As I sit and pen my 4th media release for this passionate global dance project, I cannot believe we have achieved 4 years and hopefully counting. The challenges of dreams to bring international artists to perform in my country Malaysia with the exorbitant production costs, immigration, red tape and going through people’s land mines and minefields has opened up a different beauty and opportunity I celebrate exploring avenues in film direction and creativity, connectivity amongst more creative fields, collaborations with worldwide talents with similar visions and audiences of kindred spirits ..read more

Kolkata based Piyal Bhattacharya is the recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi award for his unique and outstanding contribution in the field of classical dance and Sanskrit theatre. After extensive research, Piyal has introduced Marga Natya based on the Natyashastra that explores the music and dance attributes of Geetam, Sangeetam, Vadyam, Nrityam and Natyam with the underlying philosophy of reaching out to the supreme, through the interaction of jivatma with paramatma. After formal training in Kathakali, being inspired by Dr Padma Subrahmanyam, Piyal studie ..read more

I have often wondered what prevented Kerala, the south-west tip of the Indian sub-continent, from embracing the oceanic grandeur and profundity of the classical Karnatic music till the dawn of the 20th century. King Swathy Thirunal and his court musicians definitely did have an influence in Thiruvananthapuram and in its immediate precincts in the 19th century when it comes to Karnatic music. The untimely demise of Swathy sounded the death knell of Karnatic music too in the capital city of the erstwhile Travancore. This was but an ephemeral state of affairs. Read more in the site Please provid ..read more

"TO A MAN WHO ONLY HAS A HAMMER EVERYTHING HE ENCOUNTERSLOOKS LIKE A NAIL" - American psychologist Abraham Maslow Hmmm- sums up how harsh and shrill the tone has been amongst some cultural and social circles. Sitting in Chennai where the temperatures are rising every second, there is much to talk about - and the two main events in the dance and music world DID NOT reflect much positivity. MOST of the action was OFF STAGE... and social media was the battle ground for much of the tussle of words, egos, ideologies and theories. What am I talking about? I will get to that But first... the good ..read more

Mohiniyattam, like other theatrical arts of Kerala, has been dramatic, but the real-life drama that unfolded in the past few days has catapulted Mohiniyattam to the segment of main/ hard news from being perhaps a byte in the arts and culture segment. Mohiniyattam became the hotbed of controversy with the instance of a faculty from Kerala Kalamandalam making derogatory comments on the gender and skin colour of an established male artiste, teacher, and scholar, Dr R LV Ramakrishnan and the whole community of Mohiniyattam dancers standing up for him on the social media. Numerous opinions and sup ..read more

It is heartening to see a surfeit of professional productions in the Naatya arena attracting a huge mixed audience being entertained with a fairly good standard of dancing. Over the years some of the Bharatanaatyam schools have been competing with each other excelling in their presentation quality using technological developments both in stagecraft and audio support. The senior and junior naatya acharyas and self-styled choreographers strive hard to train their students to maintain a good dancing technique with precision, synchronisation in group dancing, uniformity in costuming though some la ..read more

Performing arts entrepreneurship is not a new invention. It can reasonably be presumed that performing artists have always been entrepreneurial. It is indubitably admirable that art thinkers and educators have started to ponder this subject seriously for years. Nevertheless, it was only a few years ago that the subject was made as Master's program at university level around the globe. It is essentially focusing on cultural and performing art entrepreneurship today. Different modern art incubators and performing art institutions can play a key role in fostering this entire idea.  Read more ..read more

Rama Vaidyanathan, that dynamic all in one - dancer, teacher, choreographer, organiser, mother and mentor - has worked very, very hard to sustain a career in dance with family responsibilities, running a school, career and more. Today, Rama Vaidyanathan has also left a mark as the best Natya Kala Conference host with most outreach, acclaim and applause. Her students are now a legion, spread all over the world. Rama today ranks as numero uno in her generation of Bharatanatyam artistes. So, when in the Swarna Saroja year - marked to peg 50 years is her saas-guru creation the Ganesa Natyalaya ..read more

Traditional Manipuri dance Guru Sagolshem Kirti Singh expired on 6th March 2024 at his residence. Guru Sagolshem Kirti Singh, son of S. Kesho Singh, resident of Uripok Takhellambam Leikai, Imphal West, Manipur, was born on 1st March 1956. He received training in Manipuri dance from local gurus from early stage of life and formal training in three year certificate course JNMDA - 1970 and completed Diploma in Manipuri dance JNMDA-1973. Read more in the site Please provide your name / email id along with your comment. Anonymous and derogatory comments will be removed. Pl provide your name and ..read more

FROM NARENDRA SHARMA ARCHIVES From time immemorial, Music and Dance have an intimate relationship - one lives on the other in performing arts. In the 20th century, composers and choreographers shared a tenuous relationship in stimulating fresh trends in dance-making - both in the East and the West.  This post looks into a particular thread of music-making which evolved on Indian sub-continent, within the expansive 'nationalist/post-colonial' discourse, based on Indian instruments, voice culture, 'swara' of 'raga', intricate 'tala' system, and deeply embedded within the ethos of indige ..read more