Newsletter contact info:

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J U N E

UPCOMING
EVENTS
June 14: Bharatanatyam
Arangetaram of Shayana
Venukanthan and
Nayana Venukanthan @
Consumnes Oak High
School, 3:30 pm (Nritta
school of dance)
June 20: Annual recital
of Kalanjali students, @
Rosemont High School
Theater

2 0 1 5

E D I T I O N

Website: http://kaladhaara.weebly.com

Introductory note - Mathura Viswanathan

USE MORE WATER!

Dance is an activity that excites people at varying levels; as a hobby or as
a full-fledged passion for others. There isnt a more invigorating sight
than seeing a dancer with their lithe movements and graceful postures,
swaying to the tune of music in-sync with the beats, forgetting the world
around them and conveying a myriad of emotions and connecting with
the audience viscerally.

June 21: Bharatanatyam

Arangetaram of
Chathuri Gunasekara &
Manulya Gunasekara
@Consumnes Oak High
School, 3:00 pm (Nritta
school of dance)

June 27: Bharatanatyam

Arangetram of Vrinda
Gupta @ Rosement High
School Theater
(Kalanjali school of
dance)

June 11,15-17, 22-25,

29, 30 : Summer workshop by Kalakshetra KP
Yeshoda (Kalanjali)

SPACE
AVAILABLE
PLACE YOUR
AD HERE!

HEALTH TIP

Kaladhaara was conceptualized with an underlying vision of giving back

to the community, my learning and assimilation of nuances of
Bharatanatyam inculcated in 25+ years. Never did I realize that this will
transform into one of Sacramento's leading classical dance institutions.
This was made possible by the enthusiastic group of students with us kids, teenagers and adults, who are very passionate about embracing this
classical art form. They wholeheartedly put in hours of practice in their
pursuit of perfection, in addition to their academic and extra-curricular
commitments. Special thanks to their parents who are cheerleaders and
our pillars of support. The local community in Sacramento, has provided
patronage for all our events with open arms and we are very thankful for
this.
In an effort to recognize the Art enthusiasts who have been the reason for
what we are today, Kaladhaara Arts Academy takes great pleasure in
introducing to you " Artbeats", a quarterly diverse newsletter. Our
mission is to recognize and showcase all art forms in a way that promotes
education, communication, synergy and appreciation. Our sincere goal is
to present the newsletter as a medium that has the capacity to benefit
society through networking and sharing diverse art related information.
Additionally, the newsletter will contain interesting & enriching articles,
useful tips, tidbits and calendar of upcoming events . We are super excited to launch the next phase of what has been an exciting journey thus
far.
Happy reading!

Are you shocked about

being asked to use more
water in our current
drought condition? Stop
worrying!! You are
being asked to drink
more water to save
your body from becoming drought stricken
like California :-)
Did you know that the
human body is more
than 60% water? Research has shown that
drinking a minimum of
8 cups of water a day is
absolutely essential for
a healthy life and if you
are a physically active
person, you will need
even more than this
every day.
So finish reading this
newsletter and get your
next cup of water !!

PAGE

Feature Special
Destiny and Passion Fulfilled - Katherine Kunhiraman

We would be
like missionaries
in the jungle,
and might, from
time to time,
find ourselves in
the cannibals
pot

People often ask me how I came to

India, and how I chose such a challenge to be my lifes path. I had just
started college when in 1963, my
stepfather was appointed an advisor
for Indias Fourth Five-Year Plan for
development through the Ford Foundation. It was to be a one-year assignment. He took us all out of school - I
was eighteen, and three sisters - thirteen, ten and six also joined us. My
interests were already established;
theatre, religion, history, textiles, and
I quickly found all these well addressed in Indias classical dances.
The appointment was extended yearby-year for twelve years -enough time
for me to study dance, get married,
have a child and a dancing career, and
dream new dreams.
I married my Kathakali teacher and
we danced in two separate dance
companies, he with our alma mater,
Kalakshetra, and me with the
Dhananjayans in their new BharataKalanjali. Starting from scratch we
learned how to develop an institution,
to promote the dance company, to
teach young children, to write the
vast quantity of publicity the performing arts constantly demand - all
skills that would serve well when we
made the next move. When we had
both agreed to try a new life in a new
place, Kunhiraman was eager enough
to take the chance. I warned him that
we would be like missionaries in the
jungle, and might, from time to time,
find ourselves in the cannibals pot.
He gave up a great place in Indian
arts, a senior artist with the famous
Kalakshetra Dance Company, a veteran of numerous performing tours
through Government of India Cultural
Delegations and Rukmini Devis own
performing calendar. His experience
with her covered the thirty years
within the Kalakshetra fold, and for
the first ten years in California he
returned annually to perform in their

winter festival. To the dismay

of my parents, I had walked
away from many doors open to
me in the world of design, and
advertising, illustration, fashion. Having seen a performance of Bharatanatyam I knew
where my life was going to
lead me, and I never wavered
from that path. I had fallen in
love with Kathakali from reading about it, and Kalanjali as a
teaching organization has been
a source of great pride to both
of us. I have no regrets. he
often declared, and neither do
I. We have the joy of seeing our
former students children
come to us for training; some
have become professional
performers. We had decided
our philosophy would have to
recognize the reality that a
career as a performer was a
hard path, and that learning of
the antiquity and precision
that is part of these performing
traditions is an end in itself. To
learn enough to love this art, to
grow up into an educated and
enthusiastic member of the
audience is a worthy goal.
With age our activities shifted
from performing to teaching.
With many grants from the
National Endowment for the
Arts and the California Arts
Council we carried these arts
across many states, before
many people of all ages and
cultures. Kalanjalis performance opened the first evening
of the first San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival on 1978,
and our students often joined
us over the past 36 years. Last
summer we were given the
Malonga Casquelourd Lifetime
Achievement Award, and Kunhiraman was to dance the
same piece he had performed
that first year of the festival.

