interesting links to watch

madhan · Post by **madhan** » 24 May 2010, 06:58

SU learnt from mangudi dorairaja iyer???? Thats news to me!

ksl · Post by **ksl** » 25 May 2010, 07:10

@ madhan: I think she didnt learn directly from him but she is his second generation student as her website says. She also learnt Kuchipudi, obviously!
Why is it such a news to you? Doesnt her Authentic Bharatanatyam convince you of her authentic melattur baani?

madhan · Post by **madhan** » 30 May 2010, 02:38

Ya she is probably a 2nd gen student.. I know her paani is melattur.. but the way you put it sounded as though she was a direct disciple of mangudi dorairaja iyer..! So was kinda surprised..!

ksl · Post by **ksl** » 04 Jun 2010, 09:59

I did say that and later realised shes a second gen student from her webpage..Sorry! My bad..

ksl · Post by **ksl** » 04 Jun 2010, 10:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R1rZZJtB4M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jrn8V3qk ... re=related
Sivasri....Very mature for her age..

madhan · Post by **madhan** » 06 Jun 2010, 01:43

There were more beautiful arangetram videos of sivasri doing nattuvangam, nandichol, etc.. Dont know why they were removed.. probably due to the ridiculous comments those were posted in the videos!

ksl · Post by **ksl** » 06 Jun 2010, 08:20

Oh! I would love seeing more of her!

did u say sivasri doing nattuvangam, at her arangetram???

madhan · Post by **madhan** » 06 Jun 2010, 09:04

Yes.. she did nattuvangam for the song govardhana giridhari.. Another disciple of roja akka danced.. she wud recite a jathi for the lines "natya rasodhgada naanaabharana" to describe krishna's dance.. i was kinda surprised to see her do tht..!

madhan · Post by **madhan** » 08 Jun 2010, 02:11

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwDdjKJ_HSg bharatanatyam is an east indian art..!!

i never knew..

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 08 Jun 2010, 02:23

madhan wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwDdjKJ_HSg bharatanatyam is an east indian art..!! i never knew..

Madhan - you are mistaken - it is NOT bharatanATyam, but bhArat nATyam that is an east-Indian art. Actually, IMO, bhArat nATyam should be a pan-Indian dance form.

ksl · Post by **ksl** » 08 Jun 2010, 02:27

As you can see in the uploader comments, what she meant is that it is India (from the east) and not the American Indian dance form...
wording is the last of the problems i have with this video..

ksrimech · Post by **ksrimech** » 08 Jun 2010, 04:51

pArkaDal alaimElE pAmbaNaiyin mElE..........

I thought excellent choreography! RShankar what say? I think I would have doubled loved it if they had used the MLV record

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsMwiwTB ... r_embedded#!

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 08 Jun 2010, 06:07

Krishna, it is Sri Sankar Kandasamy's choreography and one of the dancers is Madanagopal (whose arangETRam videos are awesome) - I think S-P posted it some time ago.

ksrimech · Post by **ksrimech** » 08 Jun 2010, 06:57

I'm sorry RShankar. & Shyama-Priya. I got excited.

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 08 Jun 2010, 07:30

No need to apologize, Krishna...The choreography is awesome and no one can be blamed for getting excited...

ksl · Post by **ksl** » 09 Jun 2010, 01:07

Shankar Kandasamy deserves his own thread...I absolutely love his ideas...his shankarabharanam is my favourite! its goes into like 4th speed and brims with detail...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb5RAyBivWo

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 09 Jun 2010, 02:25

ksl wrote:Shankar Kandasamy deserves his own thread...I absolutely love his ideas...his shankarabharanam is my favourite!

Could not agree more!

ksl · Post by **ksl** » 10 Jun 2010, 04:23

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nccR-kkh ... re=related
Aparna Sharma..

ardhanariswar · Post by **ardhanariswar** » 11 Jun 2010, 07:51

Awesome links!
Here are some vids that I like, hopefully you'll like em too.

