Artistic Director Shalini Shivashankar 15th December 2020 To the Upahaar community, friends and well-wishers, We have come to the end of year 2020- an unforgettable one! 10 months of the invisible enemy pervading our lives and changing norms like never before. We must continue to hope and pray for this to end soon. |
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Once again, we sincerely say thank you to all those on the frontline for their untiring efforts through this pandemic. During this new phase of another surge in cases in the UK, I urge all of you to take care and follow government guidelines throughout the festive season. If one were to sum up the last ten months at Upahaar, it would not be amiss to say that it has been an eventful time! This, despite the strange new ‘normal’ of most things happening online. We have continued doing our best in nurturing the interest and practise levels of all our students in all the disciplines taught at Upahaar, be it Natyam or Sangeetham. Our teachers have been working very hard to complete the planned syllabus for the term. I hope they enjoy their well-deserved break of two weeks. A big thank you goes out to all our parents as well, for their continued support in helping students follow class rules, maintain high levels of attendance and prepare meticulously for exams. The best way to follow all the events and activities organised by the school is via the website and social media. Upahaar launched the Workshop (& Performance) Series 2020-21 online this year for the first time. We had three workshops earlier this year, inviting local artists to run them respectively in Bharatanatyam, Rhythm and Yoga. Now we continue the series with international artists teaching and then presenting a short performance at the end of each workshop. This has been possible only because of the support of Arts Council England. Please read on for more information on this series. I sign off with warm wishes to all of you for a very happy & safe Christmas and good health in the coming year!
With loving regards Shalini Shivashankar Artistic Director & Head Teacher Upahaar School of Dance Chairperson Upahaar Community Group +44 (0)7811823684 / +44 (0)20 86612865 upahaarschool@gmail.com www.upahaar.co.uk |
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Upahaar Workshop Series 2020-21 |
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Upahaar's Workshop Series continues with an exciting collection of Indian classical art forms over the next 6 months. We are grateful to Arts Council England for their support in making this series of workshops and performances possible. Thank you to all our friends and partners in the U.K. for helping to publicise our events. |
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November's edition consisted of an Odissi Movement & Technique workshop by Surupa Sen (Artistic Director, Nrityagram India) over a two-day intensive. This was followed by an exclusive performance by Surupa on Upahaar's Youtube Channel. |
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Bharatanatyam Abhinaya with Bragha Bessell The December edition of our Workshop Series, is an abhinaya intensive with the renowned abhinaya Guru, Bragha Bessell! The workshop will delve into abhinaya technqiue and a repertoire piece over two days - 19th & 20th December, online on Zoom. Time: 9:30am - 12:30pm GMT. | | |
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Upahaar Faculty Showcase Upahaar's faculty, Shalini Shivashankar, Pallavi Anand, Daniella Zak Varghese, Piya Varma, Rithika Segarajasingham, Kalpana Segarajasingham, Rukshena Ravindran, Avinash Acharya, Deepa Menon Gandhi and Prathap Ramachandra, presented their art forms for a showcase on Upahaar's Youtube Channel! |
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Daniella Zak Varghese for Paallam Arts Daniella presented Bharatanatyam for Paallam Arts' 'To Divine' Series on 7th November on an Instagram live! She performed a Pushpanjali, Ashtapadi and a Thillana | | |
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Mohiniyattam by Daniella Zak Varghese For Milapfest's Online Diwali Festival, Daniella presented a Mohiniyattam Thillana, in ragam Abhogi, and Rama shloka, on their Youtube Channel. | | |
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Times of India Chennai's 'Deepavali Utsav' Upahaar was invited to another online Diwali celebration. Pallavi Anand presented an Ashtapadi, 'Lalita Lavanga' and Daniella Zak Varghese & Piya Varma presented a Mohiniyattam and Bharatanatyam Jugalbandhi on Times of India Chennai's Facebook page for their Deepavali Utsav. The event was curated by Mr. Churchill Pandian. | | |
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Sanjana Dhyani for KBC Arts Sanjana Dhyani presented Bharatanatyam for KBC Arts' memorial event to mark Dr. M Balamuralikrishna's death anniversary. She presented one of his compositions, a Thillana, in Ragam Kathana Kuthuhalam. Her performance begins at 1hr 43 mins of the video link. | | |
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Piya Varma for Paallam Arts Piya Varma was invited to perform Bharatanatyam as a part of Paallam Arts' 'To Divine' Series, on 21st November. Her performance included a Jathiswaram in Ragamalika, Javali 'Nee Matale' and Padam 'Rusli Radha'. | | |
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Prathap Ramachandra for Croydon Composers Prathap Ramachandra recently presented 'Samageeta', a new collaborative piece created with Roland Perrin, for Croydon Composers. They perform a fusion piece with Jazz & Afro-Cuban melody and rhythms with Konnakol, Mridangam and Ghatam. | | |
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Kathak Abirami Eswar will be a new member of our Kathak Faculty at Upahaar! Abirami Eswar is a Kathak dancer, teacher and choreographer based in London. As Guru Padmashri Pratap Pawar’s senior disciple, Abirami has learnt the nuances of traditional Kathak specialising in the Lucknow gharana, which emphasises on style and grace with speed and complexity. Abirami’s dedication to Kathak and the performing arts has brought her recognition as one of the UK’s 40 under 40 South Asian Artists in 2019. | | |
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Yoga Upahaar will also be introducing Yoga into the curriculum on a regular basis. Sarra Whicheloe and Vidur Varma will be our Yoga Instructors! To enrol for regular yoga classes please email info@upahaar.co.uk. |
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| | Sarra Whicheloe Sarra is a Bharatanatyam Dancer and an Iyengar Yoga Teacher. She uniquely understands how Yoga can develop body awareness, strength and flexibility for Bharatanatyam. She has taught Yoga on the CAT programme for South Asian dancers at the Dance Exchange. From 2003 - 2007 Sarra was a fulltime dancer with Anusha Subramanyam as Beeja. Beeja's approach to teaching Bharatanatyam in schools enabled Sarra to develop her teaching of yoga to children. This incorporates Indian stories and creative movement alongside the yoga postures. | | |
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| | Vidur Varma After a 22 year career at Citibank, Vidur Varma took a career break in June 2018 in pursuit of spiritual progress. Vidur graduated from the Yoga Teacher Training course at Sri Sri School of Yoga in Bangalore after months of rigorous and disciplined training. He is a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) with Yoga Alliance, and also teaches for Sri Sri School of Yoga regularly. His drive to share the focus and energy he developed through Yoga, pushed him to establish his school 'Vaidurya Yoga' in 2019. | | |
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Kolli Rushitha Choudary is a Grade 4 student of Bharatanatyam at Upahaar Croydon. She has shared her paper written on the symbols present in the icon of the Dancing Lord Nataraja. |
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Jayadeva's Gita Govinda The Gita Govinda is is a work composed by the 12th-century Hindu poet, Jayadeva. It describes the relationship of Radha and Krishna through Ashtapadis. The text also discusses the eight moods of a heroine, the Ashta Nayikas, which have been an inspiration for many compositions and choreographic works in Indian classical dances. | | |
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