, the Delhi Government's
Varisht Samman for her lifelong contribution to the performing arts.
|
|
