News

16-04-2018

Bhopal's non-resident Odiya community staged 'Utkal Samaj' on April first in a grand manner. The highlight of the event had been its high quality classical Odissi performances, to enjoy which thronged in great numbers to the capital's Ravindra Bhawan, the audience. It is striking that the audience that flooded in had not just been from the Odiya community but from outside of it as well. This was the eleventh edition of Utkal Samaj and it was carried out in collaboration with the department of culture, Madhya Pradesh. As far as the Odiya people of their mainland Odisha are concerned, Utkal Divas celebrations, part of which  had been this event, marked a politically s...

14-04-2018

A two day colloquium for Mohiniyattam artistes, students, pedagogues and admirers was held in the Meghdooth Theatreof New Delhi recently. This event envisioned Mohiniyattam's theatrical framework's exposition, beside its reflections on both the individual dancers' aesthetics and the art form's contemporary concerns. It is understood that the colloquium in New Delhi follows suit many symposiums held in the past at Kerala as well as elsewhere with the view of formulating a syllabi for the dance form encompassing the key characteristics of the field's eminent dancers' styles. It is worth noting here that many such efforts taken have invariably resulted in pandemoniu...

13-04-2018

The first show of the first day of 'Swan Lake' ballet of Royal Russian Ballet staged at Nazrul Mancha in Calcutta had the audience quite much wishing for an encore. Such had been the performance of forty five dancers artistically demonstrating a timeless piece regarding love. Kolkotha was the final destination of the Russian ballet artistes following succesful shows in Mumbai, New Delhi and Ahmedabad, on their ongoing performance tour in India invited by Navrasa Duende, the famous production house. The excitement was pretty obvious in the words of Swan Lake's artistic director and producer, Anatoliy Kazatskiy, who said that he was greatly happy to perform in India particu...

13-04-2018

The Long March festival of arts that concluded on the main campus of Kalady's Shree Shankaracharya University of Sanskrit this day, witnessed the main campus team racing ahead of others to the victor's podium with 226 points. The second and third places were secured by Koyilandi and Thirur campuses with 91 and 69 points respectively. Day three of the arts festival saw the conduction of stage events in the form of Mohiniyattam, Folk Dance, Bharathanatyam, Keralanatanam, Odissi, kathak, Kathakali and Ottamthullal, and off-stage events such as elocution, recitation and debate. In total, the event accounted for more than 82 items of competition, both stage events as well as off-s...

11-04-2018

On the last day of the last month, a special theatrical version of Shakespeare's Macbeth, delivered by master director, Rathan Thiyam at Abhinav Theatre in Jammu was nothing less than a stunning spectacle for the audience present there that evening. The highlight of Thiyam's presentation has been its unique design marked by a fresh eclectic theatrical manner. The Macbeth of Thiyam staged in Manipuri had drawn elements from Natyashasthra's classical discourses of dramaturgy, immensely stylised Noh theatre of japan and ancient Greek drama. Starting from the opening scene that portrays the witches as an extension of jungles' vegetal world, the measured movements of the a...

10-04-2018

Reports say that a team from the department of History at Seethalakshmy Ramaswamy College, have brought to light a rare dance panel arguably belonging to the Nayak period besides a pillar with insciptions on it suspecting to be of Chola period from a deserted brick mount at Kiliyur's Pathalapettai in Tiruchi. The team that brought the earstwhile monuments to light was led by M Nalini, head of the history department of Seethalakshmy Ramaswami College. Other persons included in the team have been K Balakrishnan, P Tamizhazhakan, M Murugeshan and K Tamizhselvan. The reports were made by R Kalaikkovan, director of Dr M Rajamanikkanar Centre for Historical Research. Dr Kalaikkovan sai...

10-04-2018

New York's Molloy College organised a Kathak dance performance on March 31, 2018. The key performers on the stage were Anisha Shah, Anmol Patel and Mansi Shah. A presentation of Theen Thal Kathak dance was debuted before a more than 650 strong audience at the Molloy College's The Madison Theatre. Honerable former deputy comptroller of New York's Nassau County, Dilip Chauhan was the chief guest for the programme that commenced with Ganesh Vandana. Later in the timeline of the event, he presented to the three dancers, New York State Senate Honour on behalf of the Senator of New York, Jose Peralta. Among the main protagonists of the show, Anmol started her Kathak training at...

07-04-2018

The fans of Mohiniyattam in and around the Pasadena city of California in the United States, along with many others that are simply admirers of any dance form, are absolutely in for a magnificent evening as popular Mohiniyattam danseuse Vijayalakshmi will perform at the Norton Simon Museum of the city today. Vijayalakshmi is an award winning dancer as well as one of the noted choreographers from South India. Born into a reputable family boasting of a lengthy lineage of traditional performing artistes, Vijayalakshmi had naturally taken to classical dance. Initiated into the world of dance at an early age, she was drawn towards Mohiniyattam gradually. It could be owing to the artistic ...