DANCE TROUPE

 The mission of our college ‘Blooming Humanity through Arts’ is disseminated by our institution through the program ‘Dance troupe’ globally for the past 39 years. It started on 27.12.1978 with the classical and folk dances of India and also dance dramas. The 1000th troupe programme was done on 13.01.2002 in the presence of the former Tamilnadu Chief-minister Dr.M.Kalaignar. It is also of great pride to say that soon the dance troupe will be performing its 3000thprogramme.  KalaiKaviri performs dances not only to and thala but also performs dances with important didactic themes to reach the audience. Dances are performed with the following themes: Spirituality, Humanity, Social development, Moral values, Awareness, Religious morals and Patriotism. The troupe performs mainly in rural and remote areas to create awareness among the public.  Irrespective of religion, caste and creed talented students from different backgrounds are selected, trained professionally for the troupe dances. This helps in the growth of the student’s individuality and also showcases their talent. The syllabus and dance items which students learn in their class are highly motivating for them to do a performance in the dance troupe. Main advantages of performing in a dance troupe include losing stage fear, sense of timing and rhythm, learning make-up techniques, costume selection and designing and helps building self-confidence in oneself. A student gets the opportunity to perform different roles and styles for example, classical, Indian folk and drama roles, hence by quick costume and role changes one’s concentration power increases.

 The aim of the dance troupe is to spread the message of humanity through art form. The troupe performs dances suitable to various functions in the multitude of diversity in India. Students have also conducted workshops in and outside India representing the dance troupe.  The troupe has performed in National and International level. The students are given chances to perform in village festivals, corporate functions, temple festivals, workshops and all types of public functions.

 Our dance troupe performances in events are:

1. Welcome Dance It as an invocation to god for blessings is performed in all the performances. The choreography is presented in the form of Bharathanatyam. The lyrics of the song is changed according to the function or festival performed.  MuzhumudhalIraiva – Raga: GowriManohari Thala: Aadi  AadiyumAndamum – Raga: Sriranjani Thala: Aadi

2. Dance forms with Christian theme: i. The story of a Canaanite lady who prays to Lord Jesus for her daughter, where the message of ‘Strength of Devotion’ is explained. ii. The story of the prostitute who gets hit by the public with stones and is stopped by Lord Jesus who says there is no one in this world who has not sinned, but one should change their heart and live their life. iii. ‘To light a lamp we require oil, similarly to reach the Lord and heaven our good deeds are helpful.’ this valuable message is given in the dance named ‘Ten Virgins’. iv. ‘Peace of Life’ a prayer of St.Assisi is performed in the form of a semi-classical dance. v. ‘Kuravan Kurathi’ is a folk dance completely based on Biblical theme. The message is to convey how one should have the helping tendency even though he is a poor person with nothing. It shows that only being spiritual doesn’t make you a good person but the heart to help others is the one truly spirit to G o d .

The above mentioned themes are performed in the form of dance dramas. The above dances have been choreographed with biblical themes so humanity must understand the significance of being virtuous and practicing charity will help them to be human and reach heaven.

vi. ‘Bhangra’, a dance choreographed with bible verses and the message ‘what we think, we speak’ in a positive way filled with swift movements.It is in Ragamalika set to ChatusraEkathala. vii. ‘Anandaperar’ a Christian devotional dance in ragamallika set to Aadithala.

3. Dance form praising Tamil language The world famous ‘Thirukkural’ which has been praised in ‘Kuraloviyam’ written by the former Chief-Minister Dr.M.Kalaingar Karunanidhi. Since it was suitable for dance, features, it has been composed by the staff of Kalai Kaviri College of Fine Arts demonstrating the way of life exposed in the couplets. It is the form of a dance drama and is a ‘sound and light’ programme where a background visual and the on stage drama happens simultaneously. The protagonists in the drama are ‘Thiruvalluvar’ and ‘Nilamagal’. In between the drama, dancers perform classical and semi-classical to the song. This dance form brought a turning point in Kalai Kaviri College of Fine Arts and received high appreciation. The song is set to ragmalika: Bowli, , Bhoopalam, , , Hamsanandhi, Charukeshi, Canada, , Chandrakauns, Desh, Kappi, and Revathi set to Khandanadai.

4.Dances to create awareness in the society

1. ‘Mumadham’ This dance performance based on three religions – Hindu, Christian and Muslim, it is sermonized that more than being dutiful to God we should show pity, love, affection and grace with our neighbours. It is conveyed that more than blindly praying to God one should be in peace with his fellow beings. This message is rendered in this dance drama. This song is in Ragamalika and Thalamalika. 2. Dowry system A dance drama that portrays a story of how a mother-in-law seperates a lovable couple by demanding dowry from the in-law’s family. The son demands his wife for jewels and then he is enlightened by an oracle on his mistake,then how the son changes his mother. The society moral of 'a woman being the enemy for another woman' has to be changed. The concluding message 'women are praised as lamps of sacrifice.' 3. Patriotic dance A n awareness dance choreographed for the young generation to explain how each societal problem are like bullets of a gun in the chest of Bharatmatha. This dance has a combination of drill movements along with hand mudras of bharathanatyam.

