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| Issue No.3 | 09-7-2020 | Lockdown Edition |
NEWSDAY REPORTS
Welcome! This is your place to find out the new things happening with our school! This edition informs you about some of the new initiatives, virtual competitions and tells you how students are performing.
~ NLD’s very first House Concert
To motivate the girls and to give an opportunity for them to showcase their efforts, we are proud and happy to announce that we will be starting our very own NLD House Concert Series.
When: 19th Sep, 2020
Time: 6:00 PM - 6:30 PM
Where: NLD’s Zoom Room
Performing Student: Varsha Punati
Varsha is a junior and was all set with theater bookings and other logistics for her Arangetram this August however with the pandemic, this milestone had to take a back burner. While she does plan to present a full scale traditional arangetram soon, this opportunity is to give due credit to her for the hard work she has put in thus far and for the utmost regularity of coming to classes even through the entire shelter in place. She is working hard to present to you a short 30 min solo recital and seek your blessings and support. Flyer will be sent out soon. Please save the date and don’t forget to tune in. This will be over our school’s zoom meeting link and will also be streamed over our youtube channel only for NLD families (and extended family of the performing student). Details will follow close to the concert. We hope that everyone can attend the concert and support your fellow classmates and seniors.
~ Monthly NLD Competitions
We had a good response for our first monthly competition although we really encourage others to submit for our next month’s entry. Please remember to read through the guidelines for the category you are submitting in. Our first monthly competition result is as below. We are very honored that Dr. Sridhar Vasudevan graciously agreed to judge our very first set of participants. The results are as follow :-
Beginner -
1st Prize - Anagha Kurulkar
2nd Prize - Alison Simon & Maanya Pratap
3rd Prize - Deeksha Karthikeyan
Special Mention - Diya Karthikeyan
Intermediate -
1st Prize - Suhani Akilesh
2nd Prize - Deepti Krishna
3rd Prize - Nidhi Manayilakath
Congratulations to all the participants and winners!
Please follow the following rules and guidelines for submission of entry videos specific to the category:
The competition will be split into the three categories listed below, along with detailed instructions.
General Video instructions:
When recording, your camera must be stationary, and your background must be either plain or neatly decorated (it can also be a backyard recording).
No extra video editing or mixing (the audio must be heard directly and clearly externally).
No additional prompting or help.
Beginner:
Time Limit allotted : 3 min - 5 min
To participate in this category you must be efficient in adavus, hastas, and your hasta viniyoga.
You may send in ONE video of shlokas, hastas, and any adavu. Please note these should not be mixed versions of multiple videos, it should be shot in one video.
When recording, you must be dressed in a proper costume with your hair braided, wearing earrings, and preferably wearing kajal below the eyes.
We also prefer that you state your first and last name, and a very short reason for why you chose to learn bharatanatyam.
An unlisted YouTube link in this format - FName_LName_Category
Intermediate:
Time Limit allotted: 7 min - 8 min
You may send in a video of the piece along with a description , ragam talam composer and choreographer.
A short introduction about yourself and why you chose to start bharatanatyam.
When recording, you must be dressed in full costume, along with jewelry, light makeup and bells.
An unlisted YouTube link in this format - FName_LName_Category
Advanced:
Time limit allotted: 10 min
When participating in this category, you must give a bio of yourself, along with an intro of the piece that you will perform (Ragam, talam, composer, choreographer and small explanation of the piece).
Piece must be recorded in on stretch, no editing or mixing permitted.
You must be dressed in full costume and jewelry.
You must also be wearing bells while performing.
An unlisted YouTube link in this format - FName_LName_Category
~Student of the Month
Every month starting July, a student will be picked, and will be recognized for their overall performance, across three levels of learning; beginner, intermediate, and advanced. While this has been frequently mentioned in class, this finally seems to be the right time to acknowledge the efforts these girls are putting in for their respective levels. This is just the beginning and hope is to see more girls win this recognition in the months to come and something for them to work towards, especially for the little ones. I take a lot of pride in each and every one of my students, and this is a way for me to show my appreciation to the ones who really put in all their effort. Congratulations to this month’s students! You guys have made me really proud!
