Monthly Newsletter
October 2020
ANITA SAYS.....
Sometimes I open the window
And the dusk rain touches my face,
A lightness on the edges of knowing
That when this frozen summer fails, children locked
Without knowledge of tomorrow's light
Will leap as the sun breaks, molten though their corridors
Night fleeing rapidly from their eyes -
While mothers and fathers hurtling with the hurricane
Will struggle
To stand still, struggle to let go the darkness...
- BEYOND THE NIGHT
by Anu Majumdar, Auroville
I begin with the piercing beauty of words from my friend and take the
liberty of slicing her luminous poem into two parts - to envelop this
mostly "non joyous" missive with her ray of hope. Like gentle arms that
holds a troubled soul close.
Read on...
ROVING EYE
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ATMA SHANTI
The arts world is poorer at the passing of multi-faceted scholar Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan
at the age of 91 in New Delhi (Dec 25, 1928 - Sept 16, 2020). She was a
leading scholar of Indian classical dance, art, architecture, and art
history. She was trained in Kathak by Pt Acchan Maharaj, in Manipuri by
Guru Amobi Singh, in Bharatanatyam by Guru Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai and
in Odissi by Guru Surendranath Jena.
She was formerly a member of parliament and also served as Secretary to
the Govt of India in the Ministry of Education, where she was
responsible for the establishment of a large number of national
institutions of higher education. She served as the founding director of
the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts. She was former
President of India International Centre (IIC) and an IIC Life Trustee
and the Chairperson of the IIC International Research Division.
Some heartfelt tributes to Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan
Bharatanatyam Guru Rajee Narayan (Aug 19, 1931 - Sept 25, 2020) passed away aged 90.
She was a rare combination of guru, musician, composer and
choreographer, with the unique distinction of teaching not only
Bharatanatyam, but also Carnatic Music, Natyasastra and Nattuvangam. She
established Nritya Geethanjali in Mumbai in 1965. Many of her students
run their own institutions all over the world. Rajee Narayan has served
as board member of the University of Mumbai for over two decades and as
the external examiner for the Bachelors and Masters degrees in the Fine
Arts courses (BFA and MFA) and examiner of thesis for Ph.D.
Tribute to Natyacharya Rajee Narayan
- The Dhananjayans
rajeenarayan.com/history.html
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TA KI TA TOM
Through the festive month of Oct, dancers
share their personal anecdotes on their favorite DEVIS and real life
SHE-ROS through words and performance in DEVI DIARIES on Narthaki's FB
and Insta pages.
The GURU KELUCHARAN MOHAPATRA AWARD 2020 by Srjan, Bhubaneswar, was
presented to veteran cinematographer Raj Gopal Mishra for his lifetime
achievements to Odia cinema. The GURU KELUCHARAN MOHAPATRA YUVA PRATIBHA
SAMMAN was presented to Pravat Kumar Swain for Odissi dance and to
Himansu Sekhar Swain for Odissi music, on Sept 9, 2020.
The eleventh KALASAGAR AWARDS for exemplary contribution in the field of
traditional performing arts for 2020 will be presented on October 14 at
Kerala.
Kathakali: Vesham - Kalamandalam Chambakara Vijayakumar, Music -
Kalanilayam Rajeevan, Chenda - Kalamandalam Balasundaran, Maddalam -
Sadanam Devadas and Chutty- Kalanilayam Padmanabhan.
Bharatanatyam - Kalamandalam Sarojini, Mohiniattam - Vinitha Nedungadi,
Ottenthullal - Kalamandalam Parameswaran, Chakyarkoothu - Kalamandalam
Jishnu Prathap, Koodiyattam - Margi Ramachakyar, Thayambaka - Porur
Haridas
Panchavadyam: Thimila - Vaikkom Chandran Marar, Maddalam - Kalamandalam
Nataraja Warrior, Edakka - Dr.Balusseri Krishnadas, Thalam - Mattanur
Ajith Marar and Kombu - Peramangalam Vijayan.
In order to help artists during pandemic, the MINISTRY OF CULTURE
released a grant of Rs 5462.69 lakhs to the artist community under
various central sector schemes.
SRI SRI UNIVERSITY announces the launch of Sri Sri Centre for Advanced
Research in Kathak under the directorship of Dr.Puru Dadhich.
NESIN 2020 Awards Certificate of Excellence goes to DR. MITUL SENGUPTA
(Rhythmosaic, Kolkata) for BEST RESEARCH AWARD in recognition of her
recently published academic article in tandfonline on dance movement
therapy and autism.
MAV (Multicultural Arts Victoria) welcomes DR. PRIYA SRINIVASAN to the
role of Lead, Strategic Projects, to help shape cultural equity with the
sector, increase critical thinking about the value and labour of
diverse artists.
UMA SATHYANARAYANAN to receive KERALA SANGEETA NATAKA ACADEMY award (State award) in the field of Bharatanatyam for 2019.
BARYSHNIKOV ARTS CENTER has announced a new commissioning
program to encourage choreographers and other artists to continue
creating during the pandemic. The inaugural group of commission
recipients includes Odissi dancer BIJAYINI SATPATHY whose work will be
shared online.
SRI SRI UNIVERSITY presented a week long world dance webinar on
Globalisation of Indian Dance, Transcending Borders, featuring many
eminent names like Uttara Asha Coorlawala, Dr.Padma Subrahmanyam, Jai
Govinda, Jonathan Hollander, Ratikant Mohaptra etc.
DAKSHINA CHITRA MUSEUM (Chennai) offers Online Certificate course - Indian Archaeology, in the first week of October 2020.
ABHAI (Association of Bharatanatyam Artistes of India) launches NATYA
SANYUJ- CONNECTING THE ARTS, its first online festival of natyam in
collaboration with Sangam Festival, NJ of Bharatanatyam exponent Bala
Devi Chandrasekhar. From October 2, the performances will be streamed
from the ABHAI FB page and YouTube channels every Friday.
September is South African HERITAGE MONTH. The virtual celebration's
theme for Heritage Month was "Celebrating South Africa's living human
treasures."
On Instagram, Bharatanatyam dancer from South Africa, K SARVESHAN
celebrated MY HERITAGE MONTH talking to eminent dance personalities on
cultural heritage and how Bharatanatyam found its way there.
CFAA (Colorado Fine Arts Association) successfully presented PRAKRITI
CLASSICAL DANCE FESTIVAL online featuring a galaxy of dancers of various
classical forms.
THE CREATIVE ARTS ACADEMY (TCA) launches a three month intensive
certificate course in communication and writing starting October.
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