Kathak by Rani Khanam

Digital duo. A viewer snapping Kathak performance with his phone camera. 

 Rani Khanam performing. The evening performance was preceded by her lecture demonstration of "Improvisation aspects of Kathak -Laya and Bhav" in the morning

Odissi

Aloka Kanungo performs Odissi at the Mudra festival in Vylopilli Bhavan. Aloka has trained under Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, Raghunath Dutt and Mayadhar rout. She runs Shinjin Nrityalaya

Mohiniyattam at Vylopilli

Kalamandalam Sarawathi (not in the picture), and her disciples performed Mohiniyattam at he Vylopilli Samskriti Bhavan Koothambalam as part of the Mudra dance festival.

Keechakavadham Kathakali

Keechakavadham Part I, Kathakali at Margi Theatre, Fort, Thiruvananthapuram

Krishnavataram Nangiarkoothu

Margi Usha performing Krishnavataram Nangiarkoothu at Margi, Trivandrum.. Edakka and Mizhavu can be seen the background. 

Kolkkali

Kolkkali

'Kolkkali' by Vaghbhadananda Vanitha Kolkali Sangam at Vylopilli Samskriti bhavan

The folk art of Kolkkali is of recent origin, believed to be only about 200 years old. I have heard about Muslim men Kolkkali - made popular by the various school arts festivals. Last Saturday,  I happened to see a Kolkkali performance by a group of Hindu women at the Vylopilli Samskriti bhavan. 9 women and one man performed the dance. I do not know if the man was  a 'fill-in' for an absentee. Though he appeared to be a senior performer, the lone male in a group of women looked odd. The lead singer,of course was a male who stood in the centre. This was similar to the 'kolaattam' popular among the young women of Tamil Nadu.  I was glad that the Bhavan was encouraging such art forms. It was pity that there were only a handful of people in the audience. 

Some scenes from Onam 2013 at Thiruvananthapuram

The eateries have no respite. A wayside foodstall workers near the Secretariat getting the parathas ready.

A large pookkalam at Jagathy roadsid, put up by some boys.

A mini studio stall at the beach complete with a Nikon D 3100 camera, props and instant prinitng. The owner even offered to take my picture with my camera.

A decorated autorikshaw at Shankhumugham. Most autorikshaws are normally off the street during the Onam week.

A pookkalam in front of a church

Kathak performance by Raksha Singh and party at Vylopilli Bhavan

Koodiyattam, A two thousand year old art form

Maya Seethankam by Shaktibhadra.

 Koodiyattam, a 2000 year old dance form being performed in Thiruvananthapuram under the aegis of Drisyavedi. UNESCO has declared Kutiyaam as  one among the "Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity". The male actors are from the Chakyar community and the female parts are played by Nangiars. Accompaniments are Mizhavu and edakka played by Nambiar men and kuzhitalam by Nangiars

Edakka and Mizhavu

Kuzhithalam

Odishi at Nishagandhi 2013

Sharmila Biswas and her troupe from Odishi Vision and Movement Centre performed at Nishagandhi amphitheatre on Tuesday. She is a discipline of Guru Kelucharan Mahapatra. 
The four part offering was titled "Chaturmukhi". The opener, "Devi Bharni' was dedicated to Goddess Sambaleshwari. (is Sambalpur named after this Devi?). This was followed by 'Trikayee' exploring dance, music and rhythm. 'Leela' which followed was an Abhinaya of an episode involving Radha and her sakhi. The concluding number, Moksha  was a joyous celebration of beauty and liberation. 

Manipuri dance at Nishagandhi

Manipuri Nata Sankeerthana by the troupe of Baisali Sarkar performing at Nishagandhi Festival, Trivandrum 

Bihu dance

 

Bihu dance from Assam at Vylopilli .

The Bihu dance is performed in Assam by most of the tribes during the Bihu festival which coincides with Vishu in Kerala and Tamil New Year (mid April) . Men and women in colourful costumes perform this vigorous dance . The songs depicting many themes, are accompanied by the dhol, a horn, and a bamboo reed instument besides the brass taal. 

''Adharam Madhuram, Vadanam Madhuram...", the beauty of Krishna. Odissi dance by Orissa Dance Academy led by Ms. Aruna Mohanty.

Vyloppilli Samskriti Bhavan

Now I am on the mailing list of Vylopilli Samskriti Bhavan.

During the last Nangyar koothu performance, I dropped my lens pouch in the Koothambalam. I could retrieve it three days later thanks to Ms. Annie, the programme officer and other friendly staff of the Bhavan. Annie has also put me on the mailing list for the monthly programmes. No more straining to read the "Today's Engagement' column in the Hindu.

Last Saturday, I missed the Chakyar Koothu by Margi Chakyar. The next two programmes are Malayalam Drama and poetry evenings. I may give them a go-by.

Nangiar Koothu at Vyloppilli Samskriti Bhavan

The koothambalam shaped auditorium at Vyloppilli Samskriti Bhavan regularly hosts several cultural events. The event on last Friday (21st May) was solo Nangyarkoothu performance by the accomplished Smt.Kalamandalam Sindhu - Sreekrishnacharitham -Govardhanodharanam.  She was accompanied by Margi Ramanunni, Sajikumar on Mizhavu, Kalamandalam Mohanan on Thimila and Kumari Amritha on thalam.

Sri Swati Tirunal Jayanthi

The 197th Swathi Thirunal Jayanthy and 68th Anniversary of Sri Swati Tirunal Sangita Sabha is being held between 28th April and 9th May, 2010 at the Karthika Thirunal Theatre, East Fort, Trivandrum.

Following is schedule of some of the performers.

28th April: Bombay Sisters

29th April: Sreevalsan Menon

2nd May : Rudrapattanam Brothers

4th May: Neyveli Santhanagoplan

5th May : Dr.Ranganath Sharma

7th May: Madurai GS Mani

9th May: TV Gopalakrishnan

I was able to attend the concert of Srivalsan Menon on 29th.

Here is a partial list of songs from his concert.

Jaya jaya padmanabha : Sarasangi

Paripaalayam - Reeti gowla

Paalayamam -Khamas

Anjaneyane -Saaveri

Paramapurusha - Vasantha

RTP- Kaapi , (Misra chaapu)

(sorry, no pictures, as I had not taken my camera. Let me see if the phone cam picture is good enough to post.)

Odissi by Nrityagram

From Odissi

The Soorya Festival moved into the penultimate module - Odissi Festival, which opened with a brilliant performance by Nrityagram, Bengaluru.
The piece de resistance was of course, the 'Ardhanareeswara'.

It was held at the Municipal 'Auditorium' . This was just a hall with a stage and some chairs thrown in. The ambience didn't do justice to the exquisite performance by the troupe. The loud cricket commentary from a TV in the next room and a sputtering power supply did not help either. This event was originally scheduled to be held at the Music College, Thycaud, which was a much viewer-friendly venue. Wonder why Soorya changed to this venue!

Hanuman in Lanka, Kathakali

The kathakali festival of Soorya continues at the Swathi Thirunal Music College. The above image shows the confrontation between Ravana and Hanuman after his visit to Ashoka vanam and before Lanka dahanam. The percussion ensemble of Maddalam, Chenda etc are seen in the background.

Kathakali at Margi inside East Fort

One can watch Kathakali, Koodiyattam or Nangiar Koothu performances at Margi situated near Fort School , Trivandrum. Click on the photo or visit : http://picasaweb.google.com/vihar7/Kathakali# for more images

From Kathakali