Winner of this year's "Spirit of Youth" :

lakshmi87 · Post by **lakshmi87** » 30 Oct 2009, 10:38

A record 60 days of political deliberations (no, they didn't have the dancers' videos to watch) at the Music Academy are over: <edited by mod> PRITHVIJA BALAGOPAL, a post-graduate from Kalakshetra, the WINNER!

The judges' notes and marks were discarded, as usual.

Mod note: Lakshmi, we have edited out the names while keeping the spirit of your message. Unsubstantiated allegations and speculations of favoritism by named individuals is not a good idea.

lakshmi87 · Post by **lakshmi87** » 30 Oct 2009, 23:41

lakshmi87 wrote:Unsubstantiated allegations and speculations of favoritism by named individuals is not a good idea.

And this is why you don't want people to know the facts, such as whose daughter Prithvija is?

And who the Music Academy's Executive Committee members?

Are they your friends/relatives?

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 31 Oct 2009, 01:13

I am certain that none of the moderators on this forum are related to the winner or to the members of the MMA Executive committee. But it is probably responsible for any poster to make sure that their information can be corroborated. If the information can be corroborated, by all measn feel free to discuss it. If it can't, I think we should let it be the fodder for tabloids.

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 31 Oct 2009, 01:17

Thanks Ravi.

>Are they your friends/relatives?

lakshmi87, that is quite immature. This kind of open confrontation of the moderators is not in general tolerated. We will let it go this time.

sathirdance · Post by **sathirdance** » 31 Oct 2009, 08:34

I don't think anyone was anxiously waiting all those long 60 days for the winner of the Spirit of Youth festival to be announced. Having won the Spirit of Youth festival is not going to do much for you anyway. The festival hasnÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t got much spirit. The organizers donÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t seem to care much nor do some of the teachers, musicians and dancers.

Yes the Chennai dance scene is all about politics, we all know that. ItÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s not really about art; it is about who you know and what you can "offer"

santosham · Post by **santosham** » 31 Oct 2009, 22:56

sathirdance wrote:Having won the Spirit of Youth festival is not going to do much for you anyway.

I heard this year the cash prize is really very generous.

sathirdance wrote:Most rasikas who do come leave after the varnam trikala jathi or before.

Is that because the dance part starts at 7.30 pm, or is it because varnams are generally tedious?

sathirdance · Post by **sathirdance** » 31 Oct 2009, 23:35

You heard? But you're not sure? What might be "really very generous" to you might be small change to someone else. And dancing to win a " really very generous" prize....

7.30PM is early enough. The lyrics of varnams are hardly ever tedious.

sudharani · Post by **sudharani** » 02 Nov 2009, 07:35

sathirdance wrote: And yes the judges donÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t seem to care

Which one you mean?
As far as I know, one judge was of Kalakshetra, Prithvija's teacher when she was doing her post graduate there.
Who was the other?

ash · Post by **ash** » 05 Nov 2009, 09:08

Pappu Venugopala Rao gave this "reason":
"The judgement was ready within a day, but we were trying to enhance the prize money because we now have some new endowments, hence the delay".

When asked, "May I know who exactly were the people who knew the judgment within a day? ", he wrote, "I am not the Secretary In Charge of Spirit of Youth...you have a long way to go and this attitude is of no help".

And he preferred not to reply to the next question, "Could you please tell me who was the person in charge of Spirit of Youth?"
I guess it's a Top Secret!

Hmmmm... "we were trying to enhance the prize money".... Who is "we"?