Once dancer I can't get enough of is Vijna Vasudevan, a student of the Dhanajayans. She is absolutely poised, though her abhinaya in my opinion is a little superficial. But its ok, she's great. The aradhi after the first theermanam is pretty interesting as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu9VGvU02s0

This is Mesma, a local dancer in my area. She dances the Hindolam Thillana very beautifully, though I'm quite disappointed that she left out the Charanam

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaQ8_YK2OyA

If you guys like Odissi, I'm sure you've heard of Nrityagram!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huCwEHtJOUw

smala · Post by **smala** » 11 Jun 2010, 21:04

Found this interesting to watch, particularly last few minutes and pose formation at the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw1p5FAp ... eature=sub

smala · Post by **smala** » 11 Jun 2010, 21:10

ksl wrote:Shankar Kandasamy deserves his own thread...I absolutely love his ideas...his shankarabharanam is my favourite! its goes into like 4th speed and brims with detail...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb5RAyBivWo

It is time for recognition from TN and the Indian governments for his dedication and brilliance in promoting the Arts and outstanding creativity in choreography. He is like a breath of fresh air.

ardhanariswar · Post by **ardhanariswar** » 12 Jun 2010, 01:32

shyama-priya wrote:
It is time for recognition from TN and the Indian governments for his dedication and brilliance in promoting the Arts and outstanding creativity in choreography. He is like a breath of fresh air.

I think he's part of the faculty for the Temple of Fine Arts in Malaysia. Can they award NRIs?

ksl · Post by **ksl** » 12 Jun 2010, 05:09

@ ardhanariswar: Regarding Vijna Vasudevan, refer to post #47. I like her a lot.
Mesma is on talam and very stiff in her torso. A little more aramandi, feminity and a lot less stiffness will help her a lot.
I loved the Odissi group. Refreshing to see a masculine item from a odissi group. The bols and the rhythm seem a little folkish at times though.

ksl · Post by **ksl** » 12 Jun 2010, 05:13

@ Shyama Priya: Totally agree with need for recognition for him. But our cultural politics only allows for lame reviews like these for him:http://www.narthaki.com/info/rev09/rev693.html
I think that the system will eventually follow mass opinion at some point. As long as that happens, youtube is the place to post your peformances and let people decide how good are you. Does it matter if he doesn't get awards? All of us already love him

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 13 Jun 2010, 04:46

Two very nice versions of the same composition of Bhagavatulu Sri Sitarama Saram (isn't he Sri TMK's guru as well?):
The refined elegance of Ms. Malavika Sarukkai.
The masculine vigor of Sri Balagurunathan (husband of Smt. Gayatri Balagurunathan, and s-i-l of Smt. Krishnaveni Lakshmanan, former principle of Kalakshetra) - it is unfortunately truncated at 5 minutes.
I think it is a great opportunity to compare two very different dancers perform the same piece. While Sri Sitarama Sarma was at Kalakshetra, Sri Balagurunathan (who is a Kalakshetra alumnus) performs the nRtta portions in the Kalakshetra style (in particular, the taTTimeTTus and some tIramAna aDavus are glaring), while Ms. Sarukkai remains faithful to her tanjAvUr/vazhuvUr styles.

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 13 Jun 2010, 05:02

The beautiful Smt. Chitra Viswesvaran, to the accompaniment of the melodious (late) Sri Viswesvaran. An interesting tillAnA on dIpAvaLi.

ksl · Post by **ksl** » 13 Jun 2010, 08:03

@rshankar: The Balagurunathans video, is it a little audio-video mismatch...? Or is it just me? I feel like I am seeing without glasses when this happens

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 13 Jun 2010, 20:14

KSL - I saw this clip on (my personal) iMac and the audio-video congruence was alright for me. If you get a chance to see the 13th episode of 'When the Gods Dance' (produced and hosted by Gita and Lata - I think they are Dr. Padma's nieces), you will get to see this same piece in group choreography by the SIFAS (but I think it was before Sri Sankar Kandasamy's time). Lata and Gita called it mahAdEva tANDavam, describing the dance of Siva, but it is a description of how, when Siva dances with particular vigor, one bell from his anklet is detached and heads towards the earth like a meteor, striking terror into the hearts of the people, who go to Siva for succor - he stops dancing, and comes down to earth, and allows the bell to fall on himself - he absorbs most of the force in his matted locks - and the bell makes the sound 'tat' on impact - from the head, it strikes his shoulder making the sound 'dit', and his thigh making the sound 'tom' and falls harmlessly to the ground with the sound 'num' - and Sri Sarma says, these 4 sounds are the basis of the evolution of all other 'sollus' - 'samasta tALa SabdAnAm utpattau mUla kAraNam'.
All the episodes of 'When the Gods Dance' end with a piece composed by Dr. Krishnaswamy (Dr. Padma's brother, perhaps?) depicting mInAkshi and sundarESvara, danced by Smt. Gayatri and Sri Balagurunathan - I loved his dancing in that short sequence.

