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US Vs India - Dance awareness..

Last month, after a grilling day, my advisor tried to be friendly to me and said "Rupa, I have something which might be of interest to you."I thought it might be another couple of books on Electromagnetic modeling.Surprisingly he handed me a Bharatanatyam arangetram invitation and said that his wife's student was performing it.It as an elaborate 8 page booklet with wonderful graphics. Every page had the dancer posing in an entirely different costume in keeping with the description of the item being performed. Overall, very nicely done.I quickly went through the dance guru's profile and learnt that she was trained under the great Dhananjayans. The dancer (performer)was also trained in jazz, hip-hop, modern dance and also worked as an anchor for a local television channel..Wow! that was impressive.
My mind then drifted to the days in India in May 1999 when I had performed my arangetram.I had a simple 4 page invitation card with 2 costumes. I had learnt a little bit of Kathak at middle school and also knew folk dances, but never studied anything seriously other than bharatanatyam. One thing which was clearly lacking then was the exposure which one has through the internet today.The next most important factor is the Indian mindset where highest importance is given to academic performance rendering very little time to pursue anything which is of true artistic value.Well, I wouldn't blame them because there are a lot of socio-economic reasons behind this mindset. Practically, its important to be able to procure a job where you are making some money first and then think about the rest.
For the desi junta which has been minting money for the past 20-30 years,the kids need not bother about getting 'some' job just for the heck of it. Also the US is a huge cultural melting pot where one interacts with people coming from various cultures on a daily basis.Naturally it broadens your knowledge and also makes you attempt things which one caould only dream of in the 1990's India.
Overall, its a positive sign to see bright kids being keenly interested in pursuing their passion. American Indian performers are now fusing elements of ballet, flamenco and jazz with bharatnatyam,giving it a universal appeal. Some of these Indian american performers have also started touring India giving tough competition to local performers, thus pushing the envelope.

at last...

ok folks..at last i have done something which is very very important for any writer..organizing the content..so here i go with 3 labels for now..also want to add section on 'Pandigai'- festivals later sometime.

AR rocks!...weekend kahani

i happened to visit the ISSS at Drexel today and guess what was being played at the background??!! pachchai nirame song from alaipayuthey.. an american listening to a tamil song..that too a romantic one...Wow!thanks to ar rahman's melodious composition..again one of the many reasons i feel proud to be an indian..
another reason to feel proud..listened to Sudha Murthy's speech at UC Berkeley and was truly inspired by her thought, vision and commitment towards social causes..I truly believe you have to be the chosen one to accomplish such feats in life..
also caught up with jane tu ya jane na over the weekend...simply loved the movie..and of course the song 'papu can't dance ...'.. ha ha ha..imran looks cool and so does cutie genelia..also loved her performance in Santosh Subramaniam.
was off to work early ...hastily read a few PhD comic strips around lunchtime...Thought about the theme for my next kolu on the way back home..and now done with dinner.have to wind up kitchen work..

b 2 b...

Back to blogging and back to Bensalem..seems like I have come back to the same point where I had left life in June 2006..only to a bigger apartment now..2 fruitful years in Plainsboro..met new people..made new friends, saw new places and learnt a lot.Still a grad student at Drexel University..one thing which has remained constant over the past 4 yrs..(I hope that changes soon:)
just decided to go green with the blog template..in keeping with the growing concern on global warming. Tried mixed lentil soup today.Home is almost all set except that I have to get the right frames for Vijay's paintings to hang them on the walls.
have to get back to work tomorrow after the long weekend..but will definitely keep you guys posted.

Bharatham -- a manifestation of Love.

hi people..Am back after almost a weeks time.Its been really hot here and i am depserately hoping for some rain.Last weekend was good enough.Both Vijay and I were able to spend sometime with each other and catch a couple of old tamil movies.Of course..my cooking spree continues with the latest experiment being "Cabbage mint Masala rice".Well..for all mint lovers, u can also try out mint rava upma..it tastes yummy!!.Known to aid digestion, mint also adds lovely aroma and flavor to the food..so mix it with anything and ...it will set your mouth watering.Okay now getting back to the original thread..As I stated in my previous post, this post also deals with some more aspects of nritya.

As a bharatanatyam dancer, its very important to have a strong command over the sense of tala,abhinaya,timing,linear balance, and grace.Apart from these,its an added advantage to have a decent knowledge of mythology,the vedas and the puranas. Traditional bharatanatya was performed in the temple courtyards and the songs were usually in praise of the various Hindu dieties.Dance was infact viewed as a way to attain salvation and was an inseparable part of prayers offered to the Lord.Hence, knowledge of mythology helps the dancer to interpret a situation from mulitple angles.This is especially useful when one is working on the Varnams and Padams..wherein the performer is required to depict several episodes of a heroic character's lifetime.

