IMPORTANT INFORMATION- SEEKING YOUR HELP -COOPERATION PLEASE. NAATYA KALAA CONFERENCE 2011 ( NKC-2011) FROM December 26TH TO 31st.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION- SEEKING YOUR HELP -COOPERATION PLEASE.
NAATYA KALAA CONFERENCE 2011 ( NKC-2011) FROM December  26TH TO 31st.

As you probably know by now this year's Naatya kala conference is dedicated to the memory of Naatyaachaarya Vazhuvoor Ramayya Pillai. We request all his direct disciples to participate and pay tribute to this legend. On the inaugural day (26th Dec) Smt. Sujatha Vijaya Raghavan will co-ordinate and  draw an exclusive "Ramyaa Pillai legacy" program between 10 am and 1 pm. So this is   to request all of you to contact Sujatha V ( 24342874  cell: 09840323813  email:  sujviji@gmail.com  ) and confirm your participation . Each person will be given 15 mts  either to speak on the Naatyaachaarya  and show any special feature of his teaching & technique. You can share with the audience any special nostalgic event with your revered Guru.
If you know any other prime students of him , please inform them or pass on this information to them. They can contact me or Sujatha Vijayaraghavan.
Your prompt action will be appreciated. Thank you.
With regrds from Shanta Dhananjayan ( Convener 31st NKC 2011)   Phone: 044 24911125  Email  nkc.skgs@gmail.com   copy to: bkalanjali@gmail.com

Dr. Padma subramaniam
Smt. Chitra Visweswaran
Smt. Kanaka Srinivasan
Smt. Radha
Smt Kamala
Smt. Vansanthi
Naatyaacharya Sri. Radhakrishnan
Smt, Radha Viswanathan

P.s since we do not have the contacts of some of the artistes this circular is  being circulated through our website / Sruti Magazine and Narthakionline

31st Naatya Kala Conference 2011: 26th to 31st December

SRI KRISHNA GANA SABHA

30^th Naatya Kala Conference

Maharajapuram Santhanam Road, T.Nagar, Chennai. 17

31^st Naatya Kala Conference 2011: 26^th to 31st December

DEDICATED TO THE  MEMORIES OF  TANJAVOOR VADIVELU(Bi-centenary )&  VAZHUVOOR RAMAYYA PILLAI ( Centenary)

I have been asked to convene the 30^th & 31^st Naatya Kala Conference usually  held in December along with Art festival season in Chennai. The 31^st NKC will be conducted between 26^th and 31^st December 2011.  This year also we are  focusing ,  on the Bhaarateeya Naatya Sampradaaya (classical Indian performing arts), which should throw more light and deeper insight into the Abhyaasa Sampradaaya (evolutionary developments in the last century) culminating in today’s repertoire and presentations.  So the theme title for this year’s NKC is ABHYAASA-SAMPRADAAYA. ( Known and less known traditions of performing arts.(Naatya). Having very successfully conducting the lecture-demonstrations of

Bharatanaatyam, Kathakali, Kuchipudi-Naatya, Oddissi-naatya and Kathak-naatya last year,  this year we hope to  have   the deliberations & demonstrations of Manipuri Naatya, Mohiniaattam, Koodiaattam, Chow Nartana of three distinct styles from Orissa & Bengal. Hope to make the lec-dems more  educative and practical oriented to enhance the quality of appreciation for these  art forms, This should benefit not only the general audience, students, connoisseurs but also the critics and writers on performing arts subjects to improve their general standard of understanding of classical performing arts.

Each day is going to be devoted to one particular style culminating with an open house discussion.  WE want to involve only established and specialized Naatya Institutions rather than individualistic representations.

Each day’s presentation will be guided by a great and living legend Achaarya in that particular form of Naatya. So that he or she could trace back the training system from few decades onwards to present day. 

Each day’s deliberations and presentations will be recorded (audio and video) for archival purposes.

 

A tentative schedule is drawn  (subject to dates alterations) as under:  (Every day 10 am to 12.30 with a 15 mts tea break) First half devoted to Training method & second half repertoire/performance:

26-12-2011  Yakshagana of Karnataka

27-12-2011  Koodiyaattam of Kerala

28-12-2011  Manipuri Nartana of Manipur

29-12-2011   Mohiniaattam of Kerala

30-12-2011   Chow Nartana of Orissa/West Bengal

31-12-2011  Centenarian Naatyaachaarya Vazhuvoor Ramayya Pillai – a special feature on Vazhvoor style of Bharatanaatyam. Living legends pay tribute to the great Achaarya.

For further details please contact me at this address:

Shanta Dhananjayan (Convener Naatya Kala Conference 2010-11)

6, Jeevaratnam Nagar, Adyar, Chennai. 600020

Phone: 044+24911125  Email: bkalanjali@gmail.com / nkc.skgs@gmail.com

Soliciting every one’s help and co-operation for making the 31^th Naatya Kala Conference yet another  great success and useful to the art enthusiasts around the globe.

