Timeless, beautiful, expressive. Dance is all three, and much more. Classical dance in India is a language. With its ancient origins, it is a medium of communicating knowledge, expressing emotions and creating aesthetic pleasure. Kasturitilakam – conceived and choreographed by Guru Mythili Raghavan – explores each of these dimensions.Lord Krishna, playing his divine, melodious flute, has touched the hearts of millions. Stories of this beloved god find their way into languages, music and culture all over India. His naughty pranks as a child, his strength and bravery as a young man, his divine love for Radha and the other gopis, his accompaniment of the Pandavas during their exile, and ultimately, the Bhagvad Gita, the immortal treatise delivered to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra – these stories strike a chord in hearts everywhere.Guru Mythili Raghavan’s Kasturitilakam will … [Read more...]
Performing at Indore
The Academy of Indian Dances will be presenting Kasturitilakam - episodes from the life of Lord Krishna - everyone is welcome! Venue: IIM, Indore Date: 6th July, 2013 Time: 18:30 Credits: Choreography: Guru Mythili Raghavan Make-up: Shri Mohan and Smt Lakshmi Music compilation: Friends Studio, Pune Dancers: Ashwini Sashital, Charulatha Ramesha, Dhwani Lalai, Nisha Seshan, Pooja Shetty, Rashmi Shetty, Resham Abdagiri, Riddhi Joshi, Tejashree Natu, Suguna Nair and Varsha Seshan … [Read more...]
Performing in Renage
A very dear friend of my sister's organised a performance for us at a chapel in Renage. That was when we learned what effective publicity is.Michèle, who, I should mention, is in her seventies, did absolutely everything to make people come for our performance. She, helped by two friends, went (literally) from pillar to post putting up posters. She made signs to direct people to the chapel, and went and put them up on lamp-posts. When we drove towards the chapel, we saw our own faces everywhere. Every wall, every lamp-post, every pillar had a poster of our performance thanks to this formidable lady. She sat and folded the programmes for the performance - easily a hundred or more - insisting that she had nothing else to do, while we, the dancers, ought to rest. She went individually to each neighbour and convinced all her friends that they would not get the opportunity to watch a … [Read more...]
Arangetram!
Anushka Iyer and Riya Dash will be performing their Arangetram today!The Arangetram is the maiden performance of a dancer, during which she attempts to convey her understanding of her art form to a discerning audience in the presence of her guru.Venue: Tilak Smarak Mandir Date and time: 28th June 2013; 17:45 Credits Nattuvangam: Guru Smt Mythili Raghavan Vocal: Shri Sivaprasad Mridangam: Shri Shankar Narayanan Violin: Shri Bala Subhramanyan Make-up: Shri Mohan and Smt Lakshmi Comperes: Aishwerya Sudarshan, Nisha Seshan, Varsha Seshan … [Read more...]
Experiences on Stage – V
I remember one time when a friend and I were asked to perform at an inauguration ceremony. I was so proud of myself for having asked for all the details - stage dimensions, availability of a sound system, green rooms, mirrors ... There was a time when I took all of that for granted. Experience taught me to ask questions without caring if the questions sounded stupid and pointless.I had all the details well in time to start choreographing. Covering stage space is an important part of dance, so we worked things out accordingly.We got there and saw all the arrangements that had been made. There was a long table covered with a white table-cloth on the stage. There were glasses of water on the table and chairs behind the table.Again at the risk of sounding inane, I asked, "The table will be moved, right?""No, it's nailed to the stage."I wondered if he was joking. But no, … [Read more...]
Experiences on Stage IV
Every time my sister Nisha and I performed in France, we had far less time to practise than usual. The last two performances were easier - we practised long distance on Skype before meeting and practising. Before that, it was individual, separate efforts, followed by coordination once I reached France.I remember the time we performed at Aix-en-Provence. We practised, of course we did. But there's some amount of choreography that changes every time we perform. Even when we perform the same piece with another dancer, we do not perform it in exactly the same way. We keep the other performer in mind, if nothing else.For this particular performance, as a duet, there were several things that we did in a kind of mirror-formation. I did the right side, while she did the left. I never practised the left side; she never practised right.And then, somehow, we got disoriented on stage.We … [Read more...]
Experiences on Stage III
Performing in Chidambaram is an experience that any dancer would cherish. Mythologically, it is the place where Lord Shiva came and danced the Ananda Tandava, at the request of the sages. The golden temple of Chidambaram finds its way into many traditional songs, thanks to its splendour and history.When we danced there, one of the pieces we performed was, once again, the much-loved Draupadi Vastra Haran. As usual, I was Dusshasan; this time, my teacher was Shakuni. We were on stage, in the middle of the drama when the music suddenly skipped back. Dancers on stage must never show nervousness, we knew that. The problem was that we had no idea how far back the music had skipped.That's when the real drama began. Duryodhan turns to Dusshasan and asks in dance parlance, "Where are we? What part of the music is this?"Dusshasan calmly replies, "We have a lot of … [Read more...]
Getting into the mood
Before any performance, my dance teacher encourages us not to talk about anything unrelated to dance and the programme ahead of us. She asks us to be silent, thinking about what lies ahead of us, meditating in our own ways. In keeping with the idea, if ever we dance to recorded music, I try and play the music while we get ready. Make-up is a long and tedious process, and having the music in the background helps us settle into the mood of the performance. I also play the music in the car while getting to the venue, to avoid getting stressed about the traffic and the stares we get, dressed as we are in full costume.As usual, when a friend and I were to perform at Softbridge Solutions, Magarpatta City, we played the music during our long journey there. Entering the township, we were happily in the mood to perform together, having spoken of very little apart from the presentation and … [Read more...]
Performed today!
Nothing is the same without our teacher, but we did what we could anyway.The good news: We carried off Pinnal Kolattam well - no mistakes, thank God for that! Even with our teacher not there, no one's hair fell, nothing terribly embarrassing happened, thank God for that too! Changes were hurried, but were carried out as well as we could, each girl as independent as she could be.The strange news is that the interval was far longer than we planned, for the most bizarre reason ever - no one was able to draw open the curtain! What got us stressed was the fact that we were sure the audience thought we were taking ages to change, but that was not true! The button to operate the curtains didn't work, and we couldn't draw them open manually! For twenty minutes, people ran up and down, trying to figure out what to do, even calling up the person who installed the curtains. Finally, the … [Read more...]
Performing Tomorrow!
As part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations of St. Mira's College for Girls, the Academy of Indian Dances will be putting up a programme of Bharatanatyam and folk dances on Tuesday, the 22nd of January, 2013. We begin with a traditional Ganesh Vandana - an invocation to the elephant-headed god. After that, we travel from state to state, giving our audience glimpses of different folk dances, traditional costumes and cultures - West Bengal, Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Nagaland. As a tribute to St. Mira, in whose college we will be performing, we will also perform a Mira bhajan in the Bhagavatamela (dance drama) style.Performing in the absence of our guru is a challenge indeed, and we hope to do her credit!Programme: Ganesh Vandana Bengali folk dance Malayala kummi Marathi folk dance Kuratti kummi Pinnal Kolattam Mira bhajan Dandiya Garba Naga tribal … [Read more...]