would ferret out superb Indian dancers and musicians and present them in good halls before admiring audiences at least o
Dance in India Seraikella Chhau The Mask Dance
CONTENTS 06
20
Torch Bearers VAK
A Multifaceted Personality
30
Rays of Hope
The Thread of Continuity
Frozen in-Time
Reviews Legacy of Guru Deba Prasad Das
34
Proscenium Breaking Barriers: A Study of Tagore’s Dramas
Beyond Borders
Summer of Indian Dance in New York City
A Promising Debut
MS Subbulakshmi The Divine Image
14
38 46 62 58
Arangetram
Cover Story
In Sight
Reports
39
• Vishnu Digambar Festival • Yet Another Trip to the US • Gaya Thumri • Barrister Parvateesam • Chelenga Nrithyotsav - 2016 • Guru Vandana • A Kathak Symposium • Jathis Delhi • Pt. Vishwa • Yoga in Oddisi Mohan Bhatt • Krishnaveni • Jathis Aligarh • Nrityaantaranga • Smarananjali
Tributes
Cultural Bulletin
66 67 68 70
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Surabhi Bharadwaj
T
hroughout the month of August, this Metropolis has been swarming with dancers from India; their rhythmic beats brilliantly coloured silks and bewitching expressions and hand gestures adding a distinctive flavour to the always extensive menu of dance. Wide ranges of forms have been on view this summer - the most frequently seen, Bharatanatyam and Kathak, but also Odissi, Mayurbhanj Chhau and Indian-inflected contemporary.
Under my leadership, Battery Dance Company presented both The Jhaveri Sisters Manipuri Dancers and C.V. Chandrasekhar and his Bharatanatyam ensemble in New York and on national tours in 1993, Mallika Sarabhai's Janavak Folk Dance Ensemble in 1994, and a roster of great Indian ensembles and soloists every year afterwards. The most unique element of our presentations was undoubtedly the venues -- public parks where huge audiences were won over by Indian dance artistry.
It was not always this way. When I returned from a three-month stint in India as a Fulbright Lecturer in 1992, Indian dance was relegated to school halls in outlying suburbs. Rarely was Indian dance included in festivals or other prestigious settings.
Rajika Puri, an Odissi and contemporary dancer/ choreographer, actress and scholar, has had a major impact on the evolution of Indian dance in New
There were a few very important exceptions: Robert Browning, founder of the World Music Institute, would ferret out superb Indian dancers and musicians and present them in good halls before admiring audiences at least once a year. Rachel Cooper, head of performing arts at Asia Society, presented Malavika Sarukkai and a two-day conference on Indian dance, including local dancers, in 1994. Indrani Rehman, often with no institutional backing whatsoever, would present the likes of Ramli Ibrahim with a live orchestra. Since she was teaching at leading dance conservatories such as Juilliard and NYU, Indrani was also opening the minds of the next generation of Western dancers and choreographers to the wonders of Indian dance. Local expert performers such as Janaki Patrik and Ritha Devi presented their own works annually. Janaki's presentation of Kathak with live accompaniment and innovative collaborations such as Ka-Tap were revelations - a non-Indian artiste performing a virtuoso Indian dance form at a level that topped many in the subcontinent.
Avijit Das
York. She encouraged presenters and critics to pay attention to the dances and dancers of her home country and to give space on stages and reviews in a serious and consistent manner. She was one of the most important voices in persuading the Joyce Theater, City Center and Skirball Center to present Nrityagram, Shantala Shivalingappa and Aakash Odedra. Recently, she has championed Rama Vaidyanathan and the locally based Parul Shah, assisting these two exceptional performers in extending their reach exponentially. The ascendance of Alastair Macaulay to the position of chief dance critic of the New York Times has been an important factor in raising the profile of Indian dance in New York and beyond. It is obvious from the space and attention Sooraj Subramaniam he devotes and the poetic language he employs that he cherishes Indian dance at its best. The Times is the 'newspaper of record' and therefore, Alastair has elevated Indian dance to a much higher plane in the US than had been the case earlier. The creation of the Indo-American Arts Council and its subsequent launching of the Erasing Borders Festival of Indian Dance in 2009 gave New York City its first annual festival of Indian dance. Though the IAAC was my brainchild and I was a co-founder, Aroon Shivdasani has been its heartbeat and gathered a curatorial panel with Rajika and Uttara
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Coorlawala later joined by Preeti Vasudevan and Parul Shah as its expert members. The roster of artistes presented by the IAAC is veritable Who's Who in Indian dance. This summer, Erasing Borders has presented Rama Vaidyanathan, Sooraj Subramaniam, Avijit Das, Surabhi Bharadvaj, Carolina Prada, Sumeet Nagdev, Pandit Krishna Mohan Mishra as well as my own Battery Dance in The Durga Project with guest artist Unnath H.R. from Hassan, Karnataka. As I write this report, Navatman, under the leadership of Sridhar Shanmugham and Sahasra Sambamoorthi, is preparing for its fourth annual Drive East Festival in which a bounty of Bharatanatyam dancers will be on view including Rukmini Vijayakumar, Viraja Mandhre and Shyamjith Kiran, Ramya Ramnarayan, Sai Santhosh Radhakrishnan and Sanjay Doddamani; as well as Kuldeep Singh in Odissi, Sunanda Nair in Mohiniyattam and Parul Shah presenting the world premiere of choreography in contemporary Kathak. As Rachel Cooper points out, Indian dance is now being taken seriously as 'dance', not relegated to a sub-category of 'ethnic dance'. Many have played a role in this development and New Yorkers have come along willingly, as can be witnessed by the fact that the audience for the Battery Dance Festival Erasing Borders evening on India's Independence Day drew a crowd of over 2,000! We've come a long way, baby!
Battery Dance - The Durga Project with Unnath H.R
Carolina Prada
Sumeet Nagdev Dance Arts