Shanta Dhananjayan

Discussion on the Last Day

My students have been helping me to prepare for this Conference for most part of the year and the six days have gone by in a flash!And the year is over too!

It was a very important session today, where we looked at how those who fund the arts, whether as patrons or philanthropists or organisers, decide on which artiste is to be supported and promoted. Naturally, all the dancers had many stories to tell about their own frustrations and disappointment with the system. I feel that apart from all the hard work, an element of luck is also necessary and it is easy to get disheartened.

I have been very pleased with the enthusiastic response to this year's Natyakala Conference and am now looking forward to next year!

Wishing all of you a very Happy 2012,

Shantha

Response to the NKC

Here is a link describing what Sophia Wong took away from the conference.

http://silenceproject.org/2010/12/30/proficiency-vs-mastery/

Day Five Kathak

I am very pleased that the feedback so far has been enthusiastic. Yesterday the audience got to see five generations of sampradaaya. Today the audience was treated to the lecture demonstration by a full 20 member troupe! The musicians alone were ten and seated in a double row! It was done in a very professional way, and the disciples chosen were all of an excellent standard.

Jayant Kastuar, himself a Nrityachoodamani, spoke about the history of Kathak from its origins as a story-teller's art to its development as a performing art for the proscenium stage. It was interesting to hear him clarify many misunderstandings about Kathak.

I was very happy to see the way the two gharanas came together in harmony to present their best. We could see the small details that differentiate the two gharanas. In the Lucknow gharana, representing the lineage of Pandit Shambhu Maharaj, Jai Kishan Maharaj and Deepak Maharaj were enjoying themselves playing with the rhythmic sound of the bols and translating that into dance. Their students Gowri Diwakar and Quincy Kendall Charles were very very good. The Jaipur gharana representing the lineage of Kundal Lal Gangani, had Rajendra and Harish Gangani presenting their very strong and forceful pieces. Their students Swati Sinha and Dhirendra Tiwari were great examples of the continuing tradition.

Guru Jai Kishan Maharaj with Quincy Kendell Charles, Gowri Diwakar, Swati Sinha and Dhirendra Tiwari

And so on to the last day!

Please write in with your suggestions and comments for next year's NKC!

Shantha

Day Four reported in the Hindu Online

Day Four Kuchipudi

Undoubtedly, the star of today's show was the five year old Lakshmi Kameshwari, who is the grand daughter of Guru Vempati. She had no fear of the stage and just picked up the steps by watching. She insisted on wearing a long plait, I heard before the show, and when she danced the tarangam on a little plate suited to her size, she was clearly enjoying holding the plait the way the older dancers do!

Rathna Papa Kumar used a very innovative way to show the older adavu saamu before Vempati Garu expanded the basic ideas and created a whole method of teaching Kuchipudi. She asked Keshav Prasad, one of Vempati Sir's oldest students to show the audience the earlier version while simultaneously Srimayi performed the newer version, side  by side. It was a great way to showcase the abhyaasa sampradaya.

I was touched to see the devotion Vempati Garu's students have for him, the way they offered this lecture demonstration as a homage to his ideals of dance and the impact his teaching has had on them. Madhavapeddi Murthy and Mosalikanti Kishore are very senior students of Guru Garu who are keeping his flag flying.

The days seem to have flown by and tomorrow is the last dance demonstration, for their is a group discussion on the 31st. I was very happy with the audience response today, and hope it will be even better tommorrow.

Shantha

Report in the Hindu Online on Day Three

Day Three Kathakali

The session today had a great response from the audience who seemed to enjoy the demonstration. I think students got a good idea of the physically fitness required of a Kathakali dancer. It is always difficult while giving a lecture-demonstration to decide which basic details to skip, for fear of boring a knowledgeable audience. On the other hand, if one goes on to the finer details without covering the basic postures and foundation, there may be many in the audience who would not understand anything. While Sadanam Harikumaran did an excellent job of covering the various exercises of the body, especially for the eyes, in the chuzhippu demonstrated I would have liked to have seen some introduction to the underlying posture and introductory exercises.

As always the power of mudras to communicate broke the performer-audience barrier and the youngsters in the audience loved Harikumaran's depiction of two love-birds. Post tea-break the atmosphere became more informal and people asked their questions then and there, without waiting for the end.

Sadanam Balakrishnan's total involvement in the scene from Ravanodbhavam, where he depicted Kaikasi with baby Ravana, lovingly giving him a massage and admiring his moon-like face, was outstanding. The intensity of his sattvika abhinaya made for total theatre. It showed the beauty and power of bhava to take one to great heights.

I want to stress the importance of the percussion players in the Kathakali performance, a fine example of which we saw today. Sadanam Balakrishnan faced the audience and the musicians stood to one side behind him, unable to see the expressions on his face and yet, the rapport and fine understanding between them was to be heard and relished. I call them the speaking drums of Kathakali, the way they are able to convey and enhance the same emotion being enacted by the dancer.

Looking forward to tommorrow's session,

Shantha

The report on Day Two in the Hindu Online