“The unpredictability of what will happen is what makes something alive. It is not about trying to recreate aesthetics or trying to make what people expect you to be making.”
Read More"The Technical Standards of Dance Achieved in the UK Do Not Match Those of India"
Chennai is undoubtedly the motherland of bharatanatyam, a rich source of tradition, knowledge and technical expertise. Hosts to the most tightly curated bharatanatyam festivals in the world, Chennai is also a gatekeeper of tradition and thus becomes a benchmark for quality bharatanatyam. The UK in comparison has but a fledgling bharatanatyam industry, where practitioners focus on making work that can sit alongside that of mainstream dance choreographers and win over audiences that know nothing of their form.
Read MoreDefying Time and Space : Renjith and Neha
The relatively simple technical sequence that opened their performance was marked by very clean footwork, effortless leaps, and expert rhythmic control. But the show was about much more than technical proficiency, and after this first jathi, things quickly became more complicated and risky.
Read MoreModernising Metaphors: Rama Vaidyanathan
I’m inspired to write about the time that Rama Vaidyanathan staged a tense psychological drama that revealed the potential for the age-old metaphor of Radha and Krishna to be definitively modern and relevant.
Read More'Jwala' by Mythili Prakash : 10/11/2019
This theme of flame epitomised Mythili’s aesthetic, which is pleasurably familiar in its classicism but excitingly new in its sensibility.
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