Season’s Dance Award Winners (2009-2010)

B. M. Sundaram to be hounoured with Musicologist Award for his contribution to Carnatic Music by Music Academy

N. S Jayalakshmi to be hounoured  with “Sangita Kala Acharya” for her contribution to Bharatanatyam by Music Academy

Pooja Kumar-’Gutti Vasu Memorial Prize’ from Spirit of Youth Competition held at Music Academy

Narthaki Nataraj- ‘Nrithya Choodamani” from Sri Krishna Gana Sabha

Vijay Madhavan- ‘Balasaraswathi Endowment Prize’ from Sri. Krishna Gana Sabha

Mythili Prakash -’ Nadana-Maamani’ from Karthik Fine Arts.

Vaishnavi Sainath- ”Natya Chudar “ from Karthik Fine Arts

Sonal Mansingh-’Viswa Kala Bharati’ from Bharat Kalachar

Prof. C.V. Chandrasekhar-”Acharya Kala Bharati” from Bharat Kalachar

Aishwarya Dhanush, Yatin Agarwal, Gopukiran, Mridula Anand and Lakshmi Parthasarathi Athreya receive Bharat Kalachar’s Yuva Kala Bharati (Bharatanatyam) and Nagai Sriram (for Mridangam in Bharathanatyam) and Smitha Madhav (all rounder in classical Carnatic and Bharathanatyam)

Ramli Ibrahim-felicitated by Natyanjali Trust during Nartaka dance festival featuring male dancers.

Rajeswari Sainath receives Vani Kala Sudhakara from Sri Thyaga Bramha Gana Sabha

Dr. Padma Subramanhyam receives ” Nrithya Kovida” and Pavithra Srinivasan receives ” Nrithya Sevitha” from Nadabramham Music Journal

Compiled from: The Hindu (Friday Features), saigan.com (where you can see the whole list of awards for musicians too),and Personal communication.

Filed under: Balasaraswathi, Bharat Kalachar, Bharatanatyam, Bharathanatyam, C.V. Chandrashekhar, Chennai, Dance, Dance Gurus, December season., Krishna Gana Sabha, Madras, Madras Music Academy, Madras Music Season, Madras dance Festival, Padma Subrahmanyam, Sri Krishna Gana sabha, artists, awards, talent , Mythili Prakash, Pooja Kumar, Vijay Madhavan

Meenakshi Raghavan takes Bharathanatyam to rural areas.

If getting an award is by itself a reason to celebrate, how about getting two awards during the December season?That is the accomplishment of Bharatanatyam dancer S R Meenakshi Raghavan.

She was awarded the ‘Natyakala Vipanchee’ title on December 31, 2007, by the Vipanchee sabha run by singer Balamuralikrishna.

On January 1, 2008, the title ‘Natya Sudaroli’ was conferred upon her by Apoorva Ragam Sabha. This time she was honoured by former minister Rm Veerappan.

Meenakshi, who runs the dance school ‘Vinayaga Natyalaya’ in SIngaperumal Koil, is a disciple of Kalaimamani Chandra Dhandayuthapani Pillai who is the director of ‘Natya Kalalayam’.

She was also a student of Tamil Nadu Government Music College, Adyar, from where she graduated as ‘Aadal Kalaimani’ and ‘Nattuvanga Kalaimani’.

She had already won several awards: ‘Balasaraswathi’ title in 2006; and ‘Natya Mayuri’ by Kalai Panbattu Thurai, Thoothukudi, 2007.

Her idea of starting a dance school in Singaperumal Koil, in Kancheepuram district, is to spread “our culture in the rural areas”.

“The dance of India should not only be taught to the elite but also the inquisitive learners of rural areas,” she declares.

With this aim she started teaching Bharatanatyam to people in and around Chengalpattu, Singaperumal Koil, Thirukazhukundram, Mahabalipuram, Maraimalai Nagar, Thelimedu, etc.