-Beginner - Sahana Santhosh, 7 year old. Congrats!
-Intermediate - Adhvika Sasikumar, 16 year old. Congrats!
-Advanced- Shrinidhi Gopal, 16 year old. Congrats!
DARPANAA ~ The Reflector Series
Yet another accomplishment in NLD’s journey has been the beginning of this new chapter. On 3rd March 2020, we launched a creative off-shoot called Darpanaa - The Reflector Series!
This will provide a forum for all Bharatanatyam students and aspirants, to reflect upon some valuable areas of the art form. Darpanaa hopes to achieve this through workshops and lecture demonstrations on focal points to be conducted by esteemed musicians and artists from our culturally rich Bay Area and visiting artists from India. This series will primarily focus upon various elements that relate to and benefit in growing from a dancer to an artiste, and ultimately achieving pure joy and peace to the soul within.
Darpanaa would like to explore topics that drill deep into the art form with esteemed artistes, opening up perspectives for sadhakas and allowing them to manifest in themselves a quality to aspire, be creative, think out of the box and become better artistes and human beings through the medium of art.
For more information subscribe to the newsletter by visiting www.darpanaa.org
Taala Darpanaa - Session 1: The maiden session of the Darpanaa’s reflector series took place on May 16th and 17th, led by Shri. Vaibhav Arekar Ji. About 16 participants joined this first Darpanaa session and felt better at understanding the topic. All of them thought it was a very valuable and interactive workshop. The students are looking forward to many more of these neatly organized sessions. We thank Vaibhav Sir for this amazing and helpful session. Thank you for taking your time to teach these eager students!
Taala Darpanaa - Session 2: On popular demand Darpanaa hosted the second session of the maiden workshop which took place on the 30th and 31st of May led by Shri. Vaibhav Arekar. This workshop was a re-run of session 1 and covered the same topic of Cross Rhythms in dance and Taala. This was very helpful for the participants who were unable to attend the previous workshop. Thank you Vaibhav Sir again for the wonderful and helpful session.
Taala Darpanaa Reviews and Testimonials
~The Taala Darpanna workshop was a very fun experience. I learned a lot in this workshop. I enjoyed learning how to understand Taala in each Jathi. This helped me understand the rhythm of a dance piece. I also enjoyed being able to meet a new dance Guru from a different part of the world and learn something from them. The things that I learned in this workshop are things that I will use when I am learning dance. This workshop gave me a new perspective on understanding a dance piece. Now when I listen to the song of a dance piece, I will be listening to find the Taala of the dance. Thank you Sudha aunty and Darpanaa for this opportunity.
~Ananya Jayaraman
~Taala Darpana was an awesome workshop with vaibhav sir.It was a great debut beginning to Darpanaa.It was an opportunity to understand the details of Taalam and how jathi is composed based on the taalam.For me it was totally a new experience to know the details involved with so many variations in composing the jathis.Loved trying it out. And the new item taught was entirely different choreography which I have not danced or learnt.Thanks a lot Sudha Akka for giving us so many opportunities to learn and improvise in this art. Feeling very blessed.
~Priya Akilesh
-I thought that this workshop was very useful in understanding taala. It was interesting to learn about cross rhythms because you can recognize them as well as other patterns that were taught in many of the items we did. Overall, I had a great time learning about cross rhythms and the Ganesh item.
~Advika Sasikumar
Third Session: The third session took place on August 8th and 9th led by Dr.Sridhar Vasudevan. It was called Tattva Darpanaa~Reflecting Upon the Five Elements. In this session, participants learned about the tattva, the five essential elements and how it is related to the form of Nataraja. Participants also learned the Shiva Panchakshari stotram, which is a classic example to support this significance and concept of Tattva Darpanaa. Thank you Vasu Sir for this valuable knowledge!
