Kalanidhi Dance: Traditional Kuchipudi from Maryland

from the Library of Congress in Washington DC you good afternoon I'm theatre Shaston the public events coordinator for the American Folklife Center here at the Library of Congress and on behalf of the entire staff welcome to the fifth concert in the 2013 homegrown music of America concert series we bring you the best of traditional music dance from across the country and to do that we work with very talented state folklorists and public sector folklorists to identify searched their regions and identify the the very best artists that we can and bring them here to you the Folklife Center works collaboratively with the millennium stage at the Kennedy Center to sponsor all of these artists so the performers come here to the library and then we'll be at the Kennedy Center this group will be there tonight at six o'clock if you want to catch them again or if you know people that you think would enjoy the the presentation there as well I wanted to let you know that this concert will be webcast and the content will go into our permanent collections at the library so this is a good time to turn off your cellphone's otherwise they will also be memorialized forever on the library's website today we have a very special group of dancers from Bethesda called colony D dance they're directed by Anuradha Nehru she'll be presenting information about each dance throughout the performance you'll hear her voice blended seamlessly into the music for each piece but we have a very special guest to introduce the group his name is Darrin C Turan he's from the he's the counselor for press and information and culture at the Embassy of India so please join me in welcoming Darrin [Applause] thank you dear good afternoon to all of you I have the pleasant job of introducing this team I intend to do it briefly by touching upon who they are what they are doing and what we are supposed to do who they are is very simple thanks to friend Anna rather Nehru who is a director of the calamity she fed me fully I may not do justice but briefly I'll touch it calamity if you know the Indian language means a treasure heart Trisha Kalam it's art nathie means treasure or wealth so this is basically about like all the important treasures in life this is also a treasure that is worth having which becomes more when you share other treasures are okay but most of the important treasures we have in life become more when you share and so they are sharing art with all of us and an errata is Sita or the student disciple of one of the greatest buoyance of Indian dance Kuchipudi dance and I mean Tina Satyam is remember teaching the Satyam is a well known figure in Indian dance and she is a direct disciple and she has been teaching Kuchipudi for the last from 1992 on where she has been teaching and performing at various countries and she has started this school here so that the kids can learn that and the company as a company they are from 2005 they are operating here like any of the I've been doing this introduction of Indian cultural organizations in Beijing Hong Kong Fiji Islands wherever I work as a diplomat I have been doing what touches me is that the dedication that these kids put into this even even back in India you may have to drag people but here there people are so dedicated about the whole thing and the whole thing has a pity nature to it under the teacher in Indian tradition as you know the Guru shishya the teacher and student relationship is one of the most important relationship I see that wherever I go that that tone of relationship is still maintained wherever they go now coming to what they do briefly I am sure and who will do the more elaborate thing on this Kuchipudi is actually a village very very tiny village even if you take Indian map you can't really find it it's a tiny village close to the Bay of Bengal in andhra pradesh and that is where this dance form emanated people say from 5th century 6th century 7th century but beyond thousand it doesn't matter it's really really classical dance form one of the eight forms that we have and it has grown mainly as a male dance the male dancers used to dress as females and they used to dance it initially at the folk level and then at the festival level and later it became a very classical form and institutions have started emerging and why I mentioned this is when you see this you will see it has more power in action than the normal Indian dances because it was conceived for a male in mind at the same time since they used to dress like female there will be slightly accentuated feminity added to it so this strange combination of power and this accentuated gracefulness makes it very special and they have been performing in I mean they have been to India in 2007 for one of the very important dance festival and they were performed in Singapore they are performed in Jakarta and this team has performed of course in u.s. in so many places including Kennedy Center what interest me is that an errata is not restricting to just the classical form they have interacted with French opera right there they contribute to French opera bringing this cultural combination between this and that so this is very exciting and I just briefly saw the five beautiful cute young dancers waiting for you I didn't want to stand in between but let me just touch upon what I said that who they are what they do the third one I said that what we are supposed to do you know we come for a dance and we can easily see it as a dance but just to think of it if if they are going to do this this is called a deer right and if they do this this is a parrot and this was conceived in 5th century AD and this has been coming along over the centuries from generation after generation and this is one of the eight classical dances and we have hundreds of dance forms in India and these are performed all over the world every day by hundreds and millions of people so when you when it's raining you go out and extend your hand and there are few drops on your hand what you're experiencing is not a few drops you are experiencing a magnificent rain and you are experience that we can what our hands can take it and that is how I see these performances these are very small in nature a few hundred people are so but they are a harmony a part of the harmony that's happening all over the world we are very happy from the Indian Embassy to collaborate with Kalani T on various things and we want to continue it at the Library of Congress in this area also we want to continue a lot of collaboration so I am also no less eager to watch this program and I wish the best thank you in Hindu philosophy as creation began the divine only encompassing consciousness to the form of the first vibration manifesting as the sound ohm ohm embraces all that exists it is an omnipresent