ANITA SAYS.....
No one leaves here alive.
So please stop treating yourself as an afterthought
Eat delicious food
Walk in the sun
Jump into the sea
Speak the truth that you carry in your heart like a hidden treasure
Be silly. Be good. Be weird
There is no time for anything else
- British film actor Anthony Hopkins
Wise words. Very few of us have the courage to follow through on every
one of his prompts but we can keep this mantra in our hearts as we
breathe through our days and pursue our goals.
Rape case protest
(Rupak De Chowdhuri / NurPhoto via AP)
As I write this editorial, many cities in India are still protesting and
holding candlelight vigils as a response to the horrific attack on the
medical trainee at RG KAR hospital in Kolkata on August 9. The
soul-numbing rape-murder occurred in the middle of the night when the 31
year old was resting in the hospital's seminar hall. The incident has
since turned political and updates and revelations are emerging every
day.
Read on....
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Anita Says...by Dr. Anita R Ratnam
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TAKITATOM
ALARMEL VALLI delivers the Dr. Sunil Kothari Honorary Lecture at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, at 6pm on Sept 23.
'The Songs of the Bulbul,' a new dance work by AAKASH ODEDRA, choreographed by RANI KHANUM,
had its world premiere at the Edinburgh International Festival, where
it also won recognition as the best show of the festival.
MALLIKA SARABHAI creates a performance at the municipal building
in the heritage part of Udine, Italy, with director Rita Maffei,
Director of Theatro Stabili, who is one of two Resident Artists in the
Nexion Surfaces residency.
At the 70th National Film Awards, RANGA VAIBHOGA (2022) directed by
SUNEEL PURANIK, a documentary on the tradition of temple dance in
Karnataka, bagged the award for the Best Arts / Culture Film this year.
10,000 young women from Baramulla set a world record by performing the
largest Kashmiri folk dance at the Kashur Riwaaj cultural festival. The
Universal Records Forum (URF) verified the record.
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AWARDS
 SONAL MANSINGH is to receive SRIMANTA SANKARDEVA AWARD, the highest honor given by govt of Assam once in 3 years.
PADMA SUBRAHMANYAM received the PT BIRJU MAHARAJ AWARD at Smriti
Festival organised by Darpan Institute and Kalakshetra Foundation in
Chennai, on August 1, 2024.
Naatyakalakshetra conferred the NRITHYA PRABHA AWARD on ANURADHA
VIKRANTH during its 16th Nrithya Utsava festival on August 9, 2024 at
Seva Sadan, Bangalore.
Srjan honors Guru KUMKUM LAL for dance, LAKSHMIKANT PALIT for music,
DHANESWAR SWAIN for music, and UTTAM MOHANTY for cinema with the GURU
KELUCHARAN MOHAPATRA AWARD 2024 for their significant contributions to
their respective art forms on September 11, 2024 at Rabindra Mandap,
Bhubaneswar. The award includes a cash prize of one lakh rupees and a
citation.
POMPI PAUL and RAJNITA MEHRA (née Banerjee) for Odissi dance, AVIJIT DAS
for Kuchipudi dance, and ROHIT PRADHAN for Odissi Mardala will receive
the GURU KELUCHARAN MOHAPATRA YUVA PRATIBHA SAMMAN 2024, in recognition
of their dedication to their respective art forms and their inspiring
performances. Each awardee receives a citation and a cash prize of
₹25,000. 
Bharatanatyam dancer SUJATHA SRINIVASAN received the OHIO HERITAGE FELLOWSHIP AWARD for 2024 from the Ohio Arts Council.
Guru GAJENDRA PANDA receives the VYSAKHI EXCELLENCE AWARD from Nataraj Music & Dance Academy on September 28, 2024 at Visakhapatnam. He receives the GURU GANGADHAR PRADHAN AWARD on September 29, 2024 from Jay Kiran Trust, Bhubaneswar.
 Utsav, Ranjana's Odissi Dance Academy awarded the UTSAV SAMMAN for
lifetime achievement to Bharatanatyam Guru UMA RELE, Kathak Guru
GEETANJALI LAL, Odissi Guru ALOKA PANIKAR and jewellery designer ASHA
MODI on August 13, 2024 at Stein auditorium, New Delhi.
