September 2025
ANITA SAYS.....
Trees don't hang around with the grass
Although they all started from the same place
Spend so much time for self improvement
That you have no time to criticize others
The magic you are looking for
Is in the work you are avoiding
If you are a friend of everybody
You are an enemy to yourself
There is no losing - only learning
There is no failure - only opportunities
There are no problems - only solutions
THESE ARE SOME OF THE BEST SELF HELP QUOTES I GATHERED FOR THIS EDITION OF ANITA SAYS. I HOPE THEY RESONATE WITH YOU TOO.
It has been literally a few hours since I stepped off the stage with
the 21st performance of NAACHIYAR NEXT, the fifth iteration of the
stage production on the life of the teenage mystic poet ANDAL. The
evening in Coimbatore was magical and the night for me was restless.
Coimbatore is one of the favourite cities for me. Generational
friendships, great food, timeless hospitality is a given when anyone
visits. To see friends of 40, 50 years in the crowd - endless hugging,
many teary eyed, loud laughter and chatter and posing for innumerable
photographs. The feet are always tired after a show but the body hums
with the vibrations and the applause. It is at moments like this that I
remember what a gift it is to be a dancer. As I wipe off the makeup,
remove my hair-do with the numerous pins, take a long hot shower, change
into a comfortable cotton kaftan and put my feet in a bowl of warm
water with rock salt and lemon, I think of my mother who fought so
hard to give me (and my sister Pritha) the opportunity to dance when
she was denied the chance by her strict father. I send a prayer of
gratitude for her stubborn fortitude and to my father who endured years
of censure from his elders for permitting his daughters to be on stage
and the object of the male gaze. In their eyes, NOT to learn dance or
music was like curtailing our chances to becoming the best versions of
ourselves.
How strange and wonderful life has been for my sister and me. Me on
stage and she, now a full fledged successful corporate, watching from
the front row with such pride and joy - tears flowing from her face at
the final moment of ANDAL's "becoming" a Goddess.
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URUBHANGAM
Glimpses from dance adaptation of Bhasa's Sanskrit play
At Kerala Kalamandalam on August 7 & 8, 2025
Choreography, music and design: Bharat Sharma
Pics: Raneesh Raveendran
QUOTE
In the face of challenges, critics are adapting and innovating. The
crisis in criticism is not just about fewer jobs but about the
intellectual health of our culture. If we let art criticism become an
exclusive club for the well-connected and well-funded, we risk creating
an echo chamber that flatters power rather than interrogates it. The
alternative is to fight for a media landscape where thoughtful, fearless
criticism can thrive, where writers are supported materially as well as
intellectually and where the exchange of ideas remains as vital and
unruly as the art it seeks to illuminate.
('The death of the full-time critic and what it means for the future of Art Writing' by The Art Daddy, Observer, Aug 26, 2025)
ROSES & THORNS
Consent, communication & accountability in dance workshops
- Dr. Shobana Vankipuram
Two incidents from this workshop have stayed with me - not as personal
grievances, but as examples of how gaps in consent and communication can
unsettle participants and diminish the learning environment.
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TAKITATOM
MilapSpace is a
first-of-its-kind digital platform that offers continuous, high-quality,
and culturally rooted training in Indian arts - designed specifically
for a global audience of learners, practitioners, and art enthusiasts.
It is a new initiative by MILAP, the UK's pioneering Indian arts
organisation.
Bijayini Satpathy is the artist-in-residence at Kalanidhi Dance in US
for Fall 2026. She will create a new choreographic work to be performed
by Kalanidhi Dance and Bijayini Satpathy Dance Collective slated to
premiere in September 2026.
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AWARDS
 Kathak exponent DR NANDKISHORE KAPOTE received the MAHAMAHOPADHYAY PURASKAR
bestowed in the memory of Pt.Vishnu Digambar Paluskar from Akhil
Bharatiya Gandharva Mahavidyalaya Mandal on 18th August 2025 at Nerul,
Navi Mumbai.
PADMASHRI SATHYANARAYAN COMMEMORATIVE MUSICOLOGY AWARD was conferred upon Odissi and Kathak exponent PARWATI DUTTA on August 13, 2025 by the Brahmavidya Foundation at Mysore.
Sri Lalitha Kala Niketana presented NRITHYA SHREE AWARD to Bharatanatyam dancer Dr. SESHADRI IYENGAR on August 31, 2025 at Ravindra Kalakshetra, Bangalore.
Natyarangam, dance wing of Narada Gana Sabha Trust, presented the
following awards on August 14, 2025 at Narada Gana Sabha, Chennai, on
the inaugural evening of Acharya Bharatham festival.
- NATYACHARYA RATNA for Guru Ambika Buch
OBUL REDDY & KAMALA, NARADAR SRINIVASA RAO ENDOWMENT AWARD for Shafeekuddin & Shabana (for senior dancers)
- VASANTHALAKSHMI - NARASIMHACHARI & THANJAI ARUNACHALAM PILLAI ENDOWMENT AWARD for Meera Sreenarayanan (outstanding talent)
- SUDHARANI RAGHUPATHY & AANMAJOTHI ENDOWMENT AWARD for Nandini Sai Giridhar (violin accompaniment for Bharatanatyam)
- SUJATHA VIJAYARAGHAVAN ENDOWMENT AWARD for Vaishnavi Anand (proficiency in Bharatanatyam and music)
- BHAGAVATULU SRI SEETHARAMA SARMA ENDOWMENT AWARD for Kalishwaran Pillai (nattuvangam)
- K S SUBRAMANIAN ENDOWMENT AWARD for Gautam Marathe (December Season debutante - afternoon slot)
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ATMA SHANTI
Renowned civil servant and cultural curator DR. SUBAS PANI
passed away at the age of 76 on August 4, 2025 at Bhubaneswar. He was a
celebrated author, translator, composer, and creative visionary whose
scholarship on Jayadeva's Geeta Govinda enriched India's cultural
heritage. A 1972-batch IAS officer, Dr. Pani had an illustrious career
spanning decades, holding several key positions in both the Odisha
Government and the Central Government.
An academic and cultural enthusiast, Dr. Pani held a PhD on Jayadeva's
Geeta Govinda and authored several books and articles. His musical
rendition 'Sampoorna Geeta Govinda', released as a set of five CDs by
Saregama in 2008, was highly acclaimed. Dr. Pani was closely associated
with cultural heritage and curated major festivals including Kumar Utsav
(Jeypore), Mukteswar Dance Festival (Bhubaneswar), Srikhetra Utsav
(Puri), and Ashtapadi Festival (Delhi), among others. He was also a life
member of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage
(INTACH), underscoring his dedication to the preservation and promotion
of India's rich cultural heritage.
Dr. Subas Pani: Rare bureaucrat art lover of Orissa
- Leela Venkataraman
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FROM THE ARCHIVES
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.
Connecting to Ramlila through its rituals
- Sunil Sunkara
The Ramlila has resonated with the Indian heartland and continues to do
so till date. This essay looks at the Ramlila from the perspective of
the audience who are a combination of observers, devotees and
satsangees.
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