reflection of absolute reality in the first dance of this program the dancers are inspired by Lord Ganesha the manifestation of ohm Ganesha is the unsurpassed the faultless provider the dancers movements to the rhythmic beats and musical syllables in the song urn and vinod khanna ghanna padam reflect Ganesha as joy Ananda north on igano padam will be performed by rama Durvasula and prac Nia tannery like a they hadn't [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] don't act on the hydrogen not open that window [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] then I've been a Ganapati [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] Lord Shiva is the God of Dance in Hindu mythology when Lord Shiva bata handrim the world heard its first rhythm as he moved his body in time with its beat the universe came into being for this reason Indian dancers conceived of classical dance as the highest form of worship and dedicate themselves to Lord Shiva as the dancing nataraj the supreme symbol of cosmic energy in our next dance shiva study we present two distinct halves composed to a poem and a song the dance begins with a poem which describes shiva as the three-eyed god with four hands the embodiment of peace whose body glows like the early morning rays of the Sun the one blessed with a smiling face who holds the river goddess Ganga in his hair who destroys all evil whose right leg is held in the beautiful Concetta position while his left leg is lifted high above the ground in his first hand he holds a trident in her second hand a kettledrum his third hand is held elegantly in dhola hasa and his fourth hand holds a vessel containing fire on his left ear he wears a moon shaped earring and on his right ear a urine made of a crocodile skin adorned with snakes on his chest his whole body is smeared with ashes - such a lord shiva the epidemic knowledge we offer our humble prayers the second half of the dance continues with a song that describes the power of lord shiva he is accompanied by a celestial Orchestra comprised of Lord Vishnu on the drums Lord Indra on the flute Lord Brahma on the and goddess sarasvati on the Wiener as the sages and celestial dancers watch this performance in awe and wonder shiva study performed by supra jet atari Ramaiah Durvasula frog Nia tamari Ankita Durvasula and Devi Cavalia [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] we need [Music] chotto budem [Music] No [Music] Smita [Music] god for the patrician [Music] and daddy push back [Music] then God [Music] but smile but it's beetle [Music] Dakshina we need to the button [Music] warm up either so through them [Music] so young Sudama yeah the Malcolm [Music] but me [Music] what's your name [Music] okay yeah yeah when you say you do serve I'm gay that's my party number [Music] yeah huija [Music] - OH [Music] ooh [Music] yeah yeah [Music] but [Applause] [Music] mudiay [Music] [Laughter] [Music] Oh [Music] [Music] my mom [Music] my [Music] [Music] [Music] my god [Music] um a pain but the clinical part in poverty be punchy vaya [Music] [Music] like a team [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Oh [Music] [Applause] the next dance that we present to you has been composed to the song our local Sri Balakrishnan taken from a Sanskrit opera on Krishna called Shri Krishna deila taringa knee each song taken from this opera constitutes a chapter or a tarring Guinea and the dance composed to it is called at our angam at our angle typically forms the centerpiece in a Kuchipudi dance concert as it incorporates all three elements of Indian dance Britta or pure dance nithya or narrative and nadia or mine it characteristically ends with the dancer standing on the rim of a brass plate while they move to complex rhythmic beats Krishna one of our most loveable and endearing gods is often portrayed as child Krishna capable of performing superhuman pastimes such as lifting mountains with his little finger today the dancers tell the story of how the young Krishna dares to attack the venomous and mighty serpent kaliya a cowherd boy young Krishna is often seen playing with his friends as they take the cows to green pastures in the nearby Yamuna River lived the fearsome Kalia one day Krishna leads his cows to the river to escape the summer heat Krishna plays his flute a favorite pastime of his before he notices that his beloved cows have died aghast he suspects the purity of the waters from which the cows have drunk and discovers that they have been poisoned he finds the source of the poison to be none other than Kalia the deadly serpent Krishna dives into the river and taunts Kalia Kalia attacks Krishna and a fierce battle ensues Krishna emerges victorious and dances joyfully on Callias head Iloka is Shree Bala Krishnan performed by predatory remodel vasila and pregnat amore [Music] [Music] undergone a are killing this one [Music] Sriman for your deep tan they are krishna moon [Laughter] [Music] kil Jaeden Harlan [Music] me [Music] summer Sindarin should I get me courti summer soon then I should like it Hey [Music] [Music] okay [Music] Saiki but like [Music] Pookie's now [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] palaka Krishna [Music] [Music] punish me for whatever their age [Music] like that [Music] go [Music] [Applause] [Music] Violeta Krishna [Music] [Music] good [Music] Oh [Music] [Music] I like that Krishna [Music] Oh [Music] okay yes [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] like a person siren I need money [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] chuttan an equally bad [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Saiki [Music] [Music] [Music] Krishna [Music] what are that Krishna [Music] Dishman [Music] but our death Krishna there's no [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] ah [Music] our never Krishna there's no there's no Oh [Music] [Music] [Applause] we conclude today's performance with synergy synergy is a creative concept of Retta or pure dance which blends the traditional foundations of Kuchipudi with contemporary ideas performed by Antigua Durvasula Ramaiah Durvasula Prague Nia tamari and Davy Cavalli [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] the caolan80 dance and I'd like to introduce the artistic director Anuradha Nehru [Applause] helen ET dance thank you all so much for coming there were beautiful dancers thank you all so much for coming and please join us September 11th at noon loose sex maniacs conjunto dance band will be playing here so thank thanks very much bye-bye this has been a presentation of the Library of Congress visit us at loc.gov

Channel: Library of Congress

Views: 75,474

Rating: 4.8499355 out of 5

Keywords: Library of Congress, Kuchipudi, @KalanidhiDance

Id: nNdnIxTrZkk

Length: 58min 28sec (3508 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 27 2014