While browsing the website of the National Film Archive of India, I was excited to find that films in the catalog (which can be found through the search) have an extensive cast and crew list that in many cases identifies the choreographer! [Update: This information no longer appears to be part of the search results that I could see.] The archives have quite a few South Indian titles back to the early 1930s and the majority of them have a choreographer identified, amazingly. Armed with this information, I did some web searching and found that quite a few dances from 1940s South Indian films immediately struck me as looking like Devadasi dances.
Showing posts with label TR Rajakumari. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TR Rajakumari. Show all posts
My Favorite (Black and White) Spectacle Film Dances
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Throughout my classical dances series there have been a few black-and-white dance songs that I've just been dying to include but haven't really fit in my categorizations so far. Listed below are my favorite dances that can't be considered "classical" but have ornamented costumes, beautiful set design, and wonderful choreography. In other words they are spectacles! (Well, I didn't know what else to call them :)). Some are visually scintillating, others are dramatic dance dramas, and yet others are inspired from classical dances. Roll the dances!
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