Concert tours of Artists from India

[tkb]

I am surprised to note that there has not been any reviews of the instrumental ensemble groups lead by Sri Tiruvaroor Vaidhyanathan & the other by Dr. Ghatam Karthick currently on concert tour in USA & Canada. In case any body happens to have been / to be there, do post your views.

[ShrutiLaya]

I'm quite surprised at this as well. Aside from the recent post about Sri.D.Seshachary's concert, nothing has been written about ongoing tours in the US. Shruti Laya had a dance performance by Shijith N Parvathy here in NY on Sunday, but I'm not competent to review dances (except to say that it was an extraordinary experience).

- Sreenadh

[Ramasubramanian M.K]

I agree with Sreenath --re: the Shijith-Parvathi Dance. There are not enough words to express . I am by no means a dance expert but the theme they had chosen namely Eswara in his various forms--the Bhagiratha/Ganga episode,the Ardhanareeswarar episodes --were all done so elegantly,and creatively. The music --the whole ensemble--the Vocal,Nattuvangam,the Violin, mridangam were OUTSTANDING . The whole program was crisp under two hours without the customary(and boring I might add!!) verbal and verbose exposition of the whole Siva Puranam!!!.

There were about 400 people in the audience--not enough to economically sustain a program of such calibre--Sruthilaya did an outstanding job mounting the performance in conjunction with the Hindu temple in Flushing NY.

WHAT I FOUND MOST GALLING WAS THE TOTAL APATHY ON THE PART OF DANCE TEACHERS IN THE NY(QUEENS/LONG ISLAND AREA) Except for one teacher, I did not find any other teacher or their students in the audience. I know many of the dance teachers have atleast 15 or 20 students(judging from the # of Arangetram invitations I have received over the years). These dance teachers and the parents of students mount lavish,gaudy arangetrams spending thousands of dollars on these events. Their indifference towards such wonderful performances is a slap in the face of the Art form and diligent organisations like SruthiLaya trying to promote dance and art in the NY suburbs.

At the end of the performance I was fuming at the lack of attendance of the teachers or their students. The next time I receive an invitation for Dance Arangetram, I am going to do an Anna Hazare routine in front of the Hall and extract an assurance that they and the students will attend Dance concerts held in this area !!

As one who has been involved over the last 4 decades in NYC, with Associations like Bharathi Society,East-West,CMANA, Tamil Sangam--sponsoring music/dance concerts, I am appalled at the apathy of affluent Indians in this area lately despite the fact there is a record of students/teachers for Music/Dance in this area--several times more than what we had 3 or 4 decades ago.
I know I am ranting at the wrong audience!!! But if there is one dance or music teacher reading this forum I hope they take it in the spirit with which it is offered . Institutions like Sruthi Laya go to tremendous lengths at great financial/personal sacrifices to arrange concerts, celebrate festivals(of the trinity and other composers). They encourage local talent and give an opportunity for the teachers to "showcase" their students and attract more students towards their teaching. AND YET IT IS SACRILEGIOUS THAT THESE SAME TEACHERS DO NOT EVEN PATRONISE CONCERTS ARRANGED BY SRUTHI LAYA., nor do they insist that their students and parents attend the concerts in case the teachers themselves are busy performing elsewhere.

I do not mean to excoriate the Teaching profession but one should not bite the hand that feeds !!!

[cmlover]

MKR
I have noticed that in cities with more than one dance school the teachers are working in competition and not cooperation! It is all almighty dollar!
The art is the victim

[vasanthakokilam]

I am with what MKR in what he wishes for. it is sad and it is a reflection on human nature. I think it is relatively rare that there is co-operation even in India, past and present. I think it is the essential nature of such organizations ( I sometimes see this in non-profit also ). I think all we can expect and demand is a healthy respect for each other among the competing organizations.

[arasi]

MKR,
'"PaDippadu rAmAyaNam, iDippadu perumAL kOil" is perhaps an extreme statement, but it conveys the idea. Their not practising what they preach...
In any given performance, you will hear at least a sentence from them about how the arts bring the community together (the truth), but competition among them may not be of the healthy kind. Monetary gains as a goal overtakes their own dedication to the arts and a marketplace mentality is the result. Goodwill among the schools and goodwill to be extended to visiting artistes, fades away. I'm sure there are exceptions.
The dance teachers earn more money than music teachers and there is more demand for them than for music teachers. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[rshankar]

MKR, you identify a serious issue.
My 2 cents:
1) As a foil, you just have to look at the attendance at sporting events, especially by kids who are playing these in school (even ones of Indian origin), which leads me to conclude that if there is interest, there will be attendance, and as a corollary, lack of attendance, probably implies a lack of interest.
2) The reason for this lack of interest I think is that fact that many of the students these days seem to be learning to dance as a 'status symbol' - there is no interest, no understanding of the history, absolutely no realization about some key differences between the various styles (in fact, I would not be surprised if the students have no clue about the style they are learning), and, no reverence, and hence the lack of interest in attending these programs. Heck, for the most part, they seem to be learning 'bhArat nATyam' or 'bharatnATyam'!
3) From my limited experience, there are some dancers who do get a great turnout, while others do not. This may have something to do how well-known they are. Rising dancers always have this issue.
4) In the programs sponsored by CMANA or IACRF in NJ, office bearers have contacted local dance teachers and asked them to sell tickets.
5) Finally, the situation here in the US is not very different from that in India, where even the popular dancers (RAMP, to use the acronym coined by Ms. Anita Ratnam on narthaki.com to describe the quartet of Smt. Rama Vaidyanathan, Smt. Alarmel Valli, Ms. Malavika Sarukkai, and Smt. Priya darshini Govind) seem to pour their hearts and souls out for a scanty audiences.

[tkb]

It is indeed a fact that the pattern of performing artisits, gurus attending regular concerts is a rare occurrence, there are few who make a point to do it as well! I sincerely agree with the impressions of @Ramasubramanian M.K, @arasi and @rshankar in many ways. I feel that parents in general - whether in India or abroad - should try to motivate their children in such a way that the art they learn becomes a hobby turning into passion which is the best way forward. I feel largely today's parents take this extra curricular education be it dance, music or sports more of time fillers for the children than actually making them learn and create interest in what they learn apart from their regular curriculum. Earlier days parents or grand parents did spend quality time with children but many of today's parents / grandparents spend quantity time but not of quality - interacting with the children. I mean this because both parents normally are working and or on 24 x 7 professions and it becomes difficult to concentrate on the children. Grand parents are kind of having more of a baby sitters jobs, than looking at the children as their grand children. I pray Almighty to have this resolved and bring in the necessary change in individuals to make our children more quality oriented! I sincerely do not want to hurt any one by this but is my honest opinion.

These are the first visuals i got from a rasika in USA for the heArtbeat Ensemble concert:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1OntAL0 ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yaf68f2K ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDkaJlNP ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBqODd1tmps

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYeh5cE9 ... re=related

rgds tkb

I will be happy if any one could post the other on going concerts links here as well.