Silver Jubilee Year – Chowdiah Memorial Hall
Drishti congratulates the Academy of Music for successfully celebrating 25 years of the Chowdiah Memorial Hall. The grand finale of the year-long silver jubilee celebrations just concluded on 24 November 2005. The President of India, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam inaugurated the festival. The cultural programmes featured veteran musicians Pt. Shivkumar Sharma, Dr. Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan, Madurai T. N. Seshagopalan and danseuse Malavika Sarukkai.
The Karnataka Minister for Transport & Water Resources and President of the KPCC, Mallikarjuna Kharge is the Patron-in-Chief of the Academy and one of its guiding forces. He became a member of the Academy in 1988, when he was the leader of opposition in the legislature. The same year the Academy was able to clear off the entire bank loan of the Academy! Shri Kharge takes a personal interest in the affairs of the institution.
Released: MUDRA – Ananya calendar for the year 2006, Series 12
The release function was held on 12 November 2005 at the Bangalore Gayana Samaja, Bangalore. The calendar presents a series of photographs of hand gestures, the Mudras, interestingly shot by Raghavendra Rao.
The cultural programme featured a flute ensemble by Amit Nadig, Rajkamal Sarvotham, and Smitha Srikiran accompanied by Suchethan (vocal), Renuka Prasad (mridanga), S. N. Narayana Murthy (ghatam) under the direction of Dr. T. S. Satyavati; a Bharatanatyam dance recital by Anuradha Vikranth and unique classical group Bharatanatyam feature under the direction of Guru Smt. B. Bhanumati – Bharatanjali (dancers Geetha, Snehasri, Josephine, Anupama, Nagabrinda, Ranjani, Savitha and Veena) from Nrityakalamandiram.
Padmabhushan Balasaraswathi Award
Congratulations to Asha Gopal for being awarded the Padmabhusan Balasaraswathi Award by Sri Ragam Fine Arts Centre of Chennai. Settled in Phoenix, USA, dancer Asha Gopal (hailing from Bangalore) is the director of the Arathi School of Dance and has been working, since 1981, towards the promotion of Indian classical dance in the USA. The award function was held in Triveni Arts Centre, New Delhi on 4 November 2005.
Veena Murthy Vijay’s visit to the USA
Veena Murthy Vijay, the much-loved Kuchipudi dancer from Bangalore, was in the USA from the 2nd week of July to the 2nd week of August to conduct dance workshops. She conducted highly appreciated workshops, attended by children and dance teachers in Phoenix, Las Vegas, Washington and New Jersey. She taught them a few dance pieces, yoga and exercises.
She will be visiting the USA again in 2006 to do a Kuchipudi production for the Arathi School of Dance in Phoenix in commemoration of 25 years of the school. Also scheduled is a Kuchipudi production for Lakshmi Babu and Deepti Mukund in Washington, D.C.
Max Mueller Bhavan, Bangalore Moves!
On 17 November 2005, Goethe-Institute/Max Mueller Bhavan shifted to 716 CMH Road, Indiranagar 1st Stage, Bangalore 560038 Tel: +918025205305/06/07/08 Fax: 2520 5309 E-mail: info@bangalore.goethe.org Website: http://www.goethe.de/bangalore.
Bangalore Ratna Award
Artists Yashwanth Halibandi, Gururaj Hoskote, Shyamala G Bhave, Appagere, Thimmaraju, and Shashidhar Kote received the “Bangalore Ratna” award, presented at the Kannadotsava programme organised by the Kannada Abhivruddi Balaga at Nayana Auditorium, Bangalore.
Aditya Vikram Birla Kalashikar Puraskar for 2005
The 32-year-old Mumbai-based cultural organization Sangit Kala Kendra has selected Gangubai Hangal, noted Hindustani vocalist, for its prestigious award (instituted in 1995), in recognition of her lifetime achievement in the field of Hindustani music.
Celebrating the Mysore composers
Bangalore-based senior Carnatic vocalist M. S. Sheela is working on a thematic project, celebrating the glory of Mysore-based composers. Her project, titled Vaggeya-Vaibhava is meant to reach out to the students and rasikas of Carnatic music. The project is lead by S. Krishnamurthy, veteran musician and musicologist and also the grandson of well-known composer Mysore Vasudevacharya. Under the project, M.S. Sheela and her team select the kritis of a composer at a time and after research on the kritis, bring out an audio CD sung by a guru and sishya. A study circle, open to all who wish to learn the kritis, follows every CD release. The study circle is held as a week-long learning session and the students are given the notations of the kritis in the CD, both in Kannada and English.
For more info on this project, contact M. S. Sheela at 080-23325302
Noted Musician M. S. Subramanyam passes away
Vidwan M. S. Subramanyam, father and guru of well-known violin artist Vidwan M. S. Govindaswamy from Bangalore, passed away on 21 October 2005. Born in a family of musicians, Subramanyam learnt violin under Subbarayappa from Mysore. Beginning his career in All India Radio, Chennai, as a staff artiste, he served the organization for over 35 years. Chinthalapalli Ramachandra Rao, Titte Krishna Iyengar, Chokkamma and Satthur Subramanyam were some of the artists, he accompanied on his violin. He received the ‘Karnataka Kalashree’ award from Karnataka Sangeetha Nritya Academy in 1996.
Always in the news
Bangalore-based dance duo Nirupama and Rajendra, along with their team of six dancers toured North America from July to October 2005. They presented their latest dance production, Bhaav Raag Taal, which featured a blend of Kathak, Bharatanatyam and contemporary choreography. Lead by Nirupama and Rajendra, the ensemble featured dancers Umalakshmi, Mridula, SIndhu, Deepa, Sowmya and Punitha.