She says with pride that more than 300 students are now part of this institution and “the fact is that they are all not from elite groups, but are rural folk”.

Apart from being famous for her bhava, abhinaya and precision of movement, she has also proved that she is an able teacher.

The institution has been invited to perform by the Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation and the Department of Art and Culture in their various programmes. It has been given an opportunity to participate in the programmes conducted by ‘Iyal, Isai, Nadaga Mandram’ of Tamil Nadu.

Meenakshi has also performed in the Mahabalipuram dance festival and the Chidambaram dance festival.

But one had better beware of this charming young dancer: She holds a black belt in Karate!

Source:Chennaionline

Filed under: Arts, Balasaraswathi, Bharatanatyam, Bharathanatyam, Chennai, Dance, Dance Gurus, December season., Institutes, Introduction, Madras, Madras Music Season, Madras dance Festival, Mahabalipuram, Mamallapuram, Performing Arts, Rasika, artists, awards, do's and don'ts for dancers, experiences, learning, promotion, students, talent, upcoming artist , meenakshi Raghavan

Aniruddha Knight in Chennai

“Aniruddha Knight is the direct inheritor of the traditional style of dance and music that was codified two hundred years ago at the Royal Court of Thanjavur in southern India. He is a ninth generation performer from southern India’s oldest continuous family style of music and dance. Ani was born in Madras in 1980, and has grown up living in both India and the US. He learned and began performing in a traditional environment, as a daily matter within the home. From his infancy, he was constantly surrounded by the singing of members of South India’s most honored and prestigious artistic family. Ani’s great-great grandmother, Vina Dhanammal, is still considered by many to be the most influential Indian musician of the 20th century, even though she died in 1938. His grandmother is the legendary exponent of Indian dance, T. Balasaraswati. Ani learned bharata natyam from his distinguished mother Lakshmi Knight. He studied the family musical repertoire with his mother; his great-uncle, Sangita Kalanidhi and National Heritage Fellow, T. Viswanathan; and his great-aunt T. Muktha. Currently he is learning singing with his mother’s cousin, T. Vegavahini, daughter of T. Brinda.

The traditional style Ani performs is distinctly different from the popular style of bharata natyam so well known today as India’s most recognizable cultural export. It follows principles of form and choreography, and is performed with music, that have been practiced and passed on within professional artistic families since its codification. Ani’s interpretation of the narrative aspect of the dance is guided by the same sensibilities that guided his grandmother. His elegant musicianship, the clarity and strength of his hands and footwork, and the power he brings to a physically understated style of dance have established him as the rightful heir to South India’s most distinguished family legacy.

Ani accompanied his mother as a musician from 1993 to 2000. After his dance debut at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in 1997, he was profiled by Newsweek magazine as one of sixteen “Daylight’s Children”, young Indians who excelled in various disciplines and were “expected to influence the course of culture, politics, and economics in India during the next fifty years”. Among other honors, in February of 2003 the title of “Natyam Kalamani”, the “Pearl of the Art of Dancing”, was conferred upon Ani by the Monastic order of the Sankaracharaya of Kanchipuram.

He will be inaugurating the Balasaraswathi-Scripps Institute of Performing Arts (B-SIPA) in Chennai on January 20,2008.

His institute welcomes students who are interested in learning Bharathanatyam from the Blaasaraswathi Parampara.

For More Information:

Aniruddha Knigt, Director, B-Sipa

Venue:Ragha Sudha,”Nada Inbam” Mylapore

Phone:9884191854

Email:knight6486@gmail.com

• Source:
• http://aniruddhaknight.com/home.htm
• Tamil Magazine Kalki

Filed under: Aniruddha Knight, Arts, Balasaraswathi, Bharatanatyam, Bharathanatyam, Chennai, Dance, Dance Gurus, History of Bharathanatyam, Institutes, Introduction, Madras, Performing Arts, Workshops, artists, experiences, learning, students, talent, upcoming artist