Now lets move on to the concept which is exhaustively dealt with in bharatanatya. "Prema" or love is the most important emotion on which most of the dance situations are based.Prema can be further divided into three categories namely,Vatsalya Prema(affectionate love).Eg.A mother's love for her child, Rathi Prema (Physical/carnal love)eg. love between a husband and wife and finally Bhakthi Prema (Spiritual/devotional love)eg.A devotee's love for his Lord.Out of the three Bhakthi Prema and Rathi Prema are favorites and hugely chosen for most occassions.

My personal favorite though is Bhakthi Prema..hmm..why?? possibly because I can relate very well to it and hence able to potray it the best.Well..another viewpoint is that all forms of love ultimately lead to bhakthi prema.In my opinion,bhakthi prema is the highest degree any love can attain.Be it love towards a person,love towards your profession or love towards your hobbies. Any form of love when done with total dedication and a pure heart attains a divine stature.Instances of these can be found from Lord Krishna's life...Yashoda maiyaa 's Vatsalya Prem for mischevious lord Krishna ultimately attained that status of Bhakthi Prema which took her to salvation.Likewise, Radha's rathi Prem for heartthrob krishna was so intense and pure that she became one with the Lord (nirvana)and even today, is considered to be the epitome of love. In bhakthi prema one finds immense peace of mind and happiness which is precisely the feeling one gets if one does his/her job with total involvement and dedication.Probably, our object of love then becomes God and our love for it becomes Bhakthi or devotion.

hmm..I think I should stop here for now...this discussion on Prema takes us to another post on Madhurashtakam ..soon to follow:)

Summer Activity... Bharatnatyam

Hello people!..its a sleepy friday afternoon here in Pennsylvania. With the temperatures touching as high as 36 degrees and no sign of breeze outside, all I can do is just sit back sipping lemonade and surf the web mindlessly...hmm..or probably, i can do something better ..why not tell u more about my dance activity this summer??

After almost a span of a year, this summer I got to spend a lot of time with my passion--Bharatanatya.I thorougly enjoyed revising my old dance items and also finished choreographing a new dance item called "Jathiswaram" set to Hansanandhi raga and Rupaka tala.For those who dont know much about this ancient dance form..well the literature is replete with information about it.(see here). To tell you more about the item,the word Jathiswaram can be split up into two distinct parts, "Jathi" and "Swaram". In this item, the jathi patterns flow in accord with the swara patterns resulting in a rich audio-visual effect.The swara aspect becomes more important in this particular piece.A wonderful medley of slow and fast paced verses gives the apt lift to the energy level of the performance ,the peak of which is realized in the Thillana.

Jathiswaram comes in the category of pure dance or Nritta which is devoid of abhinaya and usually follows the pushpanjali or allaripu in the traditional margam (path of dance recital). Dance combined with abhinaya is termed as Nritya. Abhinaya can be further divided into 4 categories of aangik abhinaya(expression through body movements), vaachik abhinaya (Expression through speech/words), aahaarya abhinaya(expression through costumes), saatvik abhinaya(expression through heart/soul). According to me,in Bharatanatya, Aangik and satvik abhinaya are of utmost importance. Appropriate body gestures and facial expressions can effectively depict a character or convey a message and help the audience visualize it without the need for song or special costume.For example,if one has to depict Lord Krishna, one need not wear the pitambar vastra or play a flute..rather one just needs to emulate the flute using hand gestures (aangik abhinay) and assume a demure poise like that of Lord Krishna(satvik abhinay).thats the magic of dance...u can be what u want to be..!

Initially viewed as the means to attain nirvana, bharatnatyam fell prey to the malicious mideaval rulers and came to be called "devadasiattam". Bharatnatyam was banned and its learners were subject to severe social ostracism .Thanks to the efforts of stalwarts like Ram Gopal, Bala saraswathi and Smt.Rukmini Devi..bharatanatya was revived in the early 1900's and now has spread far and wide ,finally getting the status it truly deserves.In todays society, bharatanatya is no longer confined to art or entertainment but has its reach in the fields of physical therapy, personality development, and the like.Nevertheless, in the present social context,it can be used as a powerful tool to create awarness of national integration, fight against diseases and world peace & harmony.

ok..i think i should wrap up for today...more posts on dance to follow..so all those interested..keep yourself updated.