Oct 31 2019 Lok-kala Festival

Namaskara,

"Abhivyakti fetival series 2019-20" in association with Alliance francaise de Bangalore. October 31st 2019, 5.00 pm onwards,

Abhivyakti Lokakala Utsav (celebration of rich cutural heritage of Karnataka through the folk dances form with live ensemble) followed by Rajyotsava celebrations. Festival Conceptualized by Manasi Pandya Raghunandan, Dances directed by Raghu Nandan S, presented by Artists of Abhivyakti.

The guests and dignitaries who graced the occasion were:

• Prof. Mysore V. Subramanya
• Dr. Wooday P. Krishna

Lokakala is an important part of a region, of a country's cultural values, ethos and traditions. These forms of dances are simple, harmonious and social in nature. It brings people together, with a similar idea, of joy and satisfaction. Several folk dance forms celebrate the rural and domestic life and beliefs. Some forms celebrate the begining of harvest season, a philosophical idea, a spiritual celebration, a social occasion or a gathering for various cultural reasons.

The essence of the folk dance forms lies in bringing people together and celebrating a simple but a full life. Today's presentations are inspired from traditional folk dance forms of the state of Karnataka and the region of Coorg. These is conceptualized and brought on to the stage under the choreography and direction of Kalayogi Vid. Guru Raghunandan S. Presented by his disciples.

The presentation is brought to a beautiful ambiance alive, by the music support of the accompanying musicians and artists:

Cymbals: Sri Raghu Nandan S

Vocal: Sri Vinay Raaj Manya

Flute: Sri Vid Vivek Krishna

Percussion: Sri Raghavendra

The sequences are:

1) Ummataata is one of the traditional folk dances of karnataka performed by the ladies. In this form the women dance by showing symbols on the hand... with gentle and sober movements which emphasize the lasya or the graceful aspect of dance. The costume of this is a typical coorgi saree worn in the coorgi style with a red color scarf on the head. This attire draws inspiration from mohini a disguise of Vishnu during samudra manthana.

The literature of Ummataata praises the mother goddess Kaveri thanking her for fertile water that allows them to have a prosperous life.

2) Kolaata is another folk dance of Karnataka. Here the joy and exuberance of dance can be seen. Kolaata present in almost all cultures of India with different names in Gujarat, Kolkata, Punjab, Andrapradesh etc. Every folk culture in India has kolaata in one form or another. Kolaata is a very energetic dance where men and women dance with sticks in their hand for regional folk songs. Kolaata is performed in various movements choreographed in various patterns such as circular parallel diagonal lines and the movements are more with leaps and jumps.

3) Deepanrithya is another folk dance where women dance with deepas a symbol of purity and auspiciousness. In our culture it is believed that lighting of the dance will lead us from ignorance to knowledge, darkness to light and so on. So women dance with Deepas in their hands forming various patterns. The literature for this deepanrithya has been written by Vidhwan Raghunadan S

4) Fisherman dance or Bestanrithya...

The fisherman dance is basically performed by the people residing at the coast which denotes their livelihood of fishing and helping people cross shores safely as navikas.

This dance is a representation of how they dance in the water and the movement of the boat in the water. The costume is closely associated with the fisherman and easily identifiable. This dance is specially choreographedy by Vidhwan Raghunadan S for the glorious occasion

5) Jai Bharatajananiya Tanujaate is the Naada geete of Karnataka. This Song has been adopted and choreographed by Vidhwan Raghunadan S specially for tomorrow's Kannada Rajyotsava.

6) One of the popular folk songs Tingaalumulugidavo. In this song Mother Goddess Chamundi is being praised and the children dance with joy and happiness with simple folk steps. This song will be performed by our institution's young students who have just begin the journey of dance training. This song has been choreographed by Kumari Sonia a senior student of our Institution.

7) Jade kolaata is one of the most popular and complicated dance sequences. In this form the performers not only dance but also braid sarees similar to how a woman braids her hair. The challenge is not just to braid the sarees but also to un-braid them while dancing. This vibrant dance is considering a successful dance only when both the braiding and un-braiding takes place successfully. The song is Rangurangu kolanaadi kunidu nalidu mereyuva where all the Gopikas dance and praise Lord Krishna.

8) Udayavagali Namma cheluva Kannada Naadu

A poem that's very simple to understand and yet describes the vibrant colors and wealth of Karnataka be it the Mountain ranges, the scholars or the rivers it has it all.

This popular song has been chosen to be performed for the occassion of Kannada Rajyotsava by Vidhwan Kalayogi Raghunadan S

9) Kamsaale is another folk dance of Karnataka. It is one of the most energetic and vibrant dances which is identified basically by the literature basically where in the God Mallai Mahadeshwara is praised. Men dance with Cymbals in their hand making circular and rhythmic formations.

