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P08
Setting
standards
high
The first edition of the ‘Kalandhika National
Fest‘ featured a few of the prominent artists
from and around the state.
P03 P11
On love that Celebrating the
liberates real heroines
‘Kamala’ - a dance ballad inspired by Hermann The ‘Nayika’ dance festival by Shambhavi
Hesse’s ‘Siddhartha’; takes the side of the School of Dance, Bengaluru celebrated the
female protagonist of the play and addresses contributions of women in the field of Indian
the concerns of women in general. Classical Dance.
P12 P14
Novelty being Mellowing
the key the nine rasas
The dancers at ‘Abhinaya Festival’ came up ‘Navarasa Sadhana’ actor training program
with unique pieces that delighted the audience with G. Venu was a liberating experience, says
of Brisbane. Meera Sreenarayanan.
2019 MAY - JUN | VOL 01 | ISS 03
EDITORIAL | 02
C
PRATEEKSHA KASHI
During her Kuchipudi recital presented as part
hange is inevitable is a common adage that we use. And then there is the
of Kalandhika National Fest 2019. art discipline where the saying doesn’t seem to fit well. For the people
in the southern part of the country, the summer was harsh this time around,
CONTRIBUTORS
and the monsoon is not good as it used to be. The climate has changed, and
TEXTS
the temperatures are on an all-time rise. As the degrees climb, it becomes
MEERA SREENARAYANAN
PRATEEKSHA KASHI | PRIYANKA B. harder for the performers on stage to cope with the halogens, the cheapest
SREEKANTH J. KARTHA light source but which requires to be positioned closer and emit a lot of heat.
PHOTOS The mainstream solo dancers are often saved by the modern light arrange-
ANISH MENON | MAHALAKSHMI
NATANAKAIRALI ARCHIVES | PRIYANKA B.
ments that are placed at a distance and emit less heat. However, it is not
the case when it comes to art forms like Kathakali or Kutiyattam. Along with
EDITORIAL TEAM other stage arrangements, lights are something the organizers take the
CHIEF EDITOR artists for granted. The performers need to spend many hours on the stage
HAREESH N. NAMPOOTHIRI and they get out of juice earlier than usual. More than their performances
MEMBERS getting affected, it could have serious heath implications in the long run.
BIVIN LAL | MEERA SREENARAYANAN
NAVYA VINOD | SETHUNATH U.N. Midst the summer heat, the people of India also went through the election
SRUTHI MOHAN fever. We all, including the leaders of political parties, speak very highly
about our arts and cultural heritage. But seldom it becomes a topic of dis-
LEAD PHOTOGRAPHY cussion on the course of the general elections. Maybe there is a mention of it
HAREE FOTOGRAFIE
in the election manifestos of different political parties; however, it never gets
http://fb.me/haree.fotografie
to the public at large. Would there be a timely change in the way the cultural
DESIGN & LAYOUT
bodies work, whether there will be any new schemes for artists, will there be
NEWNMEDIA™
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new ventures for taking the arts forward - hardly heard about any of these in
the current election as well. Since the chances of sensationalism being far
less, media houses play down most of the issues related to arts and culture.
While the art scenario is stagnant, ‘Artograph’ is making a change in the
publishing timeline. The earlier issues of the magazine featured events from
the previous two months. Now onwards, the magazine will carry stories on
events from the current months aligning with the period of issue. What more
changes would you like to see in Artograph? Write to us in the feedback link
given at the end.
Have a good read! ●
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2019 MAY - JUN | VOL 01 | ISS 03
03 | FEATURED artograph
■ PRIYANKA B.
Setting
standards high
The first edition of the ‘Kalandhika
National Fest‘ brought together a few of
T he national festival of dance and music organized
by Kalandhika in the last week of May was noted
for the way it was conceptualized and realized. The
the prominent artists in and around the dance segment of the festival got to a start with the
state of Kerala. Bharatanatyam recital by Parshwanath S. Upadhye.
Parshwanath S. Upadhye
HAREESH N. NAMPOOTHIRI Parshwanath began his recital with ‘Thodayamanga-
lam’ - a dance-oriented piece with brisk movements,
which he performed in a poised manner. “Vanajaksha
ninne nammiti...”, the tanavarnam on Krishna
in raga Behag has been a part of Par-
shwanath’s recital for a while now.
Choreographed by Adithya P.V., it
brings together many instances
highlighting Krishna’s deeds,
draws parallels between them,
and adds moments of wittiness.
Parshwanath was flawless in the
presentation; moving from one
narrative to another, switching
between dance and abhinaya - it
was all well planned and executed.
The extra effort that he put in the
dance portions paid off well as they
received rounds of applause from the
audience.