Winning great appreciation, as always, for their extraordinary performances, they performed in Dallas, Chicago, New Jersey, Columbus Indiana, New York, Arlington, Las Vegas, San Antonio, Phoenix, Tampa, Orlando, Raleigh and Boston.
ATTAKKACARJ presents FACETS 2006, an International Choreography Laboratory
Following the success of FACETS 2002 and 2004, Attakkalari is hosting the third residential international choreography laboratory, FACETS 2006, in partnership with ResCen (Middlesex University, UK), Springdance (Netherlands), Greenwich Dance Agency (UK), Woking Dance Festival (UK), Alliance Fracaise, French Embassy, Max Mueller Bhavan and the British Council.. Focusing on a multi-disciplinary approach to creating performance work, it will bring together some of the most innovative artists in the fields of movement and choreography, music, lighting and digital art from Europe, Asia and other parts of the world. The three-week residential course explores the international context of choreographing and presenting the body, working with different movement techniques as well as utilising existing and emerging technologies as a creative tool for artistic expression.
FACETS 2006 is led by Christopher Bannerman, Head of ResCen, Centre for Research into Creation in the Performing Arts at Middlesex University (UK), and co-ordinated by Jayachandran Palazhy, Artistic Director of the Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts (India).
To Apply
You can apply to FACETS 2006 either as a dancer or choreographer. Please send the application forms to: FACETS 2006, Greenwich Dance Agency, The Borough Hall, Royal Hill, London SE10 8RE, United Kingdom. For further information contact, Fleur Derbyshire on ++44 (0) 1702 477404 or facets2006@gmail.com, or Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts, 24-04 BTS Bus Depot Road (Behind Mandovi Motors), Wilson Garden, Bangalore – 560027, India, Tel: 0091 (0) 80 2212 3684, Fax: 0091 (0) 80 2212 3809, Email: attakkalari@vsnl.net; attakkalari@gmail.com Website: http://www.attakkalari.org
Album: Electric Modes
Album: Electric Modes, Artist: L Subramaniam Label: Music Today Electric Modes is a two-volume album of violin virtuoso Dr. L. Subramaniam. Vol. 1 has solo pieces without any percussive accompaniment. The artiste incorporates techniques from the Western classical genre, sometimes subtle, sometimes spectacular in tracks like Dance of Shiva, Passion, Contemplation, Ragam, Thanam, etc.
In Vol. II, the maestro revisits popular Carnatic ragas like Hamsadhwani, Hindolam, Abhogi, and lesser known ragas like Kapi, Revathi, and Hamsanadam. In the first five tracks, the artist presents a mellifluous alap, sans any accompaniment except a tanpura.
The last track is a kriti in Raga Kapi composed by the artist himself and set to eka tala. Beginning with alap, the artist joins beats of mridangam followed by ghatam. Both the percussionists provide an interesting interlude of jugalbandi culminating in a spontaneous crescendo of all the three artistes.
Mandala: The Circle of Life
The STEM Dance Kampni is in the process of premiering its latest work ‘Mandala: The Circle of Life’ in the second week of January, 2006.
Mandala, the circle, and theories connected to the circle, like the kalachakra (the circle of time), the shunya (zero), and the circle of life, are explored through a spectacular mosaic of striking movement forms, exciting audiovisual design, dramatic costume & jewellery design, and original music (recorded and performed live).
The narrative and visuals draw from sources like Vedic philosophy, Buddhist texts Tibetan Tantrik symbols, Western philosophy, and design ideologies and folk tales.
Email: stemdt@yahoo.com, stemdance@hotmail.com
Workshop on Dance
Natyasaraswathi is conducting a two-day workshop on 17 an 18 December 2005 in Kathak for beginners and professionals by Raghava Raj Bhatt and Mangala Bhatt, disciples of Guru Birju Maharaj and Guru Durgalal.
There will also be a workshop on Egyptian and Arabic dances by well-known exponent from Germany on 27 and 28 January 2006.
Contact Dr. Saraswathi, 23411171, 9880236374. Website: http://www.natyasaraswathi.com
Congratulations and Best Wishes!!
Drishti congratulates the Vishrutha Dance Institute run by Vasanthalakshmi on completing 25 years.
Rangapravesha
Drishti congratulates all those who did their Rangapravesha in the last few months. As they begin their dancing career, we wish them success in all their endeavours. Listed below are the debutants who sent us the invites:
- Aneesha Warrier, disciple of Chitra Vinod, Director of Chitra School of Performing Arts, 12 November 2005, A. D. A. Rangamandira.
- Rashmi Rajashekar, disciple of Lalitha Srinivasan, Director of Nupura, 22 October 2005, Ravindra Kalakshetra.
- Megha R Krishna and Mathangi Keshavan, disciples of Gayathri Keshavan, Director, Academy of Bharatanatyam, 9 October 2005, A. D. A. Rangamandira.
- Shruthi and Smriti, disciples of Praveen, 6 October 2005, Ravindra Kalakshetra.
- Nandana K, disciple of Sanjay Shantaram and Shama Sanjay, Directors, Shivapriya School of Dance, 15 September 2005, Ravindra Kalakshetra.
- Medhini Kumar, disciple of Prof. M. R. Krishnamurthy, Director Kalakshithi, 7 August 2005, Chowdiah Memorial Hall.
- Ranjani Murthy, disciple of B. Bhanumathi and Sheela Chandrashekar, 7 August 2005, Shivarathreeshwara Centre (J. S. S Auditorium).