Another significant factor of Kamsaale involves the various acrobatics formations made during the course of dance which appeal to one and all. And it tests the fitness of the performing dancer.

This kamsale performance has been choreographed by Vidhwan Raghunadan S

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It gives us immense pleasure and pride to share with you all that the Abhivyakti cultural trust (R) Bangalore is presenting a series of festival titled Abhivyakti National festival series 2019-2020 in association with Alliance Française de Bangalore, Vasanthnagar. This is a mega festival and a humble way of preservation and promotion of Indian culture. All festival programs and workshops as well as activities are completely free of cost and there is no registration amount charged from participants or audiences.

Through this festival, we are intending to reach out to art lovers, enthusiasts and encourage young artists and students by providing a platform to exhibit their talent in painting, Indian classical music and dance. This dance festival is also aimed at paving a way to bridging the gap between the experiences of senior most and celebrated exponents from the field and the interests of the art aspirants and young artists of the field.

Inaugural program of this year's festival series was on August 26th 2019. It was Abhivyakti Nirmiti. It was successfully completed.

You can have a look at festival photos and updates on:

Photos: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1sqas9lq_rJslE7YZ7pR5OS5qWUyNKk73

The second program is on launch by 27th September 2019 (Invite card soft copy and brochure attached)

Upcoming festival series program’s include:

October 31st Lok-kala

Festival link: https://sites.google.com/view/abhivyakti-festivals/home

What is the upcoming festival all about?

What to expect on 31st October 2019?

How to participate?

Folk arts:

• This would provide more chances for young people to learn about a very important aspect of our culture.

• This is a way the young and the old could come together and spend some time together

• it tunes down the complexity of modern instrumentation and takes it back to basics

• It can also give you your identity or speak about your culture/ background, which can have a strong effect on your personality

• Often employed to share a common history, to reinforce cultural values or highlight important traditions.

• Not only highly entertaining, they also play an important role in passing along core values or character traits

Lok Kala:

Meaning and what we look out for the participants to understand:

Lok: Folk:

• People in general.

• Relating to the traditional art or culture of a community or nation.

Kala: Art:

• The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination,

• Typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture,

• Producing works to be appreciated

• Primarily for their beauty or emotional power.

And

• The various branches of creative activity, such as painting, music, literature, and dance.

Abhivyakti festival series 2019-2020

The festival aims at promoting Indian culture and values by the medium of arts and at preservation of traditional performing arts and crafts. The festival aims at providing young talents and aspirants a platform to come closer to the knowledge provided by the experts and seniors in the industry, thereby bridging an important gap

The vision to the make Indian strongly present in the world cultural map and being active in the World which has become a global village and connect different dots and bring a beautiful picture to life by devoting the festival's work of bringing in diverse arts and crafts all at one stage in the very humble and elegant way We are presenting this festival in a most humble way and we have the passion to promote Indian culture and values through arts to everyone.

The world is a global village and we wish to put India strongly up on the world's cultural map. We are looking for Social cooperation and associations and partnerships so that Art can reach to the hearts and we could have these festivals play a small but a vital role in bringing people and nations more together and closer and way much beyond boundaries and distances and differences.

This festival is open to all. A purely NON Commercial series. Non ticketed.

(This event has concluded) How to apply:

A) Professional artists/ professional art institutes

Please register your name and contact number, along with samples of your work, photos/video links and a cue sheet/synopsis/concept note describing that your art belong to which folk genre, and bio data to our email id: abhivyakti.festivals@gmail.com,

This email should also include a passport size photo of each participant of the group in the attachment along with names and total headcount of people coming with you. Entry is reserved for those pre-registered only. We would be happy to send you the invite card following the same. Kindly do this before 12th September 2019. Individual artists can apply as well.

B) Amateurs, upcoming artist, college and school students can apply to be a part of the competitions – (This is open for solo/duet/group as well)

The group can also include family members.

• Please fill the online form:

• Please put the correct email id and phone number.

• Don’t forget to attach photos/ video / document of concept note about your art/ proposed work of art

• . Entry is reserved for those pre-registered only. We would be happy to send you the invite card following the same. Kindly do this before 15th September 2019.

Certificates will be given to all participants.

For those enrolling in the competitions, once you register you will get information in email about the agenda, competition rules and flow of the program. Each participant should reply to the same email so to confirm your final participation.

Do visit the festival website linked at the main website of Abhivyakti

www.abhivyakticulturaltrust.com