On August 14, 2024 Natyarangam presented the following awards in Chennai. - Sujatha Vijayaraghavan Endowment Award for excellence in Bharatanatyam and Music to UMA SATHYANARAYANAN- KS Subramanian Endowment Award for December season debutant to INDU SV- Bhagavatulu Seetarama Sarma Endowment Award to NEELA SUKANYA for nattuvangam - Outstanding Contribution Award to RK SRIRAMKUMAR for Bharatanatyam - P Obul Reddy Endowment Award & Kamala and Naradar Srinivasa Rao Endowment Award to PARSHWANATH UPADHYE as senior dancer - Vasanthalakshmi-Narasimhachari Endowment and Thanjai Arunachalam Pillai
Endowment Award to HARINIE JEEVITHA for outstanding talent - Sudharani Raghupathy Endowment & Aanmajothi Endowment Award to mridangist KP ANIL KUMAR |
ATMA SHANTI
YAMINI KRISHNAMURTHY (Dec 20, 1940 - August 3, 2024)
Iconic classical dance diva YAMINI KRISHNAMURTHY passed away in
Apollo Hospital, New Delhi, on August 3, 2024 aged 84. She was suffering
from age related medical issues and had been in the ICU for 7 months
according to her manager.
Born in Madanapalli in Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh, Yamini
trained in Bharatanatyam at Rukmini Devi Arundale's Kalakshetra under
the mentorship of eminent gurus Kanchipuram Elappa Pillai, Thanjavur
Kittappa Pillai, Dhandayudhapani Pillai and Mylapore Gowri Ammal. She
gave her debut Bharatanatyam performance in 1957. She also trained in
Kuchipudi under gurus Vedantam Lakshminarayana Shastri, Chinta
Krishnamurthi and Pasumarthy Venugopal Krishna Sharma. In addition, she
learnt Odissi from gurus Pankaj Charan Das and Kelucharan Mohapatra. She
learnt Carnatic music from M. D. Ramanathan and veena from Kalpakkam
Swaminathan but her focus was more on Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi. She
was one of the earliest dancers to bring about a dramatic change in the
field of dance. Greatly supported by her family, especially her father
and her gurus, she attained immeasurable name and fame for her dazzling
performances.
She had the honour of being Asthana Narthaki (resident dancer) of the
Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam. She attained worldwide fame for her
performances in both art forms as a trailblazer, serving as inspiration
for more youngsters to take up dance. She opened her own dance school,
Yamini School of Dance, in Delhi in 1990 helping popularize the dance
form in the North. Yamini released her autobiography, 'A Passion for
Dance' in Nov 1995. She spent her entire life dedicated to her passion
for dance and never married.
A classical dance icon, she won many awards, including the Padma Shri
(1968), Sangeet Natak Akademi Award(1977), Padma Bhushan (2001), and the
Padma Vibhushan (2016). Her passing away is an irreplaceable loss to
the whole Indian dance community. She is survived by two sisters.
Yamini: The enigma
- Leela Venkataraman
Words fail me even as I try hard to capture in writing, the magic of
that meteor, streaking across the skies and illuminating the dance world
- adding a different texture to Indian dance history.
Dance was her life: Yamini Krishnamurthy (1940-2024)
- Ashish Mohan Khokar
Purna Tilakam was her real middle name. Her art symbolised it.
Whispers of divinity: Yamini Krishnamurthy's dance odyssey
- Navina Jafa
Yamini Krishnamurthy carved her place in the history of classical Indian
dance from the 1950s to the 1970s, when India saw the emergence of the
first generation of non-hereditary female performers take the centre of
the stage.
Yamini Krishnamurthy made the rules as she danced, owning the stage
- Leela Samson
Yamini performed Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi and Odissi, having learnt from
masters like Kittappa Pillai, Gowri Ammal and Guru Pankaj Charan Das.
And what a performer she was!
SUVERNA ASHOK DESAI (16 April 1935 - 13 August 2024) was a distinguished
Manipuri exponent. She was one of the eminent Jhaveri sisters, who
brought tremendous recognition to Manipuri.
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FROM THE ARCHIVES
 Sarpam Thullal, a mystical dance, an experience
- Padma Jayaraj
As India celebrates Diwali, central Kerala revives a folk ritual
practice in the Malayalam month of Thulam. Serpent worship used to be
part of folk religion in this tropical land.
Andhranatyam: History and Revival
- Kalakrishna
As we know the dance traditions in India are categorised under Natya
mela and Nattuva mela traditions. Andhranatyam belongs to the Nattuva
mela tradition. The ancient classical dance form of Telugu region
(Telangana, Rayalaseema and Andhra), has been in vogue for the past 2000
years.
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