Tag Archives: Sangam Arts

URMILA VUDALI: A Work in Progress, Bharatanatyam Concert

Congratulations to Urmila Vudali for her remarkable performance, August 6, at the Cubberley Theater, Palo Alto. Her presentation of classical Bharatanatyam items was exquisite. Her footwork was especially admirable for clarity, quickness, and complete coordination with the orchestral and vocal accompaniment. Traditionally, the Bharatanatyam performer travels through specific types of dance in a prescribed order. The first half of Ms Vudali’s presentation followed that form beginning with the Pushpanjali, then the Varnam, and the Maiyya Mori. Pushpanjali offers flowers and asks the blessing of her lord, her guru and the audience. Her Pushpanjali ended with verses praising Saraswati, goddess of learning and music. The bright opening excited the onlooker to wonder if the artist’s first movements were so light and brilliant what more could come. The Varnam is the longest piece. This one included sketches of stories from epic tales of Indian liturgy and myth. It was challenging work for the dancer to represent both monsters and heroes while maintaining her own strength and grace. Devotion to Vishnu connects all the stories. The dancer needs to imagine herself in these characters in addition to enacting the movements that are supposed to represent the characters. Ms Vudali revealed she has that something extra that a classical dancer needs beyond technique. Draupadi is a princess in the Mahabharata. Her story is complex, but I have seen one particular drama represented in Bharatanatyam and Odissi dances. Draupadi is to be a prize bet on by her family’s enemies. The winner’s henchman is set to unwrap her sari. Draupadi pleads with him to stop and prays to Krishna, an avatar of Vishu, to rescue her. A miracle occurs: the man is able to unfurl the sari, but the folds of fabric will not stop piling up while Draupadi herself stays properly attired. While Ms Vudali performed, this audience member felt the terror and then the relief of Draupadi. What a triumph for a young artist to be able to transmit the heart of the story to the deeply engaged onlooker. It was no longer just a dance. Closing the first half, the Maiyya Mori, choreographed by Lavanya Ananth, is the popular story of Krishna as a child who has butter on his face but still tells his mother has not taken any butter. The interplay between the playful child and loving mother–both represented by Ms Vudali–was lighthearted and touching.

The program was titled A Work in Progress. It suggests the artist is still striving toward perfection with the guidance of her guru and the support of her loving family. It also tells us about this exciting time in Urmila Vudali’s life as, at fourteen years old, she is becoming herself. We are all works in progress in that respect. An artist selects and must have the training to be able to select. We all make choices that shape our lives every day. Congratulations to Sangam Arts and its President, Usha Srinivasan, for producing another program which honors an ancient tradition in the arts while also introducing the audience to the art of another culture. Ms Vudali’s guru, Navia Natarajan, is a greatly respected artist and teacher who divides her time between India and the Bay Area. She choreographed the Pushpanjali and Varnam as well as the dance, Baya’at Al-Ward (The Flower Seller), a charming piece set to an Arabic song about a girl selling flowers. It was accompanied by Lee Dynes, Oud, and Hannah Doughri, vocalist. In another cross cultural exploration, Ms Vudali was joined in two duets by Akhil Srinivasan Joondeph. Odissi is another classical dance form of India with movement styles different than Bharatanatyam. Odissi’s shapes are softer; the dancer’s body has a difficult posture to maintain following three sideways curves. It was very interesting to see the sharper, more percussive Bharatanatyam next to the Odissi which was so well represented by Mr. Srinivasan Joondeph. Having a duet of a male and female dancer gave dimension to the representations in Srita Kamala, the first duet, for example, of Vishu and his consort Lakshmi. The original choreography was by the great Odissi master, Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. It was adapted as a duet by Niharika Mohanty, who is a premier disciple of Guru Kelucharan. The dancer appears as Vishnu fighting a giant snake and as Rama killing Ravana, a demon. Their second duet was the Thillana, the traditional closing dance. The dance celebrates lord Padmanabha, music and dance. Its Bharatanayam choreography was by Lavanya Ananth, and the Odissi by Niharika Mohanty. It was a pleasing visual harmony.

Mridangam

The dances were accompanied by musicians from India: Srikanth Gopalakrishnan (vocal), B.P. Haribabu (mridangam), Kiran Athreya (violin), Mohan Raj Jayaraman (flute). Navia Natarajan played the nattuvangam and introduced each dance. The presence of the fine orchestra elevated our experience of the dancing.

What a thrill to watch a young artist bringing her fresh energy to classical dance. Just as when you look at a young person you may see resemblances to her parents in her appearance, gestures, the way she speaks, to look at an emerging artist one may see the guru who brought her to this point, but also the guru’s own teachers and the teachers of the teachers’ teachers. As the dancer moves you will see her, the single artist, but the movement will let loose the shimmering, nearly transparent, dancing selves who are there in her present movements. When she makes one step, the Earth will move a little with the force of so many generations of artists stepping in her step and through her. It is the DNA of Dance itself.

