Recent Film Classical Dance Finds

And...I'm back! :) Some personal matters have kept me away for a long time, but a moment of inspiration and deciding that my posts don't all have to be lengthy mini-dissertations led to a new post finally, yay! I've gathered a collection of some new classical dance finds in Indian films from the past few years as well as the exciting posting of some songs from Sringaram! Enjoy...

Sringaram (2007, Tamil) - It's been ten years since the devadasi period film Sringaram released, and while there is still no DVD or online release of all the songs or the whole film, director Sharada Ramanathan gave us a yet another glimmer of hope on her Facebook page this past March and June when she said that due to continued interest in the film it would be "out in the public domain soon" and "soon be with a main global network for all to see" with directions to "watch this space" to be informed when. Back in 2015 she had announced a summer DVD release after a Doordarshan telecast brought great interest in the film, but nothing materialized. But this time around, I'm apt to believe something will happen given the appearance online in the last few months of songs and dances from the film. For a throwback to my past posts about Sringaram, I reviewed the film back in 2010 (note that I need to replace all my photobucket-hosted photos on my blog, ugh!) and also wrote about its dance sequences.

"Three Seasons" - Posted to Sharada's YouTube account in April, "Three Seasons" features Saroj Khan's unusually on-beat choreography that is characteristic throughout the film, and trained Bharatanatyam dancers Aditi Rao Hydari and Hamsa Moily perform the Bharatanatyam and Odissi sourced and inspired movements beautifully in elegantly simple practice saris. I find it mesmerizing...

The lovely group procession dance sequence made an appearance last fall on Facebook as well here:
https://www.facebook.com/padminiravidance/videos/439542313099885/

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9 comments A White Chick, Aditi Rao Hydari, Anushka, Hamsa Moily, Kamal Hassan, Lakshmi Gopalaswamy, Manisha Koirala, Meghana Raj, Rukmini Vijayakumar, Sandhya Raju, Trisha, Vineeth

Found: Devayani's Classical Dance in America Ammayi (1976, Telugu)

Yay! Another dance from my Holy Grail post found!  This time it's Devayani's Kuchipudi-esque dance in the song "Ananda Tandavamade" from the 1976 Telugu film America Ammayi (American Girl), a remake of the 1975 Tamil film Melnaatu Marumagal.

TeluguCinema.com's excellent retrospective on America Ammayi (removed from site but viewable through the Wayback Machine) and interview with Devayani give details in her involvement with the film.  She was approached for the role by director Singeetham Srinivasa Rao after he saw her debut arangetram dance performance in Madras (Chennai).  Since she was trained only in Bharatanatyam, Devayani learnt Kuchipudi from the eminent Vempati Chinna Satyam (who sadly passed away just a few weeks ago).

While Devayani says Vempati Chinna Satyam was one of the dance directors for the film, she says her dance in Ananda Tandavamade was composed by Sree Satyanarayana (I assume she means KV Satyanarayana who also was involved with films like Swarna Kamalam and Srutilayalu), and assistant Shoba Naidu (well-known disciple of Vempati Chinna Satyam).  While she clearly has training in Bharatanatyam with the crisp way she holds herself, I find her upper body really stiff and her extremely long arms look lanky and awkward at times especially with the overly-fast pace she's been given.  Her ballet training seems to show through, particularly in the way she gracefully moves her arms and hands, and the light "skipping" movements of the feet look a bit unnatural.  Every so often there seems to be some Bharatanatyam moves snuck in for good measure.  Overall, though, I think she did a nice job.  I love the setting of the Nataraja Swami Temple of Chidambaram, and its architecture and karana sculptures are used to wonderful effect.  Isn't it wonderful to see a white woman in an Indian film performing traditional dance, and doing it fairly well, rather than the trope of the exoticised scantily-clad gori backup dancer.  And most of all it is wonderful to finally be able to see this dance!

Devayani and the "French Wave" in Bharatanatyam

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16 comments A White Chick, Devayani, Kuchipudi

My Latest Collection of Lesser-Known Film Classical Dances

I'm happy to present my latest collection of classical-oriented dances I've found recently (or have been holding onto for a while) that are either lesser known or have been difficult to track down. Enjoy!

"Vikraama Rajendra" - Bhakta Kuchela (Malayalam, 1961) - Attention!! New Kamala Lakshman material starting at 5:00!  I originally talked about this song on my post about my favorite twin dances and the only version online at the time was quite poor in quality and ended abruptly.  I since got a hold of the original film and also what appears to be a Kannada dub and was amazed that the Kannada version adds about two minutes of extra footage of a third Manipuri dance that's missing from the Malayalam version!  The only downside is that it cuts a little bit of footage off from the beginning, so I included the beginning from the Mallu version and the rest from the Kannada version to create a complete whole. The old uploader had split the original song into two pieces so that is all taken care of as well. I am 100% convinced the taller dancer is Kamala Lakshman, and Richard of the Dances on the Footpath blog suggested the shorter dancer might by Kuchala Kumari.  So enjoy the two minutes of Kamala Lakshman material you've probably never seen before!

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7 comments A White Chick, Anoushka Shankar, Bharatanatyam, Kamala, Kathakali, Malayalam, Mohiniattam, Odissi, Roshan Kumari, Vineeth