Kuchipudiin Focus Young Pulse Bhaktikalalayam of Florida
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Pulseasian music and dance INSIDE KuchipudiIn Focus Young Pulse Bhaktikalalayam of Florida Education Dance Courses - Swapnasundari Roehampton Vilasani Natyam Reviews Sonia Sabri Dance Co, Asha and Shujaat Arushi Mudgal, Alam Khan, Naina Lagaike Arati Ankalikar-Tikekar, Dr. Jyotsna Srikanth, M.S. Subbulakshmi. KaliDaredeva C Summer 2011 - Issue 113 £7.50|$15|€9.50 Celebrating sound in print www.pulseconnects.com kadam connecting asian dance and music communities Ravi Shankar Celebrating his tenth decade Tue 21 Jun 8pm Barbican An evening of Ragas with a living legend of world music accompanied by Tanmoy Bose tabla Ravichandra Kulur flute Parimal Sadaphal sitar Tickets £25–£75 lso.co.uk/shankar 020 7638 8891 Promoted by London Symphony Orchestra Ltd Ravi Shankar appears by arrangement with Sulivan Sweetland Ltd London Symphony Orchestra LSO St Luke’s UBS Soundscapes: Eclectica The Singing Violin Thu 7 Jul 8pm Kala Ramnath incorporates jazz, flamenco and African music with Indian classical repertoire. Her performance features a new work by Max de Wardener and LSO players. Kala Ramnath violin Sanju Sahai tabla LSO Strings Tickets £8–£22 LSO St Luke’s, 161 Old Street lso.co.uk/eclectica 020 7638 8891 Tickets £8 £14 £22 LSO St Luke’s, 161 Old Street lso.co.uk/eclectica 020 7638 8891 Start your Pen! Activate your TalkingPEN with Issue 113 by touching the play symbol with your PEN Contents Upfront 2 Editorial and Letters 16 Naina Lagaike 3 News Ken Hunt catches up with Asha 4 Listings Bhosle, popular music’s living legend and Shujaat Khan, son of Features the late Vilayat Khan, in London following their concert of Naina Arunima Kumar 6 Kuchipudi in Focus Lagaike at the Royal Festival Hall. 6 takes kuchipudi forward in the UK. Isabel Putinja gives a comprehensive background of 18 Enhancing Dance Careers the form and the personalities Dr. Avanthi Meduri speaks most closely associated with about the dance courses on the development of kuchipudi offer at Roehampton Univesity as we know it today. and how academic study can give an edge to career-making. 10 Swapnasundari on Vilasani Natyam Reviews Dancer, scholar and researcher Swapnasundari took a break Dance Performances from her performance career 21 Kathakbox (Sonia Sabri) to delve into the legacy of Sutra (Arushi Mudgal) Kali Chandrasegaram the Telegu court and temple 12 inspired by vaudeville and cabaret dancers. She shares her insights CD Reviews with Isabel Putinja. 22 Carnatic Jazz (Dr. Jyotsna Srikanth) 12 A Profile of Kali Surdas Bhajans Chandrasegaram (M.S. Subbulakshmi) Donald Hutera traces the journey of this Music Performances multidimensional artist from 23 ‘A Tribute to Ustad Ali Akbar a dance class in Kuala Lumpur Khan’ (Alam Khan) to becoming one of the three Serene Morning Ragas ACE/Akademi choreographic (Arati Ankalikar-Tikekar) bursary awardees. 24 In Conversation Asha and Shujaat 15 Young Pulse The late teacher, scholar and in full flow 16 The Bhaktikalalayam dance dancer Pt. Tirth Azad gave an troupe from Florida have grown interview to Abhay Shankar up within the Hare Krishna Mishra in which he explains the Cover Photo - Arunima Kumar | Photo: Simon Richardson / Aunima’s dress: Vanashree Rao, community. They tell Jahnavi concept of a badakhadi. jewellery: Rajvi Vohra, Meenakshi Gupta Harrison what moves them to This Page - Photos: 1 - Arunima Kumar | Photo: Simon Richardson, keep up their practice. 2 - Kali Chandrasegaram | Photo: Simon Richardson, 3 - Asha Bhosle & Shujaat Khan | Photo: Janio Edwards of GDM. asian music and dance Published by Kadam Asian Dance and Music Annual subscription £30 with free delivery. c/o The Hat Factory, 65-67 Bute Street, Luton, LU1 2EY Pulse TalkingPEN is priced at £14 with free delivery. +44 (0) 1582 876 038 Cheques payable to Kadam, c/o The Hat Factory,65-67 Bute Street, Luton LU1 2EY. Editorial Team For online subscriptions and payments please visit Pulse Sanjeevini Dutta Commissioning Editor www.pulseconnects.com Summer 2011 * Issue no 113 S Ryan and J Harrison Assistants ISSN 1476-6019 Disclaimer Subscriptions & Advertising Pulse is published by Kadam Asian Dance and Music. No part Supported by [email protected] of the magazine may be reproduced in any form without the [email protected] written permission of the publisher. Copyright of the text is shared with its authors. Copyright of the photographs/ kadam connecting asian dance and music communities Contacts images reside with contributing photographers/artists. All [email protected] other rights reserved. The views/opinions expressed in Pulse Audio Content sponsored by are the authors’ and not necessarily those of the editor or Design publisher. While reasonable effort has been made to avoid Pritpal Ajimal Designer errors, no liability will be accepted for any that may have inadvertently occurred. SUMMER 2011 — PULSE 1 UPFRONT - LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Letter from the Editor