Classical Indian dance contains the life of a whole and diverse culture. It is the wisdom of guru Navia Natarajan to set the Bharatanatyam dance with Odissi, another dance tradition, and to another culture’s music. We all can learn from each other’s stories. We may even see our shared humanity in our universal, human longing to hear one more story before we go to bed.

Photo of Urmila Vudali by Prabhakar Subrahmanyam, courtesy of Sangam Arts

For a Hedgehog Highlights article on the August 27, 2014 concert MOTHER & CHILD, with Urmila Vudali and Usha Srinivasan please see http://www.livelyfoundation.org/wordpress/?s=usha+srinivasan

Conference of Birds at the Mexican Heritage Theater, 9/9-911

An exciting dance theater event opens this Friday, September 9, at the Mexican Heritage Theater, and runs for four performances through the weekend. It is a grand program drawing on the skills of ten different dance traditions to tell its story. The cast includes fifteen actors and thirty dancers.The performance is presented by Sangam Arts and EnActe. Its artistic director, Antara Bhardwaj, has been at work on the project for nearly two years. The mission of the producers and directors is to promote multicultural understanding through the arts.

The story is based on the work of 12th century Persian poet, Farid ud-Din Attar. It is about the quest of humanity for understanding of the world and god and humanity’s place in relationship to it. Playwrights Jean Claude Carriere and Peter Brook first adapted it to the modern stage. The production team for this event includes Production Head Usha Srinivasan, Director Vinita Belani, Dance & Music Director Antara Bhardwaj, Composer Randy Armstrong.

Dance styles include Ballet, Bharatanatyam, Aztec, Afro-Brazilian, Chinese, Folklorico, Hula, Persian, Kathak, Odissi, Belly Dance.

Tickets are available now. Visit facebook/sangamartsorg and enacte.org/production/the-conference-of-the-birds Performances are Friday afternoon, Sept. 9 for schools; Friday evening at 8 p.m.; Saturday matinee at 2 p.m. & evening at 8 p.m.; Sunday matinee at 4 p.m. This promises to be an extraordinary theater event.

EnActe Photos: Antara Bhardwaj dancing Kathak, Folklorico dancers

Antara Bhardwaj: Tale of a Kathaka in Mountain View

Kathak dancer, Antara Bhardwaj, presented by Sangam Arts and EnActe Arts, performed Tale of a Kathaka, an exciting program, July 9, 2016, at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts. She demonstrated her mastery of the classical Indian dance with its origins in Northern India, and her ability to captivate an audience with her interpretations of the tradition. The enthusiastic audience found much to applaud and also much to think about. Ms Bhardwaj’s program included collaborations with other artists. It is her special focus to work with artists of other traditions. The first dance on Tale of a Kathaka combined Andrea Sendek’s Belly Dance group, Khepri Dance Company, with Kathak dancers from Ms Bhardwaj’s new group, Antara Asthaayi Dance. The contrast of the Khepri dancers’ silky, translucent costumes with the Kathak dancers in jewel tone costumes added visual pleasure to the dancing. The two dance forms share movement themes of spiraling, vivid turning. Named Deewani Mastani and based on a character from a popular Bollywood film, Bajirao Mastani, the dance was an exuberant beginning.

Ms Bhardwaj wisely chose outstanding musicians to accompany her work and perform selections of their own. The Sarangi-Sarod Jugalbandi, a duet for Sarangi artist Pankaj Mishara and Sarod artist Ben Kunin, was fascinating in its own right and also a great program choice between dances. A sitar solo by Rajib Karmakar was an excellent addition to the program. It was a treat to be in the audience for Salar Nader, renowned Tabla artist, as well. Vocalists included Vaishali Bhardwaj, Leah Brown, and Divya Chandran.
Among Ms Bhardwaj’s strengths as a performer is her comfort addressing her audience verbally or through dance. She deepened appreciation for her work by explaining aspects of Kathak. For example, she demonstrated the counts of the complex rhythms. On a more personal level, she talked about falling in love with the movie dances she saw as a youngster and her determination to dance in “twirly skirts.” She communicates her understanding of her art and a confident presence which could light up all of Silicon Valley. One selection, Journey of the Steam Engine, had special resonance for this viewer. It was a signature piece of Pandit Chitresh Das, Ms Bhardwaj’s guru, and had been created by his guru, Pandit Ram Narayan Mishra. As she told its story and danced, I remembered my first meeting with Chitresh Das and could see him in that moment. His energy seemed to expand the stage. Ms Bhardwaj is Dance & Music director of The Conference of the Birds, which appears Sept. 9-11, at the Mexican Heritage Plaza, San Jose. A production combining diverse ethnic dance groups, it promises an extraordinary event.

