Goodbye to Natyanjali 2013

Covering a festival over five days takes a lot out of you. More so when the 3G lines swing crazily and you have to bit your nails and grin and bear the frustration.

On Thursday evening, even as we wound up the last of the dance recitals carried on on stage - Pune's Shasikala Ravi and her dancers.

It has not been the best of festivals as far as attendance went - this is also a time for state and local exams at schools, so families tend to stay put at home. The attendance was not huge even on Sivaratri night.

Delays on four evenings did not do much good for the tightness that a festival must have.

As we left, the Bo Shambo song was ringing into the night.

Final Day; photos

Photos - top to bottom: Darshini Pattabhiraman, a student of guru Krishnakumari Narendran, Chennai; Bangalore based Lakshana Shravan, a disciple of Shubha Dhananjay; Shubha Dhananjay and her musicians on stage: Kathak dancers Leena Vij and Poonam Sethi, from Delhi; the musicians for the Kathak recital:  Krishnakumari Narendran and her musicians on stage: Odissi dancers of the Mayadhar Raut School, Delhi where guru Madhumita Raut teaches.

Buzz from Malaysia

Sudha Nair performed last evening. For this Malaysian dancer and dance teacher Chidambaram is familiar territory. 

Her daughter attends a undergrad course in dance at Annamalai University and Sudha flies in to be with her off and on. (Another daughter also learns Bharatanatyam).

And since her guru was an early sishya of the Dhananjayans, Sudha spends time in Chennai to meet friends.

Chennai and Chidambaram has many students who hail from Sudha's world. 

In Malaysia, Sudha says while the performing spaces have increased, one stream sticks to classical dance and performs because of the passion that drives them and the other, performs to entertain people and be invited to pop events.

Malaysia has also seen the sexual transformation of many male dancers. And some of  them are well known there.

A ragamalika that rasikas enjoyed . .

Stories hold an audience.
That is what Bangalore dancer Lakshana Shravan did on Thursday evening.
Her team, led by guru Shubha Dhananjay worked on a concept specially for the Natyanjali.
A ragamalika, a string of parts of songs, all in Tamil related to Lord Shiva and Chidambaram, of different composers.

With the complement of musicians including a rhythm pad musician, Lakshana essayed a story that most people in the audience would have related to.
Lakshana says that they worked on this piece for about six weeks and performed it also at the Big Temple in Thanjavur, two evenings ago.

Guru Shubha has been running a dance school for three decades in Basavarajeswar Nagar and this is the first time that her student has performed for the Natyanjali. "We don't apply for recitals," she said backstage, indicating that she was happy to have her students perform at places where they are invited to.

At Chidambaram she and her team received a very warm applause.

Photos on recitals; solo and group

Photos; Top to bottom: Dhivya Sivanesan from Sri Lanka; Sudha Nair Thamothiran from KL, Malaysia: dance students at Sastra University, Thanjavur; students of the Poonaiah Lalitha Kala Academy, Bangalore: the Dharshini School dancers from Chennai.

Big evening for local dance students

Day 5 and the last evening of the Natyanjali at Chidambaram.
It is also a day out for a few families of this town.

The opening recital of stage is by the students of a local guru. Teeny-weeny dance students on stage.
And families, friends in tow. They pack into the front of the yard, the women in the best Kanjeevarams.

This is a big evening for them. The hosts are always considerate, giving local dance schools the opportunity by turn.

And for the families of these kids, the recital is a big day in their lives. Some even have photographers in tow, to record the event.

One smart photographer grabs a little dancer and leads her to a place where broken images of this temple are kept and asks the girl to pose for him.

Once the recital is over, a big community leaves the venue. And others file in to take their place.

For this Iranian, dance is first love

Shima Mahdavi breezed in backstage on Tuesday night for her performance which was over an hour away.

But there were preparations to make.

It takes time for a Kathakali artiste to don the costume though the make-up can be done earlier.

Shima has been learning Kathakali for some years at an international Kathakali institute in Delhi.

She also learns Bharatanatyam in Chennai, from Kalakshetra's Haripadam.

She cannot perform in Iran where dancing in public is banned. But she can participate in theatre which is how she gets to perform what she learns as a Kathak and Bharatanatyam dancer in India.

"I alternate between the two forms in theatre shows," she says after her short recital here - though it was late, she should have been allowed at least 30 minutes what with the effort at preparing for a recital.

A DD staff recalls the 1970s Natyanjali

This will be the last Natyanjali that Doordarshan staffer Bhupalan from the DD Chennai Kendra.

He retires in a month after a long innings at DD during which among many key events, Bhupalan has been part of the teams which beamed out the annual saint Thyagaraja aradhana from Thiruvaiyaru in Thanjavur and the Natyanjali in Chidambaram.

Bhupalan says that when he first came here in 1975, the scene was different. A go-shala was located along the wall of the outer yard where the dance recitals take place now - and the TV crew had to work from a temporary shed that was erected for the Natyanjali next to the cow shed!

Wild bushes ran all around the yard and some would be cleared for people to sit and watch the recitals.

Also, the DD team, a small one would travel by a Mahindra van, carrying men and equipment.

Today, some 30 plus people made the DD team though the cameras are of vintage quality.