Community dining at Chidambaram

The Trustees who run the Natyanjali at Chidambaram have a nice way of hosting artistes and their families, workers and aides when it comes to dining.

Breakfast, lunch and tiffin late in the evening is served at a local wedding hall, with a team of cooks working through the day.

The food may be simple but it is fresh and good, with chappatis, curries and onions and green chillies served to artistes from the north who prefer this to idlis or lemon rice!

The Trustees seek donations in cash and kind to help fund the hospitality and despite hiccups and hurdles, the dining hall is open for five days and is always a warm place to go to.

Big names at Kumbakonam fest

Each Natyanjali fest now tries to show off a bit with its line-up of artistes.
Guess this is a small massage for the men and women who manage these festivals.

Off and on, featuring film star - artistes is on top of the minds of some hosts.

This year, the Kumbakonam Natyanjali which has local Congressman G R Moopanar at the helm of the Trust here features Priyadarshini Govind, Shobana, Swarnamalya and others packed into the Sivaratri evening-night recitals on March 10.

One only wishes that this team gave more attention to the aesthetics of the festival environment - a well lit yard of the temple where the dancers perform would create a dramatic effect at the majestic Adi Kumbeshwar Temple.

Are you shooting pictures of Natyanjali?

If you are shooting pictures of recitals at the Natyanjali dance festivals and posting them online, you are welcome to share the web links with KutcheriBuzz.

It will allow us to post the links on this blog and let more people to enjoy the visuals.
Captioned pictures will enhance the value and posting them quickly after a recital generates much interest.

Mail your links to - kutcheribuzz@gmail.com

Links of video clips are also welcome!

Kalakshetra, Shobana, Meenakshi Chittaranjan to perform; Sivaratri special at Big Temple

The Sivaratri evening, the opening evening for the Natyanjali dance fest at Thanjavur's Big Temple has a high profile line up of performances.

These include recitals by a group from Kalakshetra, Chennai, actor-dancer Shobana and her Kalarpana academy students, excerpts from a production by guru Anitha Guha by her Chennai-based students, one by guru Meenakshi Chittaranjan and her students of Kaladiskha in Chennai, Swarnamalya and her students from Chennai and Padmini Radhakrishnan and her students from Mumbai besides other groups.

The recitals will start on March 10 at about 6 pm and go on till 3 a.m. the next day ( Monday, March 11).

Concerts are held inside the Big Temple and are open to all.

Hotels to check out in Thanjavur, Chidambaram

If you plan to be at the Natyanjali fests make sure you book a hotel room now.
Most places are on the pilgrim circuit map and getting a room - especially on weekends and at festival time ) is not all that easy.

Thanjavur has a variety of hotels - Hotel Gnanam near the city bus stad is good but booked most times. Oriental looks tired and dull. A great place in Abi's Inn on the Pudukkottai Road, near the Auxilium School. Built in the apartments style, it has a/c and non a/c rooms starting at Rs.1000/ Rs.1200 for a single person with free breakfast offered.

Chidambaram has limited offers. The Arudra Hotel ( 04144-221930 ) is just outside the eastern gopuram and a quiet, well maintained place which has now been renovated, adding more rooms - we like this place. 

Hotel Akshaya ( 04144-220191) is closeby - 5 minutes from the temple.  Hotel Sharadaram ( 04144 221336 ) is the popular destination and is close to the bus stand and rail station.

Sheela and Shobha; sisters present Kuchipudi at Chidambaram

Chennai-based dancer and teacher Sheela Unnikrishnan has been enjoying her days in the sun with her large productions featuring children. 
And she is a regular on the Natyanjali dance fest circuit. This year, she plays a different role at Chidambaram.

Her email note below explains her recital -

This year my sister Shobha Korambil and I are presenting a Kuchipudi duet in Chidambaram Natyanjali  on 11/03/2013.  

We are performing together at the very stage in the temple where we danced 20 years ago. This is my first Kuchipudi performance under the guidance of guru Kishore Mosalikanti after 20 years. Since 1993, after I started concentrating in developing my school, Sridevi Nrithyalaya, I have not performed much. 

We are performing a piece choreographed by Kishore Mosalikanti.

Cultural high in Thanjavur

The organisers of the Brhanatyanjali at Thanjavur will be juggling two festivals. This is because they have their hands in many cultural pies!

South Zone Cultural Centre (SZCC) which is based in Thanjavur and is responsible for the promotion of the performing arts in the smaller cities and towns in south India, with funding by the central government is celebrating its silver jubilee.

Its sprawling campus in Thanjavur will host a five day festival from March 6 to 10 featuring over 600 artistes from across India. Tamil Nadu Governor Dr Rosaiah is scheduled to launch the jubilee mela.

The Brhanatyanjali team lends a hand to the SZCC events and hence will be busy at the SZCC campus even as it prepares for the dance fest inside the Big Temple.

Sishyas of guru Sudharani Raghupathy to present 'Karuthandavar'

Here is a short list of the performances on Day 1 of the Natyanjali at Chidambaram.

Kavita Ramu from Chennai and Deepika Reddy's sishya Mihira Paduri from Hyderabad perform 8.30 pm onwards.

Rukmini Vijayakumar from Bangalore follows.

Chennai based Nandini Ramani is presenting a dance production titled ' Siva Ananda Yogam' featuring senior dancers Revathi Ramachandran, Parvathi Ravi Ghantasala, Sreelatha Vinod and Sushama Ranganathan. 10.15 pm onwards.

Odissi dancer Ranjana Gauhar from Delhi and Bharatanatyam dancer Padmini Krishnamurthi from Muscat are listed for  the late night recitals.

The sishyas of guru Sudharani Raghupathy present  'Karuthandavar' at about midnight on Day One.
The concerts continue till about 4 a.m. on Monday.