4.‘Sentamizh Nadu’ A classical performance praising our country and its goodness to arouse patriotism in the hearts of young generation, theme being ‘we think of our country and a new inner feeling is boosted within us’.It is in ragamalika set to Aadi thala.

5.Caste Discrimination This dance drama delineates the evils of caste discrimination. An important message through which one understands that woman is capable of making a change in the society. The story where a wife is explaining to her husband that ‘In God’s creation all of us are one ’changes him and thereby making an impression in the hearts of the audience. 6.‘Sirppi’ The speciality of this performance is the fact that the message is conveyed completely through Angika abhinaya. This is a dance drama where not only sculptures are depicted to come to life and perform but also explain the intra- personal issues like ego, negative competitive spirit etc. which creates negative personality and being united creates happiness, through a beautiful choreography. The ‘sirppi’ is the protagonist and performs in drama form whereas ,the sculptures are seen to perform bharathanatyam. In the story four sculpture come to life which are, Mrindagist, Veena player, Nadhaswaram player and a dancer who performs. The main point highlighted here is that a leader plays an important role in our daily life to guide us and make us a successful person.The song consists of only instrumental music and jathi solkattu in ragamalika set to thalamalika. 7. ‘Pachai Maram’ Through this dance name ‘pachai maram’ the life a old-aged people is depicted i.e., of the despair felt when an old-age couple is left uncared by their son and the happiness felt when cared and taken care by the son is portrayed. Semi-classical dance choreographed to folk beats in Bowli raga set in Thisra gathi.

8.Communal Equity Dance choregraphed in the North-Indian dance form ‘Dandiya’. It gives message about communal equity and harmony. It is highly rhythmic in nature filled with energetic and enthusiastic movements.It is in Harikamboji raga set to Aadi thala.

4. ‘Panchakathillana’ This dance form is the best example to potray the theme ‘Unity in Diversity’. People unite together for the feeling of being an ‘Indian’ irrespective of their backgrounds. In order to explain this message, the dances of five states: Bharathanatyam, Mohiniyattam,Kuchipudi, Odissiand Kathak created the ‘panchakathillana’. The costumes and music are originally used from each state.The music is in ragamalika set to Aadithala.

5. Fusion dance The mix of two traditions joined and choreographed in which western dance is performed to Carnatic (classical) music and Bharathanatyam performed for western music. The music is in ragamalika set in thalamalika.

6. Raising greenery and nature

i. The message that ‘the world is a garden given by God’ thereby praising Mother Nature portrayed through a folk dance. This dance serves as a visual treat and reminds the audience of the unforgotten traditions of Tamilnadu. Six different forms of Tamilnadu folk dance are performed in this dance:  Thenmangu (Harikamboji)  Karakam ()  Kolattam (Brindavanasaraga)  Thappu (Natabhairavi)  Kummi (Harikamboji)  Oyil (Charukeshi)

ii. The happiness created by nature portrayed by swift movements rendered in the dance form Bhangra. It is in ragamalika set in thalamalika.

7. The greatness of Women Many songs have been choreographed to praise woman as a lamp of sacrifice, explaining the problems faced by her, the shame she gets to face, how she raises herself and the need to protect women and feminism. A variety dance combining three forms of dance: Bharathanatyam, folk and semi-classical. It is in Ragamalika set in Aadithala.

8. Special Performances

i. Peacock-Snake ‘In this world of good and evil, in the end always good is victorious over evil’, this message is portrayed in the choreography. One who has a good sense of rhythm, will only be able to perform this dance piece , hence only well- qualified dancers are selected to perform this dance piece. Both the dancers should be highly flexible, have grace and should have great stamina to perform this dance. Two types of music are set each for the peacock and snake individually. It is performed by two well-experienced dancers, one dancer in peacock costume to portray goodness; another dressed in snake costume to portray evil. The dance is seen to show that evil will win from the beginning but the finale is how the peacock wins over the snake.The music is set in two : Amirthavarshini and Punnakavarali to Ekathala.

ii. Ashtathalavadhya Nrittam This dance proves that there is no language for music. It is dance loved by many foreigners.A dance choreographed especially for the rasikas of dance and music. It has been done with great efforts by combining eight thalas, eight instruments along with a challenging Bharathanatyam choreography. The eight instruments which are: , Dolki, Tabla, Chenda, Ganjira, Dholak, and Tavil. The foreigners are really inspired by our cultural instruments.

iii. Dasarupakam Classical variety dance choreographed for a song composed using ten different types of instruments. This consists of the two dance forms: Bharathanatyam and Mohiniyattam.

Along with the above mentioned dances, many other dances for the society awareness are choreographed depending on the function or festival.