Tweet Aesthetic value in Classical Arts- ethical or intimidating ? The dance and music season is a time to soak in culture. But often one has to ask whose culture or what culture it is. To me as a practitioner, and hence an insider, this season has been about reflection on […]
Tweet Following Carnatic singer TM Krishna’s recent comments about the Tamil Brahmin community’s social acceptance of MS Subbalaksmi, another debate has opened up on a different trajectory. The debate is not about MS Amma, but of how we perceive, imagine and discuss the past lives and present condition of Devadasis and their families. Some Carnatic […]
Tweet As this was an article I wrote exclusively for the SDHS (Society of Dance History Scholars) convention and has been published by them, I am herewith providing the link to the PDF of the article. Please click the link below to access the article. I would value your comments. Ganesh_sdhs2 Tweet
Tweet Notions of “classical” in Bharatanatyam: a cultural operation of the classes – arguments of the cosmopolitan Margi and indigenous Desi, repertoires of the Nayak period – Dr. Swarnamalya Ganesh e-mail: swarnamalya@gmail.com India’s greatest wealth, development and civilisation have been stirred by its political and cultural processes (Talbot, 2006). In turn, the political agendas have […]
Tweet He was the most illustrious of his dynasty. The moment we hear his name our minds will wander to the temple city of the South- Madurai He ruled from Madurai between 1623-59. This mighty king was not just a great ruler but also a very keen connoisseur of the various arts. It was in […]
Tweet They waltz in together. Two women adorned with beautiful nose rings, toes rings, chutti, Jadai billai, naagar, their silken pallus sweeping the floor, thick braided hair swinging from side to side, they walk into the room. Every eye turns towards them. The air is filled with the scent of the champaka, punnaaga, mallika and […]
Tweet This blog is inspired by another blog written by the renowned Danseuse and scholar Lakshmi Viswanathan ji as part of her column “seen and heard” in Narthaki.com ( see below for the link to her blog). Her article is titled “hasta mudra”. The concept of using finger signs for communication is age old. Man, […]
Tweet Namaskarams, I am guilty for my long silence. I know I can blame it on my work load, travelling and much more, but all that would be lame. When we are aware of the body of work people like Dr.Raghavan, TNR Sir, M.Goplakrishna Iyer and others have done, writing, working and writing more I […]
Tweet Dear all,I realize this blog is also quite not as immediate to my previous on as I would have desired. But a lot of travelling had me on my toes, literally. But here I am, to continue the journey.Im sure you all remember my eulogy to a great mentor in Dr. T.N.Ramachandran sir of […]
Tweet Hi everyone, I know I have been silent for too long. I was first silenced by the loss of my dear Guru. I then took upon myself to throw that melancholia into finishing much of my research work that was pending. That done, now I am finally back to filling these pages. I have […]