Senior dancer Lakshmi Vishwanathan will premiere her new dance-theatre production, 'Vidya Sundari - the legend of Bangalore Nagaratnammal' on December 17, 2004, 7 pm at the Music Academy's TTK auditorium, Chennai.
The dancer who has just returned after performing at the Jacobs Pillow dance festival in the U.S.A, will also be honoured by the Indian Fine Arts Society with the title of 'Natya Kala Shikamani'.
And Lakshmi is all excited about the new production, which is set in the Bharatanatyam style with theatrical and folk elements added.
Says Lakshmi, "It is the story of a multi-millionaire devadasi, Nagaratnammal or BNR as she was known. Moving from Dance to music and Harikatha, Nagaratnammal is said to have given more than a thousand concerts in her heydays. She was even the secretary of the Madras Devadasis association and campaigned for their right to be artistes, as opposed to the banning of all dancing in temples and public places."
Lakshmi adds, "BNR's bhakti for Rama and Tyagaraja is so moving. She was the first woman to sing during the Thyagaraja aradhana at Thiruvaiyaru, along with other women musicians. The male bastion isolated this group and BNR ammal conducted a parallel festival for years, until a peaceful settlement was finally reached and the musicians were all united. Today, her statue, facing the Tyagaraja Samadhi stands in silent testimony to the life of a great woman."
Lakshmi is also authoring a book on devadasis, and it was during this research that she was inspired to do a production on Nagaratnammal.
She is presenting this show with corporate sponsorships and is a fund-raiser for the Senate House of Madras University.
Donor passes of Rs. 250, Rs. 150, and Rs.100 will be available at the TTK hall from 15 December.
Contact, E-mail: kvlaxmi@vsnl.net
