Category: tradition

45 Days of Dance Stories, artblog, article, ballet, bodyinmotion, bodylanguage, christmas, Dance, dancers, dsarttakes, e.t.a., hoffman, hoffmanstale, mauricesendak, photographs, production, quotes, sandman, sanfrancisco, thenutcracker, tradition

The Nutcracker – Created for Christmas!

  Ballet, fantasy, children’s tale, romance and hope – all this and more summarises what The Nutcracker has come to mean to audiences all over the globe, who see the viewing of this Ballet as a Christmas tradition.   Written in 1810 by E.T.A. Hoffman, a German Romantic author, composer, artist, and writer of fantasy and fiction. Hoffman craved to disturb the trends of the … Continue reading The Nutcracker – Created for Christmas!

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45 Days of Dance Stories, artblog, artform, article, audience, bharatnatyam, bodyinmotion, bodylanguage, bodyparts, choreography, classical, dancer, dsarttakes, expression, eyes, face, kathakali, movement, perform, performance, rasas, storytelling, tradition

The Eyes and Face : The final frontier for a Dancer

For the Dancer, the body is integral, the mind the controller and the soul is the fuel that drives her expression, and the eyes and face where the expression is manifested, guiding the body into motion. So in this journey of discovering the Dancer’s Body over the last few days from feet, to torso, to head, I find myself unable to end this exploration for … Continue reading The Eyes and Face : The final frontier for a Dancer

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45 Days of Dance Stories, baraat, companionship, courtship, culture, dsarttakes, greatindianwedding, india, joy, love, marriage, relationships, tradition, union, wedding, weddingindustry

Let me Introduce you to the Indian Baraat

      A Wedding is at its purest a celebration of two individuals falling in love and deciding to spend their lives together, choosing one another over the rest of the 7 Billion population on Planet Earth. Its about the intangibles like family – love – support – care and nurturing, as well as the ever growing tangibles of home and hearth. These collectively … Continue reading Let me Introduce you to the Indian Baraat

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45 Days of Dance Stories, artblog, artform, article, artworld, bodyinmotion, bodylanguage, choreography, classical, classicaldance, culture, danceform, dsarttakes, expression, gestures, hands, india, mudras, performance, tradition

Hands – The Power of Two

    Last night was filled with an intense discussion between two architects and myself about the authority of attributing value to any art-form. Though the discussion was centered around the visual arts and the complex opinions that are polarised into “art for art’s sake” on one side and the idea of “form follows function” on the other, my take-away viz. a vis 45 Days … Continue reading Hands – The Power of Two

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Pandit Uday Shankar : An Introduction

Every time I watch stills or films capturing the late Pandit Uday Shankar dancing – I am transported, where dream and experience become one for the dancer within me. I am inspired, I am bereft that a great Guru and proponent of the art form is no longer with us, and I am grateful to the visionary who gave us his love letter to dance … Continue reading Pandit Uday Shankar : An Introduction

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Nataraja – The Lord of Dance

Since yesterday (the 2nd of December 2014) and the post Shiva, Shakti, Laasya, my thoughts have been pre-occupied by Lord Shiva as the Lord of Performers and Dance. Known in this avatar as Nataraja, his physical personification (as seen in the image above) can be attributed to the bronze sculptors of the Chola Dynasty in South India from 10th Century A.D. This dancing figure of … Continue reading Nataraja – The Lord of Dance

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RASA in the 21st Century

Last year around this time I did 45 Days Art Stories for The Nirula Family Company. This year I thought I’d take inspiration from a field of personal practice where music, beat, song, rhythm, movement, expression and emotion all are incorporated to create a performance that all of us know as “Dance”. So these 45 days will be a Dance Countdown, grooving us over to … Continue reading RASA in the 21st Century

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Karva-Chauth

VRATHA – a Sanskrit word that is often used across India in various dialects and languages to signify ‘fasting’, means a ‘sacred vow’ in its truest translation. The Hindu in contemporary times, very much like their brothers and sisters from antiquity, offer a range of prayers, mantras, gifts and sacrifices to their Hindu Pantheon. With each day of the week ascribed to a specific God, … Continue reading Karva-Chauth

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Mehendi – Art and Tradition

As the festive season of Gods and lamps winds down in the Hindu Calendar, India’s “sixth” season and most prolific industry begins, and that is the great big Hindu-wedding season. This year it has me thinking of two things – the Hindu custom of fasting for the long life of one’s husband, i.e. Karava Chauth and the ritual of applying henna. Hence I decided to … Continue reading Mehendi – Art and Tradition

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