“Baro Krishnayya...“, a devernama in raga Mand
by saint-poet Kanaka Dasa was the final piece.
Imagined as a devotee’s experience of meeting
Krishna, Parshwanath came good again in the
portrayal. While presenting the devotee confused
between dream and reality, Parshwanath left
enough clues for the spectators to make
their conclusions. Enhancing was the
dance elements added in-between
the abhinaya portions.
Parshwanath had Adithya P.V. in the
nattuvangam, Srikanth Gopalakrish-
nan in the vocal, Harsha Samaga on
the mridangam, Anirudh Bharadwaj
on the flute and Thrissur Muralee
Krishnan on the veena as accompa-
nying artists.
■ HAREE FOTOGRAFIE
Neena Prasad
Considering the very nature of Mohiniyattam
Celebrating
the real heroines
The ‘Nayika’ festival by Shambhavi School of Dance commemorates the
contributions of women in the field of Indian Classical Dance.
PRATEEKSHA KASHI
Following one’s passion has never Indian classical dance arena was Bengaluru. This edition was
been an easy road as it comes with never easy. ‘Nayika’ - the dance devoted to the three renowned
highs, lows, and bumps. For women festival, recognizes the women Bharatanatyam gurus of Karnataka
from yesteryear, bound by social who have contributed immensely - late guru Narmada, late guru
norms and taboos, making it into the to Indian classical dance. Being a Padmini Ramachandran and guru
signature festival on the calendar Radha Sridhar. One promising
of Shambhavi School of Dance for disciple of each, who has been ably
the past five years, it has got better sculpted by them, was invited to
every year. Apart from seminars share inspiring and lesser-known
and performances, another facts about their gurus and perform
highlight of the event is the their choreographies.
conferring of the Natya-
sastra Award upon Performers at best
legendary artists for their The performances got to a start with
tireless contribution to the recital of Aishwarya Nityananda,
the field of dance and a disciple of Radha Sridhar.
this year it went to guru Aishwarya chose to present a rare
Radha Sridhar. swarajathi varnam in raga Huseni
The sixth edition of and set to Rupaka tala, a composi-
‘Nayika’ was held on tion of Ponniah Pillai. The heroine
the 10th of March addresses King Prathap Simha and
2019 at Shambhavi questions him if it is right for a man
D a n c e of his stature to leave a woman
Theatre in whom he had promised to be with
all her life?
The clarity in technique and abhinaya
alike in Aishwarya’s performance was
commendable. The ease in which
she switched from one expression
to another, doing complete justice
to the text proved her ability
as a dedicated, well-trained,
and intense dancer. When
asked about her guru in the
interaction that followed,
Aishwarya mentioned
about her learning experi-
■ MAHALAKSHMI
Novelty
being the
key
The dancers at ‘Abhinaya Festival’ came
■ ANISH MENON
► FROM PAGE 11 simplicity, wit, and She then presented “Janani ninnuvi- imbibed the crispness and dyna-
generosity. She has naa...” in raga Reetigowla and Mishra mism from her guru.
trained several promising dancers, Chapu tala. Kirti opened her recital with ‘Natesha
one among them being Soundarya A rare padam “Ethanai sonnalum...” Kauthuvam’ - an ancient and tradi-
Igoor. As Soundarya spoke about in raga Saveri was the concluding tional hymn in praise of Lord Nataraja
her experience being a disciple of piece. In this, the mother consoles in raga Nattai and Adi tala. She then
Narmada, she remembered days the daughter and tries to convince moved on to present excerpts of
when she would call herself as the her to go back to her husband’s verses from the ‘Krishna Karnam-
‘Silver Jubilee Guru’ and choreo- house. Soundarya recollected how rutham’ in raga Hindolam. Kirti
graph a separate margam for every her guru had taught her this com- mentioned that one of the greatest
arengetram, depending on the position when she was as young as gifts she received from her guru was
ability and strength of the student. ten years and instilled confidence the ideas and approach to choreog-
Soundarya also spoke about the that she could manage to do it well. raphy. She spoke about the freedom
importance of being by the side of The dignity, grace, and maturity in that Padmini has given her students
a guru when he/she is in real need Soundarya’s performance capti- in the interpretation of abhinaya and
of the shishya; for time once passed vated the audience. trying variations in nritta. Kirti chose
can never be retraced. to incorporate these learnings in
Padmini Ramachandran is known
Soundarya’s complete submission for her dynamism and versatility. her ‘Krishna Karnamrutham’ chore-
to her guru was apparent as she The performance of Kirti Ramgopal ography, intelligently knitting them
opened with “Jaya janaki ramana...”, made it even more evident, who together in the varnam format. Kirti is
a piece from her rangapravesam. known to be a thinking dancer with
Soundarya Igoor (left) and Kirti Ramgopal during their Bharatanatyam recitals at the precision in her presentations, which
‘Nayika‘ festival organized by Shambhavi School of Dance. was evident all through her recital.