Indian Dance: Timeless Traditions at Triton Museum, Santa Clara, California

Sangam Arts and the Cultural Commission of the City of Santa Clara are presenting a program of five types of classical Indian dance at the Triton Museum, 1505 Warburton, 7:30 p.m., January 8, 2016. This is a wonderful opportunity to see the beauty and variety of Indian cultures as embodied in the dances. If you have seen or studied Kathak, for example, here is your opportunity to enjoy Kuchipudi. Already know about Bharatanatyam? Come watch Manipuri! Admission is FREE to see outstanding exponents of these powerful and beautiful dances. The artists and their arts are Antara Bhardwaj, Kathak; Chandreyee Mukherjee, Manipuri; Guru Shradha, Odissi; Madhuri Kishore School, Kuchipudi; Navia Dance Academy, Bharatanatyam. Contact timelesstraditions.eventbrite.com to reserve your tickets. These tickets will go quickly; reserve soon. Congratulations to Sangam Arts for organizing this production. It is a great introduction to Indian classical dances and also an opportunity for those who study or perform one of the art forms to expand their appreciation of other forms.

Navia Natarajan: Bharatanatyam Takes the Stage

It was a pleasure to see Tradition and Transcendence, the Bharatanatyam concert presented by Sangam Arts, June 22, Palo Alto. The featured artist, Navia Natarajan has so much to offer the dance form in which she excels. A classical Indian dance concert of the Bharatanatyam style follows a certain program form which allows dance followers to compare achievements in rhythm, expression, and grace. Ms Natarajan departed a bit from the usual format by inviting young dancers from four classical Indian styles to open the concert.** All of these were “pure dance,” “Nrittanjali,” which in this case means that the focus was on rhythm and the execution of treasured movements rather than on the telling of a story. The traditional opening number, the Pushpanjali, was performed by Kuchipudi exponents being trained by their Guru Madhuri Kishore; next was Nritta, performed by the Kathak students of Guru Sayali Goswami; Jatiswaram, a Bharatanatyam selection was performed by students whose Guru is Ms Natarajan; the Megh Pallavi was an Odissi selection danced by the students of Guru Ratikant Mohapatra. The closing piece was Euphoria, including all four dance styles. The choreography was by Gurus Niharika Mohanty, Madhuri Kishore, Sayali Goswami, Navia Natarajan. This was a happy way to see that Indian cultural riches are carried into new generations and secure in new homes in California. Congratulations to the Gurus and Sangam Arts for this inventive presentation.

The heart of a Bharatanatyam performance is in the Varnam, a long dance which tells a story, usually a devotional story. Ms Natarajan selected Swami Naan Undhan Adimai. It shows a young girl who grows into a woman whose passion is for Lord Shiva. She seeks to be united with him. While the narrative is touching and related beautifully by Ms Natarajan’s movement and expression, the lasting impression for this viewer was the way she opened up her movement to take on the stage space. With its ancient origins in temple sculptures, classical Indian dance traditionally could be done effectively and beautifully in a small space. In Western classical dances, one is taught that movement through space is the dance more than the pose of even a perfectly balanced arabesque. Navia Natarajan seems to have challenged herself to open up the traditional movement. She has all the qualities of an excellent Bharatanatyam dancer, and she also jumps. Jumping across the stage; now that is something different.The transcendence in her program’s title is the goal of the dance performance. The dancer’s performance should relate to the mind and heart of the onlooker who will be lifted up out of time and space through the dance. It is a big goal, but why not go for transcendence? Dancing is not an idle pass time. All this work is about something. In the audience, this Hedgehog heard impressed onlookers comment on Ms Natarajan’s great energy. Yes, and it is energy with a direction. The transcendence here was also about literally transcending the stage. She is working toward choreographic innovations. Her Amarushataka was an expressive piece set to 7th century poet Amaru’s lyrical work on the mutability of love. The closing work, Agni, reflected three aspects of fire. It matched nritta, pure dance, with profound expression and abstraction with personal feelings. There is tension between Navia Natarajan’s movement exploration and fidelity to classical forms. The tension served to produce drama and passion; all of which drives the dance into the heart, which is exactly where she wants it to go.

**Dancers in the Opening Act – Nrittanjali, Pushpanjali(Kuchipudi), Sravya Cherukuri, Anusha Mannava; Nritta(Kathak), Preet Bhatt, Arshia Gupta, Anupreet Parmer, Anika Bhatnagar, Tanya Goel; Jatiswaram (Bharatanatyam), Divya Shridar, Meera Suresh, Urmila Vudali; Megh Pallavi (Odissi), Akhil Joondeph, Maya Lochana Devalcheruvu;

Pictures: Navia Natarajan