UPAHAAR NEWS Edition 11 - December 2021 |
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Artistic Director : Shalini Shivashankar 15th December 2021 To the Upahaar friends, community and well-wishers What an eventful year 2021 has been for all of us! The year started in a quiet way with most of us in lock down. |
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I remember walking along the Thames on January 1 st silently watching the river and listening to the birds chirping on that calm January morning.I was pondering about the year ahead and how it would pan out for people in all walks of life. Here we are at the very end of the same year looking back on how we coped and learnt a new way of life alongside the invisible yet omnipresent virus! Virtual and actual worlds merged and blurred into one until we reopened face to face classes from September this year. Life seemed to have suddenly come back to normal and I won’t hesitate to repeat myself- it was sheer joy to see the faces of our students, feel the energy in the room and to hear the feet stamping in sync with the thalam. Music to the ears and heart! We were overjoyed to perform on an actual stage once again and fortunately for us, many of our students were given opportunities to perform for various occasions. The icing on the cake was when we were able to have the two much awaited arangetrams with a real audience in an auditorium. Read on for all that happened in the last two months and do look up our previous newsletters for all that we shared in 2021! I end this message with a hope that all of you stay safe through the rest of this holiday season and that you have a wonderful Christmas and a very happy new year. I look forward to meeting you all again at the start of Upahaar's new term on January 7th 2022. With loving regards, Shalini Shivashankar
Artistic Director & Head Teacher
Upahaar School of Dance
+44 (0)7811823684 / +44 (0)20 86612865
upahaarschool@gmail.com
www.upahaar.co.uk |
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After a successful return to face-to-face teaching in the Autumn term, Upahaar has now closed for the holidays. We will be returning for the new term from 7th January to 30th April, in a format following the government guidelines for COVID-19. |
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Kathak & Mohiniyattam Beginners Classes |
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We are calling out to all aspiring Kathak and Mohiniyattam dancers, to join beginners classes in the new year. Book a trial class for Mohiniyattam in Sutton, Kathak in Sutton or Orpington and register your interest for Hounslow by emailing info@upahaar.co.uk. |
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Bharatanatyam Arangetram of Sanya Narayanan |
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Sanya's Bharatanatyam Arangetram was an extremely successful event for Upahaar, on October 24th 2021 at Croydon High School! | | |
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Upahaar Mohiniyattam Ensemble at Nupur Arts' Anartam |
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Upahaar's Mohiniyattam Ensemble was grateful to present a Jathiswaram in Ragam Chenjurutti at Anartam for Nupur Arts on November 13th! Guru Shalini Shivashankar, Daniella Zak Varghese and Piya Varma represented the Mohiniyattam ensemble at the Curve Theatre in Leicester for this performance. | | |
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Pallavi Anand in Fusion Kaapi's 'Viriboni' |
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Pallavi Anand recently presented a visualisation of Viriboni - the well known Ata tala Varnam to the rendering of Ajith Sundaresh (vocalist of the group Fusion Kaapi) | | |
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Charity Fundraiser at Lancing College |
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Upahaar was grateful to present Bharatanatyam and Mohiniyattam at Lancing College's fundraising event for a charity in Malawi. Thank you to Anika Mukerjee for organising this event and inviting Upahaar's students : Piya Varma, Nandana Rajeevan, Hiya Varma and Sanya Narayanan, Diya Ponsudahar, Anaga Murali and Niranshana Suresh, who presented a variety of pieces for the evening | | |
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Bharatanatyam Arangetram of Anaga Murali |
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A huge milestone in Anaga's life was completed on December 12th at The Bhavan - her Bharatanatyam Arangetram! | | |
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Pallavi Anand in Akram Khan's Outwitting the Devil |
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Pallavi Anand continues to perform in Akram Khan's production Outwitting the Devil in a variety of locations through December including London, Israel and Germany. | | |
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Mohiniyattam at Baithak UK's 'Prakriti' |
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Daniella Zak Varghese recently performed a Mohiniyattam piece Rama Saptham for Baithak UK's online dance festival Prakriti. This piece is in Ragamalika, set to Adi thalam, Composed and Choreographed by Kalamandalam KalyaniKutty Amma. | | |
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Devonshire Square's Diwali Celebrations |
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Upahaar was grateful to perform for Akademi at Devonshire Square's Diwali Festival 2021! Guru Smt Shalini Shivashankar, Daniella Zak Varghese and Piya Varma represented the Mohiniyattam Ensemble as they performed a Shloka - Shantakaram and a Thillana in Ragam Desh.
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Prathap Ramachandra's 'PolyMrithm' |
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In a seemingly chaotic universe, musical patterns provide shelter with their orderly, predicted behaviour. But what if they too start conversing just as disorderly, bouncing off at counterpoints you least expect them to meet. Welcome to PolyMrithm, A polyrhythmic euphoric composition. Watch Prathap Ramachandra and B. C. Manjunath while they unravel the mysteries of ancient arts of Mridangam and Konnakol. | | |
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ISKON South London's Diwali Programme |
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In November, Upahaar's senior Bharatanatyam and Mohiniyattam students were grateful to present a variety of classical dance pieces for South London ISKON's Diwali Celebrations! | | |
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The Shukatundakaha Hastha Viniyogam written by Diya Choudhary, a Grade 4 Bharatanatyam Student from the Bromley branch. | | |
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Stories of Lord Krishna Aditi Rai, a Grade 5 student form the Croydon branch wrote an exam paper on the stories of Lord Krishna. Anecdotes regarding his life that are unique to a Grade 4 dance Shabdam, were described. | | |
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The Natyashastra & The Abhinaya Darpana Koshitha Shree Sriram, a Grade 5 student from the Bromley branch, completed an essay describing the scriptures that guide Indian Classical Dance: The Natyashastra and The Abhinaya Darpana | | |
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Upahaar would like to ensure all students and rasikas of the classical arts are aware of upcoming programmes, to inspire further practice and widen our appreciation of the Indian classical art forms. |
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Music Academy's Online Margazhi Season |
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| | Madras Music Academy's Junior, Sub-senior, and Senior dancers will be performing from 3rd January to 5th January 2022.
We can view 12 concerts online in high definition. | | |
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| | Dancers include Christopher Gurusamy, Mahati Kannan, Meera Sreenarayanan, Apoorva Jayaraman, Parshwanath Upadhye, Lakshmi Parthasarathy Athreya, Alarmel Valli, Priyadarsini Govind, Malavika Sarukkai, Narthaki Nataraj, Rama Vaidyanathan and Praveen Kumar. | | |
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Kalakshetra's 68th Annual Arts festival. |
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The prestigious Kalakshetra's 68th Annual Arts festival is also running online, allowing us in the UK to view a variety of well-acclaimed classical dance and music performances. | | |
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Divya Ravi's 'Kanhopatra' |
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Divya Ravi, a well established Bharatanatyam artist now living in the UK, will be presenting her new work Kanhopatra in Nruthya Neeranjana 2021, a 3-day dance festival running online and in Bangalore | | |
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