Obsessed by Ariel and Sebastian, this sketch/drawing/illustration for Ds Art Works part six, is a whimsical watercolour and ink – dive in! “Life under the sea, is better than anything they got up there” – The Little Mermaid Continue reading The Emerald Sea : DsArtWorks Six
As the moon rises on the last day of 2014, I sat at my desk with charcoal in hand and began to draw a form that the paper was hiding and the graphite was hunting. In the end – this tree emerged, in solace and strength, protected and lit by the moon. The leaves are the gifts nurtured and created, the Moon the guiding … Continue reading Moon Rise, End of the Year, And Welcoming 2015 !
Martha Graham has been for many dancers a source of great strength, inspiration and guidance. Her work, writings, performances, choreographies, and dance style have been a beacon of light for me. So today rather than extoll the virtues of this extraordinary individual, let me present o you her 3 part narration titled “A Dancer’s Life” and allow you to go on that journey … Continue reading A Dancer’s Life – Martha Graham
Getting back to our upward trajectory of exploring the dancers body, we left off at Hands – the Power of Two, and now we are back with the Head as part of the 45 Days of Dance Stories blogging project. As a classical dancer, especially a Bharatnatyam Dancer, when I think of the head and its uses, I immediately think of Greeva Bheda or Sheero Bheda. … Continue reading Head : Greeva Bheda, the Science of head movements.
As a twelve year old fiddling around with my Das’s turntable and rummaging through his LP collection, I would often come across the strange, the weird and the wonderful. The “star” in this last category of pure joy and wonder had to be the soft and smooth notes of Frank Sinatara’s voice, carrying over melodies composed by the likes of Michel Philippe-Gérard and Anka. … Continue reading Legs : Carry Me to the Moon and Back
When we say dancer – the first body part that we immediately connect them to and visualise are the “Feet”. Grounding us, allowing us to leap and stretch, to pause and pirouette, the dancers feet are where our “Souls” rest! Battered and bruised, knocked and swollen, these feet are what aide us in our movement, trained to kick, flip, balance and flick they are in … Continue reading Feet – Move them like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
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
The first time I saw Lois Greenfield’s photography was at a dance studio where someone had pasted a downloaded grainy image of a visual that burned itself in all its reproduced beauty onto my retina. It was a of Sam Mosher – the man in motion is synonymous for modern dance and his collaboration with Lois Greenfield and the camera lens is a synonym for … Continue reading Lois Greenfield and Dance Photography
When we talk of Bharatanatyam and the course of its journey from east to west there is only one women and her discipline and delight in this form of classical Indian Dance that truly complete that story, and that is none other than Balasaraswati. Born to one of the last musical families of the South of India, Bala’s historical import in the modern … Continue reading A Dance story for 29th November 2014 : Balsaraswati
The 80s gave us a lot of cool things – disco, Robert Mapplethorpe, the computer, the internet, neon colours Wham and Boy George to name a few. As I was busy learning my ABCs and getting into grade one towards the end of the 80s I became those 90s kids who were totally and irrevocably influenced and shaped by the “totally bitchin” dance movies of … Continue reading Dance Movie Love
D's Art Takes 