{Note: We have not received any reviews from participants of our school on this session and would like to give a gentle reminder to kindly send us your thoughts and reviews of your experience through this workshop}
QUIZ TIME!
~Quiz for Darpanaa participants: Click Here
~ Mythology Quizzes
~ Ramayana Quiz for https: Click Here (this quiz is not mandatory)
Games
Welcome to our new games segment! In this segment we will be including fun and interactive games to play! These games test your theory and memory in dance!!! Have loads of fun!
Crossword Puzzle: Click Here (not mandatory)
NLD on social media
Quarantine time :: Productive Time...check out some postings made by NLD on FB and IG. (you can click on the titles to view the videos)
-Narasimha Kauthuvam by Swara Krishnan
-NatyaAkademi Short Concert by Swara Krishnan
-NatyaAkademi Short Concert by Sudha Krishnan
-Five PM Namaskar by Sudha Krishnan and Swara Krishnan
- Five pm namaskar by Priya Akilesh and Suhani Akilesh
- Rama Nama Methudi by Sudha Krishnan
- Meenakshi pancharatnam by Swara Krishnan
-A short concert by Shrinidhi Gopal
-A short concert by Nivedita Warrier
- Maati Baani - A short Collaboration by Sudha Krishnan with Vandita Parikh
- Music in CA concert by Sudha Krishnan
- Vibhavana Foundation, a short concert by Swara Krishnan for Natya Bodhi Series
Creativity
Blogs, Vlogs, Story Writing, Poems and more…..
Give your creativity a boost by sharing one of your works in any of the above categories via email and we will make sure it features on our next newsletter edition.
What do you need to do? Just be yourself! Also, remember to turn in your submission before the 15th of each month. If you are interested but need a reminder, let us know and we will make sure to reach out to you.
This segment is free for anyone to share, including adults :)
Blog by the Artistic Director
Did you know our teacher loves to write? To access her blog, click here .
Q and A with the Artistic Director
If you have any questions which you feel others might also benefit from, please feel free to send them our way and we will make sure we get it answered on our next edition.
{Questions are open to parents and adult students as well- They can be sent to Swara or Suhani:swara.krishnan@gmail.com, lightnight2123@gmail.com or aahna.thottempudi@gmail.com}
Question from prior newsletter carried forward:
What helps you to express difficult expressions in a piece, and what do you consider is the hardest bhava to express?
One thing that helps me bring about the most difficult expressions is to understand the meaning of the piece, and listen to the music over and over again. If the piece is a popular one taught to me by my guru, I try to bring the picture of my eyes as it was taught. This helps me recollect all class conversations in the class about how to express the piece. The hardest bhavam for me to express is Sringara bhavam.
Dear Students,
Hope you are all doing well and have resumed with online learning at schools. Wishing you all a fantastic academic year ahead! May you all succeed in every subject and endeavors. One thing that I would like to write to you all about is - Time, which is critical. We can never steal the previous minute even if we wanted to. There will always be a lot of things to do, but I am sure, all that you do has been carefully measured by your parents and given to you only because you all are capable of it and can ACE each and every bit of all you do. Don’t forget to set aside ‘time’ for all you want to accomplish. Have a favorite ‘time’ to practice dance too, dress up in proper outfit (especially for older girls) which kicks in a lot of enthusiasm to get on the floor and sweat it out with the practice. It is very easy to get demotivated and give up, but what is important is to keep the positive stride within us because that makes those around us happy. Isn’t it our duty to spread joy and cheer to those around us? Who are around us? Yes, PARENTS! They have been through this pandemic with you, by you, riding along and doing every bit to keep you and the entire family sailing smooth and healthy so it is your duty also to keep them happy by doing what they like you to do. There is no greater formula for success than keeping our parents happy. Rest will all follow and fall in its place.
Love, Sudha Aunty
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