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| Remembering Balasaraswathi By Aruna. S / Chennai |   | |||
Chennai's dancers and art lovers keep reiterating the fact that this is one of those cities in India so steeped in art and culture. For, when most of the city's residents preferred to stay home that evening, catching up on the latest news on the nation's leaders, and with political parties celebrating the occasion and with hardly any cultural event scheduled for the day, one could see most of Chennai's dancers turning up in their best silks and several 60-plus rasikas attending this event, for their dose of music and dance that evening. The day was May 13. And it marked the 86th birth anniversary of the veteran artiste T. Balasaraswathi. The event hosted by Dr. V. Raghavan Centre for Performing Arts, headed by Chennai based art-critic Nandini Ramani was held in memory of Balasaraswathi and was titled 'Guru Smaranam'. (Nandini Ramani is a sishya of Balasaraswathi). And the chief guest was the renowned Odissi dancer from Delhi, Sonal Mansingh, who is now the Chairperson of Sangeet Natak Akademi, the apex body for arts in India. On the occasion, a book titled 'Splendours of Indian Dance' authored by Dr. V. Raghavan was released by Sonal Mansingh and the first copy was received by Chennai based senior dancer and guru C.V. Chandrasekhar.
Nandini Ramani explained that her father V. Raghavan had written over 100 books, which were not all published. The Raghavan centre is now involved in publishing one a year. The book released that evening would be available for sale from June. This was followed by an Odissi recital by Sonal Mansingh. Later, that weekend, an interactive session was organised by Nandini Ramani at her residence in Adyar, where some of the young dancers of Chennai were invited to interact with the Odissi guru Sonal Mansingh. The senior dancer who is the Chairperson of S.N.A. outlined S.N.A's activities and shared her thoughts on the art of dance and the various avenues it had besides just performance opportunities. About 30 dancers including well known and up-coming, shared their experiences and exchanged ideas. Contact: Dr. V. Raghavan Centre for Performing Arts, Bhaktavatsalam Nagar, Chennai - 600 020. Ph: 044-24430344. E-mail:rvramani@vsnl.com Watch out: Soon on this website, an interview with Sonal Mansingh. | ||||