Unfortunately he died two

days before the festival, but
had seen all the publicity and
prepared himself for the performance. He left this earth
with the anticipation of recovery and future performances
despite being nearly 84. His
own guru, TK Chandu Panikkar
had been in his 90s on his last
performance. That is one of the
beauties of Indian arts, that
there is space to ripen within a
tradition right to the very end
of life.
Kalanjali as a teaching organization has been a source of
great pride to both of us. I
have no regrets. he often declared, and neither do I. We
have the joy of seeing our former students children come to
us for training; some have
become professional performers. We had decided our philosophy would have to recognize the reality that a career as
a performer was a hard path,
and that learning of the antiquity and precision that is part
of these performing traditions
is an end in itself. To learn
enough to love this art, to grow
up into an educated and enthusiastic member of the audience
is a worthy goal.
Forty years, about a hundred
arangetrams, thousands of
students who embody at least
some degree of their ancient
culture, Indians, IndoAmericans, non-Indians - we
have touched so many lives. I
am grateful that destiny allowed me to follow this path,
and fulfill what many declared
to be an impossible dream. I
feel blessed to have been able
to handle this beautiful art in
all its aspects.

JUNE

2015

EDITION

PAGE

Art Corner - Maestro G S Rajan

ried' to six Ragini(s) or nymphs. The result of this joining is the equation of 6x6=36. The creation of three or
more Ragini(s) who are born as a result of the union.
These three daughters are Bhava, Rasa, and Svara and
they in turn give all the special qualities of Bhava, Rasa
and Svara to their parents.
It is easy to compose using a raga and its specified
While listening to a 'dance-drama' score on YouTube, ascending and descending notes - arohana and avarothese thoughts came to my mind. Composing music
hana - to create a melody. But the uniqueness comes in
for dance is an art totally different from other comwhen we try to use the raga according to the emotion
(the dancer trying to show) and perhaps try out
positions. The composer should read the selected
lyrics carefully, understand its meaning, then under- 'swara moorchana' technique to give a unique identity
to the melody instead of sounding it like many other
stand the choreographer's visual interpretation.
existing compositions.
Every choreographer can interpret the selected lyrics differently.
Another point to remember while composing for

This article was first published in narthaki.com

and we are republishing here with permission
from the author.

It is also desirable that the music composer keep the

concept of raga-ragini in mind while composing for
dance. Raga - Male and Ragini - Female. The raga also
has a feminine form called a Ragini. A Ragini is usually a condensation of the main theme of the melody.
The place occupied by the Ragini becomes much
more complex when we deconstruct the classification of ragas.
The way Indians expressed the musical and mathematical principles of the construct of the raga in the
ancient treatises is through the mythological analogy. Each of these ancient principal ragas, as taught
and expounded in the ancient universities and
schools of India, are visualised as joined 'to, or, mar-

dance is to avoid regular gamakas as much as possible.

Importance should be given to lyrics so that it is easy
for the dancer to emote a particular emotion. We
should attempt perfect 'swara sudhi' (perfect placement of notes) rather than 'sruti sudham' (perfectness
in pitch). While composing swara patterns for dance,
leave out lots of spaces and try not to make mathematical swara pattern. Leave that job to the dancer or
nattuvanar. When leaving spaces in between swara
patterns, not only the beauty of silence is highlighted
but also it gives ample space for the dancer or nattuvanar to fill them with rhythmic patterns. This will result
in the perfect marriage of melody and rhythm = Laya.

Perfect marriage
of melody and
rhythm = Laya

Importance of music/dance camps

Here is an excerpt of a
conversation between
three generations about
their view point on the
enrichment these
camps provide to learning art forms
Grandmother: I see
dance/music camps as an
experience closest to our
traditional Gurukula
form of learning. The students will get a chance to
bond better with their

teachers, which will help them to hone their

techniques and also get focused time to have
a deeper understanding of the art form.

Here is an account from a student who

attended Kaladhaaras 2014 summer
dance camp under Guru N. Srikanth

This dance camp is an unforgettable experience for me. I have become better at the execution of techniques, stamina, flexibility and a
deeper insight into the art form. The adavu
sessions and the yoga sessions helped me
Daughter: I love these camps since they are a
great way to make new friends and build last- with body endurance. The theory classes on
ing relationships. It is energizing to learn and navarasas, abhinayas, and talas were enchanting. I was fortunate to get valuable feedback
share with students from different schools.
The performance after the workshops fills me on improvement areas. I am eagerly waiting
with happiness and pride.
for the next workshop to continue on my
learning journey.
Mother: Dance/music camps are very important since they enable a student to harness
their inner strength and realize that even sky
is not the limit.