A multimedia presentation on
Padmini Ramachandran provided
for a befitting climax to the evening.
Thanks to Kirti Ramgopal for
screening this, where the audience
was left speechless on watching
the power-packed performance of
Padmini herself in her younger days.
Her beautiful persona coupled with
a burning passion for dance gave
goosebumps to the attendees. ●
Prateeksha Kashi is a
■ MAHALAKSHMI
Mellowing
the nine
rasas
‘Navarasa Sadhana’
actor training program
with G. Venu offered ■ NATANAKAIRALI ARCHIVES
by Natanakairali
has been a liberating
experience, says Meera
Sreenarayanan.
MEERA SREENARAYANAN
Meera Sreenarayanan along with actors Sandhya Mridul and Adil Hussain (top) and with
the mentor G. Venu (left) during the ‘Navarasa Sadhana‘ workshop in May 2017.
to learn and understand the nine Learning the practice sequence
emotions. of Navarasa with a framework
The first step was to associate each of specific gaits, postures, and
emotion with a situation and to expe- movements, associated with the way
rience it; everybody were required to we imagined each of the emotions
walk, run, jump, scream, cry, shout, was a worthy addition.
and express ourselves in many ways The mentor made us realize the
that we could. We all had some inhi- importance of the application of our
bition at first, in variable degrees, senses - sight, smell, taste, sound,
► On an emotional level, we are free of our inhibitions moment of emptiness, a blissful state, where nothing
and cleanses our mind. For instance, letting out the mattered anymore! All in all, ‘Navarasa Sadhana’ is a
anger as part of practicing the Raudra rasa helped to treasure for all and it is up to us how we make use of it,
realize that it will subside once we express it. All these whether it is in dance, acting or in life itself. ●
were like polishing our minds like a mirror, leading us to
Meera Sreenarayanan is an aspiring Bharata-
a spiritual state experiencing Santha rasa. We imagined natyam danseuse, who has been learning dance
ourselves looking at a mirror image and went through from her childhood under multiple gurus and now a
all the emotions we had before. Finally, we reached a disciple of Indira Kadambi. She is a graded artist in
Doordarshan and also a cine-actor.
artograph 2019 MAY - JUN | VOL 01 | ISS 03
GENERAL | 16
Readers’ Response Playlist
A great endeavour
Artograph, though nascent, has
gained an incredible image as an
authentic magazine promoting per-
forming arts and other art forms.
Also, the chief editor is an avid pho-
tographer, his recent solo exhibition
held at Kochi capturing the finest
action of the performing artists and Marathaka Manivarna - K.S. Resmi
being published on the magazine, 05:21 | 2019 Mar 19
proves the point that the proof of the “Marathaka manivarna...”, a bhajan portraying the
pudding is in eating... great endeavor. love and longing of a devotee searching for the
emerald hued Krishna. Vocals by K.S. Resmi and
Jayashankar Kenath choreography by Devaki Rajendran.
Art Writer (Palakkad) Watch it here: bit.ly/ag-marathaka
All the best
An e-magazine exclusively for arts is
a rare find. Every piece is well written
and when accompanied by good
quality pictures, the reader gets a Thanks a lot for the kind words
sense of events unfolding right in of encouragement. We hope to
front of the eyes. It will be good to continue the publication with
have a section on upcoming events support from everyone. Looking
so that art enthusiasts can save forward for suggestions for
improvement. Chaliye Kunjanamo - Renuka Arun
the date for important programs. 05:42 | 2019 Mar 29
Awaiting to see the printed version. Keep reading and keep sharing
“Chaliye kunjanamo...“, an evergreen composition
Great effort by the entire team and your feedback! Share your of Swathi Thirunal in Brindabani Sarang, sung by
best wishes team Artograph. comments using the online Renuka Arun.
form available in the following Watch it here: bit.ly/ag-chaliye
Unnikrishnan link: bit.ly/ag_response
Art Enthusiast (T’puram)
striking her head with the sword. Devotees from far and near par-
Temple, Kodungalloor. She is at the height of spiritual fervor after
Nrithyathi by Sakhyam
16:59 | 2019 Jun 26
Event highlights of ‘Nrithyathi’ - Mohiniyattam
group performance presented by Sakhyam,
an Austin, USA based collaborative of dancers
Ecstasy