youtuberasika - Tumblr blog

[youtuberasika]

March Men | Akshay Ayre Gutsy dancing with live fire!

[youtuberasika]

March Men | Avijit Kundu

[youtuberasika]

March Men | Suhail Bhan Thillana in Thodi ragam. Unusual but interesting choreography by Justin McCarthy.

[youtuberasika]

March Men | Adithya PV

Excerpts from a performance.

[youtuberasika]

March Men | Jayakrishnan Ambadi

[youtuberasika]

March Men

For the month of March, I’m starting a new series of posts dedicated to the boys! Men are a minority in this artform, and as a male (aspiring) dancer myself, I love to see more men taking up Bharatanatyam. Stay tuned for more!

[youtuberasika]

Students and dancers of Kalakshetra performing a simple margam at the Theosophical Society in Adyar.

[youtuberasika]

I am in awe! I love that soft/feminine movements were emphasized and the repetition of some movements really allowed the dancers to get into a certain… groove I guess. This piece really highlights the subtle repetitive movements in Odissi. The group choreography is great too! I especially like the portion from 2:26 onward. The dancers themselves are very well coordinated and the choreographer made a smart decision of putting the tallest dancer at the center to keep the balance. And the music is just wonderful to listen to as well. New fav video right here. Would love to see it from the beginning. 

[youtuberasika]

Also when people mispronounce and say "ArangeTHram." It's a hard /t/.

I have heard this one before but it never really registered until recently when I went with V to a #Bharatanatyam #arangetram event. Here, in #SiliconValley #SFBayArea #NorCal #California #USA : India is called “Bharat” in most Indian languages. “Natyam” is dance in #Sanskrit and many Indian languages. So you see, when people refer to it as “Bharat Natyam” it is easy to (mis)understand it as THE dance of India. : However, it is but one classical #dance form of #India, with its provenance in the current Indian state of #TamilNadu. : Arriving at the point of my opening statement, what I am referring to are the elements of “Bharata” in “Bharatanatyam”: : Bha, as in Bhavam or emotive expression that invokes a mood ~ Ra, as in Ragam or a symphonic scale of musical notes ~ Ta, as in Talam or a rhythmic passage of beats : Which makes “Bharatanatyam” the dance that conforms to some combination of the above three. “Arangetram” is a #Tamil word, again formed from component words: “arangam” (or, stage) + “etram”. Meaning a rite of passage on stage for the performer. : It is quite common for people from the north of the four southern, peninsular states of India to pronounce this dance form as “Bharat Natyam” instead of “Bharatanatyam”. My 2c is that in doing so they inadvertently make this THE dance of India. To which, someone from say a Tamil Nadu is unlikely to raise an objection or issue a correction 😄

[youtuberasika]

Where can I get the music of Devi by priyadarsini govind. And can I use it for my performance as in on a public platform or does it have rights reserved.

It’s not commercially available as far as I know. You can just rip it off YouTube if you really want to though. But I would highly advise against it. Most rasikas are huge fans of her unique music choices and choreography, and can easily spot an imitation right away. I don’t think she’s teaching this item like she is with her Shanmughapriya Kathuvam. Do what you like though, the Natya police will not arrest you! I would suggest that you find commercially available music and do your own awesome choreography, people will be more impressed!

[youtuberasika]

I don’t understand the jathi in the beginning.  It almost seems repetitive and the sollukattu is really boring and would be really difficult for the layman to appreciate.  I only here a bunch of “thakita thoms” and “dhi kita thoms” lol its way too bland.  The kavadichindu at the end is quite entertaining though.  She is amazing with lokadharmi.  

[youtuberasika]

Theruvil Varano by Arushi Mudgal, filmed at Kalakshetra. Lovely shots and beautiful dancing, but the piano music was a little out of place. There's something uniquely Indian and traditional about Kalakshetra, but the carnatic fusion music completely removes one from it.

[youtuberasika]

D-Day by Madhana Raghavan

Dear BN&WWW readers,

We are pleased to publish this post by Shri. Madhana Raghavan on how dancers prep themselves on the D-day of their performance. We hope you find this post interesting and we would like to hear your thoughts on how you prep before any performance.

Read more….

PS: This article has been selected as the “Pick of the Month” by www.narthaki.com. Congrats Madhana Raghavan!

[youtuberasika]

I want to add that we need to understand the politics and atmosphere of colonial India, which was on the verge of Independence. The oppression of Devadasis began long before Rukmini Devi came into the picture. To completely blame Rukmini Devi misses the mark and ignores what else was happening at the time. What about Muthulakshmi Reddy, the anti-Devadasi actvisit who hailed from that same community? She directly disenfranchised devadasis by helping pass the law to bar them from working in the Temples. On the other hand, Rukmini Devi employed many artists from that community during the early days of Kalakshetra, from Mylapore Gowri Ammal to K. N. Dhandayuthapani Pillai, many of their compositions preserved in the Kalakshetra repertoire today. I think this post in general is correct about how the upper caste appropriated and disenfranchised the Devadasis, but a lot of it had to do with India's desire to be more appealing to the West and become "civilized" to join the modern era. The broader background of the Indian Independence movement made it a priority to uplift the lower castes by erasing their identity (for example, Gandhi promoting the upper-caste vegetarian diet on Harijans who traditionally eat meat and beef).

I have an journal article that I’ll get to you guys later, but I’ve seen several versions of the Rukmini Devi Arundale post going around and it’s been bugging me. 

The devadasis that helped originate Bharatnatyam and were its original practitioners were lower-caste women. They were discriminated against in many ways and Bharatnatyam was seen as low, vulgar art form that should be restricted to temples. The dance masters who often did the music/choreography were lower caste men. 

When we say that Rukimini Devi and her peers made Bharatnatyam popular and helped it flourish, let’s be clear that they did so through appropriation. They took something that they had no part in forming/creating and made it “classy” by virtue of being upper caste women. It was a massive exercise of caste privilege. 

As Bharatnatyam moved from temples to public halls, the devadasis were made obsolete. Many devadasis made a commitment to the job not only out of religious feeling, but because it was a way to support themselves in a society where many other avenues were not available to them due to caste discrimination. Now they were out of work. Similarly, the dance masters were driven out of work when these new upper-caste dancers challenged their authority and knowledge. 

Those of us who love and appreciate and perform Bharatnatyam today certainly owe a lot to Rukmini Devi and her peers, but it’s also time to acknowledge all the men and women that she violently stepped on in the process of bringing Bharatnatyam to a wider audience. 

[youtuberasika]

Padma Subrahmanyam in Karana Prakaranam.

[youtuberasika]

I did! Thanks Raghu, I tried. Stay tuned for more gifs!

Moments from Louis Malle’s Phantom India (1969)

[youtuberasika]

Moments from Louis Malle’s Phantom India (1969)