Dear Reader We are very proud to present the kuchipudi style as the lead story in Pulse, for the first time. Among the styles of classical Indian dance, kuchipudi, originating in Andhra Pradesh, is overshadowed by its more powerful neighbour, bharatanatyam, centred around Tamil Nadu. Social and political forces have a play on art forms too, and the highly articulate Tamil community’s support of Dancers: Gian Luca Loddo, Kamala Devam, Kim Amundsen | Photo: Pete Schiazza Carnatic music and bharatanatyam dance has much to do with the domination of these forms. Akademi Premier Song of the City However, great artists cut through the politics and appeal straight to the heart. The late guru Kelucharan To mark the 150th anniversary of Tagore’s birth Akademi have Mahapatra, for instance, took odissi, a lesser-known brought together an eclectic artistic team in a production looking style, into an international arena, winning thousands at the poet’s work and philosophy through the eyes of twenty- of converts to the form. Similarly kuchipudi makes first-century Londoners. Bucolic Bengali landscapes from days a mark when performed by such greats as Yamini gone by are replaced by the grime, stone and metal of the inner Krishnamurthy and Swapnasundari. On our small city, in a narrative that sees three characters – executive, artist island, the recent entry of Arunima Kumar has made us and muse – disrupted from their daily routines by a journey of sit up and take notice of kuchipudi. discovery. “I have been inspired by Rabindranath Tagore for many We are hugely indebted to photographers Simon years, especially in terms of his innovation in writing. I wanted to Richardson and Avinash Pasricha, whose images are explore how his songs might be used in 2011, giving his work a new worth a thousand words. The classroom picture in perspective for contemporary audiences” – Mira Kaushik. the Kuchipudi village dance school tells more about Premiering in Southwark Playhouse’s Vaults on 5–6 August, the dynamic lines of kuchipudi than any written Song of the City has been created with the dark urban mystique of description. This is not to undermine the written word, the underground space in mind. Choreographer Ash Mukherjee but recognition of the knowledge that is stored in the brings together ballet, contemporary and bharatanatyam with a visual. ‘steampunk’ aesthetic enhanced by Arun Ghosh’s electro-beat Dancer and scholar Swapnasundari gives a score. With Tagore expert William Radice working in collaboration fascinating interview to Isabel Putinja on the release with film-maker William Huntley and dramaturge Deepan of her new book Vilasini Natyam: Bharatam of Telegu Sivaraman, Song of the City promises a sharp jolt to the senses in a Temple and Court Dancers. At the height of her multi-media exploration that brings Tagore’s themes of contrast and performance career Swapnasundari stepped out of the duality to the fore. limelight to learn with elderly temple dancers, piecing together a style which revealed itself to have a highly- developed vocabulary of 102 adavus (basic dance units). teachers have been presented Finding new contexts for classical Indian dance, Kali in an exhibition and DVD Chandrasegaram tells Donald Hutera that he is about to documenting the importance of embark on a cabaret circuit. In one sense Indian dance the arangetram to British-based has always had a dual face: sacred and sensual, danced at bharatanatyam dancers today. temple and court, to entertain the gods and mortals. So Listening to the voices of perhaps Kali is only being honest in presenting dance as the thirty-five interviewees in entertainment. If in London, come and experience it for the DVD, gurus, experienced yourself, at Battersea Barge on 10 August. performers and young dancers Our listings are burgeoning: seventy-eight unique alike emphasise the importance dance and music events. We are spoilt for choice. Enjoy of this milestone event and the the summer and throw the fizz of Indian music and reverence that surrounds it. dance into your menu! Through respect for their art British Arangetram form and teachers, the students Photo: Simon Richardson Sanjeevini express their dedication to what for some will become a career, Correction British Arangetram while others a pastime. Teachers Exhibition reflect upon the shifting meaning Pulse 111 published December 2010 contained an error in Dr. Jyoti of the arangetram and the risk Argade’s feature article, Carving a Corner for Contemporary Dance Marking the culmination of an of losing the integrity of the On page 7, in her discussion of the complexities involved in extensive heritage project, the experience through the pressure classifying Indian dance forms, in the sentence, “Though the categories British Arangetram Exhibition to produce a grand occasion. of classical, contemporary or postmodern dance in India are at best, was held at Luton’s Hat Factory However, the overall tone is useful in describing genre, and at worst, historical and arbitrary, Arts Centre in May.