ksl · Post by **ksl** » 15 Jun 2010, 10:00

@rashankar
I saw Balaraghunathans clip on my personal mac and office PC. I am definite the audio lags the video by a good half or one akshara.
Anyways, the story was something I was not aware of. I knew of the Tat Dhi Tom Nam orignating from Shiva and being the basis of all Nadam. I didnt quite know how. Thanks. Now the sanskrit lyrics i hear makes a little more sense to my pea brain

I will try and look up When Gods dance DVD #13.
Imo Mr. Balaraghunathan has good angikam (plus the background hoardings boosted the performance at some points like at 2.05) but above average impact. Maybe a little more enthusiasm in eyes, a smile heavier bhavam and would help?
Ms. Sarukkai, what can i say? Stands most of the time and very low amplitude movements for a shiva piece. Her very feminine stances and choice of adavus are half the reason.

ksl · Post by **ksl** » 15 Jun 2010, 10:01

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GK7NAGw80Bc
She is the cutest varnam performer i have ever seen

Her eyes and smile have more enthusiasm than most mature dancers.

madhan · Post by **madhan** » 16 Jun 2010, 01:40

@ksl: achoo.. this gal is soo cute.. im sure her thala samaan alone weigh more than her body..!

There is this innocence in her dancing, which i loved..!

madhan · Post by **madhan** » 16 Jun 2010, 01:42

rshankar wrote:All the episodes of 'When the Gods Dance' end with a piece composed by Dr. Krishnaswamy (Dr. Padma's brother, perhaps?) depicting mInAkshi and sundarESvara, danced by Smt. Gayatri and Sri Balagurunathan - I loved his dancing in that short sequence.

I love that piece too..! It goes like "ambalam thanil.."! I caught him on facebook.. http://www.facebook.com/balagurunathan

ksl · Post by **ksl** » 19 Jun 2010, 02:55

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTYIw6YAaT4
Padma SUbramanyam on Chandrashekhara Swami...I think she literally cried at 5.34. No dancer can bring as much sattva as she does with her abhinyam.

ksl · Post by **ksl** » 19 Jun 2010, 04:43

http://www.ted.com/talks/mallika_sarabhai.html
very opininated..look at the number of comments..i guess mallika sarabhai has a very strong personality and is certainly not ignorable

ksl · Post by **ksl** » 24 Jun 2010, 21:04

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNef1AY1Hl0
guru Ratikant mohapatra- Bhaja Govindam...beautiful choreo

ardhanariswar · Post by **ardhanariswar** » 24 Jun 2010, 21:19

ksl wrote:http://www.ted.com/talks/mallika_sarabhai.html
very opininated..look at the number of comments..i guess mallika sarabhai has a very strong personality and is certainly not ignorable

Very interesting. I've always wondered if whether art should only be limited to only 'spiritual'/fantasy stories or if there was room to allow a depiction of reality.

ksl · Post by **ksl** » 25 Jun 2010, 04:32

@ardhanarishwar: Art is a broad term. Sure you can use cinema, folk dance, skits and folk music to reach the masses with your 'social message', which by the way already has less response than a vijay movie with senseless fights and heroism. But using classical art forms for such a cause would be like using diamond crusted spatula to make rice. Nice but not needed. Plus you can imagine how strongly can classical arts reach the masses if first they need to understand the mudras and decode the sahitya on rasika.org before they can concentrate on the message being delivered by it part. The procession idol and the mula devasthanam idol cant be the same, can they? Just like the Gods engraved outside on temple Gopurams to get people inside and Gods residing inside to give abhayam are carved with such different body languages. Cos they have different purposes.

