wordless story

Thought behind the thought
The art of story telling requires more than words. And at times, no words at all! The story teller's stance, body movements, from the sweep of an arm to the flick of an eyebrow, her facial expressions, all build up a wordless story. And whatever gaps there may be, are filled up by the observer's imagination. A picture painted without obvious brush strokes, a story told without words!
Performing artists, especially dancers , do just that! 

About the art 
Anita Ratnam, dancer-choreographer is a master story teller who communicates through the medium of dance. She says, "I am in dance because this is my own way of connecting with myself and the world. I consider myself a contemporary classicist.
When people see my work, they can tell that it is Indian in spirit but very contemporary in approach. Folk dancers and drummers who dance every evening after a hard day's work in the fields, traditional temple performers whose lives depend upon serving GOD during important festivals, actors who fuse movement with voice culture, young performers and students all over the world who want to learn new movement and the dynamics of cultural memories embedded into our South Asian bloodstream - these are the artistes who are the focus of my work.
I call myself a cultural activist because I believe in my culture. My culture doesn't mean just the performing arts. To me it stands for finding out about my roots and knowing who I am. And the classical arts are a very vital part of our culture."

She is the founder- director of 'Arangham' (meaning stage or performing space in Tamil) , the dance-led cultural foundation that seeks " to explore, enrich and promote the performing and visual arts of India and to contemporize the rich tapestry of indian creativity for modern audiences."
A scholar, writer and cultural activist, she presents and lectures on varied themes that bring a new perspective to the Indian Dance scene. Some of the themes that she has woven through her performances are : MA3KA...the triad supreme, ADHIROHANA - EMBODYING CHAKRAS, NEELAM...Drowning in Bliss, AVANI...A HANDFUL OF DUST, A MILLION SITAs, ANDARI - The Great Goddess, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSescZc4mL4

Credits and Source of information
http://arangham.com/infopics/abouther/storytelling/pics.html
http://www.arangham.com/anita/anita.html

upbeat

Thought behind the Thought

Little children performing on stage are such a delight to watch! The way they wait for their cue, and break out into a jig at the sound of the first notes, the way they get into the whole act of dancing with fervor, and the way they lose themselves to the rhythm of their own tapping feet!

As I watched the little ones dancing away with abandon, I thought about the tranquility it had brought to my mind, that had been trying to work out the logistics  and the nitty-gritty of work to be done during the day ahead.

The sound of their song and their little feet dancing to it surely changed my mood, and elevated my mind to a happier place. Yet some kids are not so fortunate and have turbulent lives....can dance become their hope?

Can dance become a channel to move on to a better life? Rebecca Davis and her dance company are doing just that in Rwanda. Homeless children, victims of genocide, have a means to better their lives through dance.

RDDC is an international NGO that runs dance and educational programs for street children and underserved youth in post-conflict and developing countries. Using a three-part model, RDDC prepares street children to re-integrate and succeed in the formal education system while gaining valuable job skills through vocational training.

In Phase I, street children improve 11 cognitive skills through a standardized dance curriculum. In Phase II, children acquire job skills through vocational training (IT or English Language). In Phase III, top performing students are sponsored to attend local boarding schools – thereby exiting life on the street and giving youth the power to advance their own lives.

 Information and Credits:

http://rebeccadavisdance.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyZMjd5klrs

hands

Thought behind the thought:

We communicate so much with our hands. In fact we have even come up with an entire sign language which people use to communicate effectively with the hearing impaired. A lot of times when conversation is of an engaging kind these hands just start their magic to emphasize everything that's being said. Yet in a contemplative frame of mind they join in prayer and seem to draw energy through them.Hands play such an important role in non verbal communication! In fact, after the eyes, which are probably the most effective medium of communicating emotions and intentions, it is the hands that convey a lot of what is not said verbally, to the other person. The movements of the hand, the way they are held, even the fingers moving in a certain way, all combine to communicate the thoughts of person without speaking a single word.

Bibhatsa rasa  

Shanta rasa     

Raudra rasa

  

  Shringar rasa   

 Adbhuta rasa   

                                                                   

Bhayanak rasa

  Hasya rasa 

     

  Karuna rasa   

                                                                        Veer rasa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vlkSv6NoNc

About the Art

Indian classical dance uses of hands to explore their full potential as visual communicators. Hast-mudras (Hand gestures) form a language in their own right while performing 'Abhinaya'(expressive technique).They help the dancer to express almost anything and everything. Natya Shastra emphasises the importance of hand gestures in the following quotation :

"Yato hastastato drishti"..."Where the hand is, the eyes follow"

"Yato drishtistato manaha"..."Where the eyes go, the mind follows"

"Yato manahastato bhava"..."Where the mind is, there is the expression"

"Yato bhavastato rasa"..."Where there is expression, there is mood/flavour (i.e., appreciation of art)

Shambhavi Dandekar, a prolific Kathak performer, versatile choreographer and a successful teacher expresses the nava-rasas , as seen in this series of photographs, with hand gestures and facial expressions that are the echoes of the mind!

Shambhavi took her lessons in Kathak from her mother, Guru Maneesha Sathe, a renowned Kathak exponent and her advanced training in Indian rhythm (laya-taal) under Pad. Taalyogi Pt. Suresh Talwalkar .She maintains the solid base of tradition, training (taleem), authenticity and dignity in her dance, while also trying out 'fusion' with a dash of new thought, technique and look. She hopes to spread her love for Kathak, to the new generation and connect the past and future through her scintillating performances and her passionate teaching.

source: http://www.kathakshambhavi.com/

for more videos, visit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxA40b3bVZk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NsyU9mPppE

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mudras_(dance)

travelling

What does travelling need? A great desire to seek the unknown and unseen. It means connecting with people, absorbing their culture and making great memories. It means discovering yourself by knowing others. It means lowering your guard and forgetting inhibition. Yet most importantly it means having fun. Join Matt in his extraordinary dance across the world. What started as a silly idea soon transformed into an Internet viral video and Matt was soon commissioned to this world wide trip on behalf of a chewing gum company.

Why does he do it? On his homepage he writes, “….. Travel is important. It helps us learn what we're capable of, that the path laid in front of us isn't the only one we can choose, and that we don't need to be so afraid of each other all the time.

Matt used to think you were either good at something or bad at something and there wasn't much you could do to change it. He wishes he'd learned sooner that you can get better at most things just by doing them over and over again. It really is that simple. Matt has travelled 14 months in the making the video to 42 countries with a cast of spontaneous thousands.

credits:

 http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/about

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY

dance

Renowned classical Indian dancer Ananda Shankar Jayant was diagnosed with cancer in 2009. She tells her personal story of not only facing the disease but dancing through it, and gives a performance revealing the metaphor of strength that helped her do it.

credits:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ-5swhJHUk