ardhanariswar · Post by **ardhanariswar** » 25 Jun 2010, 09:32

Yeah I see what you mean. If the purpose of such content is to create a change by raising awareness, it would be missed on the typical audience that views classical dance.

ksl · Post by **ksl** » 26 Jun 2010, 10:49

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXbm7hhxPYo
several remarkable things abt this clip
a. Shobhana doing a old school bhiravi varnam
b. She elaborating on the controversial "bhoga tyagesha anubhogam va kitta"
I have never seen shobhana execute a proper margam in recent days. This user is a boon for clips of such rarity.

ksl · Post by **ksl** » 26 Jun 2010, 11:45

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWaJaVno ... re=related
Does anyone know if the guru is a student of Padma subramaniam? The Trikala Jathi is choreographed with what looks like supposedly karanas which the young dancer clearly is not in a stage to execute. But she does her thing and it was vute enough for me. Exp when she shows ganga, her hands cant bend

Plus what struck me was the videography. What the hell? Is this what videographers do nowadays. He must have had 3 cameras in 3 angles and some editing there to cut down every akshara of the teermanam like that. Looks very mani ratnam in bombay climax scene-ish.

ksl · Post by **ksl** » 28 Jun 2010, 10:59

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=7N ... large#t=59
does anyone know what song is this? I cant decide the language? Malayalam??
also is this dvajavanti?

madhan · Post by **madhan** » 28 Jun 2010, 11:29

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utY0l_Rl5cY This one was very well-choreographed and neatly executed..!

madhan · Post by **madhan** » 28 Jun 2010, 11:40

Sringa Nrityam - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vux_swBUTU8 reminds me of Bharatanrityam at places..!!

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 01 Jul 2010, 02:29

ksl wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=7N ... large#t=59
does anyone know what song is this? I cant decide the language? Malayalam??
also is this dvajavanti?

KSL - it is indeed maLayALam - taruni nyAn endu ceyyu in melodious dvijAvanti (a composition of maharAja svAti tirunAL)

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 01 Jul 2010, 02:53

Nice use of mallAri that is blended seamlessly with the next piece - any ides who the composer of 'Sankara Siva gangAdhara gaurI vara sukhsAgara' is?

ksl · Post by **ksl** » 02 Jul 2010, 06:57

@rshankar: Thanks for clarification.

aruNijnyAn (mp). rAgA: dvIjavanti. cApu tALA.

P: taruNijnyAn endu ceyyu hanta mAmakadayinennE marannO
A: sarasi jagattine vellum Ananam kANmadum sarasa vacanAmrtam kEbadumennujnyAn
C1: IvaNNam varumennayyO nidraiyil pOlum Edum ninaccavaLallE
I vasumatiyadil vAzhum mAninimAri lEvamO mama shirasi vidhi likhitam
2: mAntAr saharan shoriyum sAyakangalkku madhu mozhi sankhya illE
svAnadattiluLvAgum khEtamitayE matta sAmajagamanE njyAn ArODu collENDu
3: allalitakilavum shrI padmanAbhanODu anboDu cennucollE
allittAr shara samanAgiyoru kaNavan allAdArenik-kavalambam kOkilavANi

Can someone give me meaning of the above and the lyrics of the viruththam in the above post

ksl · Post by **ksl** » 02 Jul 2010, 06:57

post # 91?

ragam-talam · Post by **ragam-talam** » 02 Jul 2010, 16:08

ksl wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=7N ... large#t=59
does anyone know what song is this? I cant decide the language? Malayalam??
also is this dvajavanti?

The song is 'taruni njaan entu cheyvu', a composition of Swati Tirunal in Dwijavanti ragam, Misra chapu talam. The language of the padam is Malayalam.

ksl · Post by **ksl** » 02 Jul 2010, 22:51

@ragam-talam: I was looking forward to the meaning of the song. Thanks!

madhan · Post by **madhan** » 03 Jul 2010, 03:39

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZivcRc38so Ms.Leela Samson speaks on her journey as the Director of Kalakshetra and also about its opening up.. But for the "Bharath natyam" (and not Bharathanatyam) tag on this video, i would have landed on it long back..