From the age of four, the rhythms of classical Indian dance excited Guru Kalaimamani Smt Chamundeswari Pani.

Born in Madras, South India, with a rich cultural background, she was inspired to enter the world of dance.

At the age of 11, Chamundeswari began her career and performed solo while traveling across India with a dance school.

Despite her intense dance training, Chamundeswari Pani managed to finish her studies and at only 18 years old she realized her dream of starting her own dance school, Nrityakshetra in Chennai.

And 15 years later, the government of Tamilnadu awarded her the prestigious title of “Kalaiimamani” for best dancer and “Natya Kalaiarasi” in 1985 for her contribution to art.

But when she met her husband Colonel Pani, a medic in the British Army, while he was on vacation, she was determined not to follow traditional wedding patterns that would destroy her career.

The 72-year-old said: “I thought if I got married it would stop and everyone told me to give up dancing. Usually what happens around this time you become a woman in household and your wife then has children.

“But I didn’t want that type of life, I wanted to be independent and alone, so I kept turning down marriage offers.

“I told my husband that I will never give up dancing, I will play but eventually I will start teaching.”

In 1987, after leaving India, Chamundeswari moved to Catterick with her husband and struggled to adapt to the cold after getting used to 10 months of sun in India, and began to miss home.

Colonel Pani was assigned to hospitals in Berlin and London where she attended before returning to Catterick. They eventually settled there for 13 years raising their son.

After making contact with the North East Cultural Trust, she set up dance lessons in South Shields before expanding to Newcastle, Middlesborough and now Darlington.

She added, “Although I had experience here, it was new to me, we are free here in India, we cannot touch the children to help them or hold them to correct them.

“It was difficult to understand. I had a few English students who signed up, but the language barrier made it difficult to teach, they found it difficult.”

Over the past 25 years, she has taught generations of students around the world, many of whom remain in touch with her today.

Known to many as Ms. Pani, she now acts as a cultural link keeping alive the traditional awareness of Bharatanatyam and Indian culture among the younger generations.

Her unique style of teaching with patience and love for her students is such that she is first to them a loving “aunt”, then a “guru”.

One of her students, Breeze George, who started classes with Ms Pani at the age of 13 and now runs her own dance company, said she had always been more than just a dance teacher .

The 26-year-old said: “Touched by her grace, blessed by her love and care and spellbound by her dedication to classical Indian arts.

“My favorite learning moments have never been at school, but with my Guru Kalaimamani Smt. Chamundeshwari Pani.

“As a mother, wife, teacher and more, she continues to inspire us on how to maintain a balance in life and be independent and respectful women.

“I still remember my first lesson with her and will continue to practice the wisdom she gave me. I love you Pani aunt.

Ms. Pani has received critical acclaim for her roles in dance dramas, received many prestigious awards for her contribution to dance, and holds the title of “Kalajyoti” for her relentless dedication to the art of Bharatanatyam in the North. East.

But one of her most treasured moments came in February 2018, when she was invited to a reception at Buckingham Palace in front of the heads of government of the Commonwealth of London, to meet Her Majesty The Queen.

The reception is organized to recognize the achievements of “those in the Commonwealth of Diaspora from across the UK who have made a notable contribution to the community at large”.

Ms Pani added: “When I was 12 I was supposed to play in front of the Queen, I was so happy. But that didn’t happen because there was an age barrier and I had to be 18 or older.

“But when I got the card to invite me to meet the Queen, I couldn’t believe it.

“I kept quiet about the meeting in case it didn’t happen again. The queen was so kind and had a smiley face.

“The feeling that I represented India and our culture was just amazing.”

Having devoted more than 40 years to dance, she continues to interest young children in this heritage.

ChronicleLive works with retired teacher Veena Soni, who is launching a project to document a series of nostalgic stories from the North East Indian community.

The aim of the project is to capture the history of the Asian community who traveled abroad to Newcastle in the 1950s-70s to enable future generations to have memories and to prevent these stories from being forgotten. or lost over time.

The short documentary How she moves celebrates the millennial traditions of dance and music in the piece of land we now call Pakistan. The documentary follows Indu Mitha, a 90-year-old ballet teacher from Lahore, and her students as they prepare for her latest dance recital.

With the partition of India and the removal of a Muslim-dominated state, the divided South Asian states faced new challenges. Among the challenges that affected the newly created Pakistan more than the historic state of India was the need to create a new national narrative, which was to recognize the culture and history of the land on which it stood. , so as not to alienate the population from their own ancestors.

At the same time, paradoxical as it is, the new narrative also had to separate itself from said culture and said history to justify the need for separation.

For reasons beyond the scope of this article, the power to define the existential narrative of over 75 million people has fallen into the hands of a few elite circles. These circles, blinded by their own aspirations for wealth and a careless desire for control, were ruthless with this narrative construction. In the quest to differentiate ourselves from our cousins ​​across the border, art has suffered deeply. We were told we look more like Arabs, and now apparently Turks, but nothing like the people who literally roamed our streets less than a century ago.

Art which found great appreciation and patronage under the Muslim rule of the Mughals, ironically, was now seen as a threat to the very foundation of the new Muslim rule in South Asia. The state that flaunted the former capital of the Mughal Empire – Lahore – as one of its largest cities now wanted nothing to do with centuries of local culture. Among the degraded art forms from the prestige of Mughal darbars to hidden quarters with a small audience was dance.

Clearly though, with such a rich performing arts tradition, they couldn’t just stamp out the parts of the culture that didn’t fit their vision. Among the rebels who loyally fight this war on the arts is Indu Mitha.

A rebellious artist

Indu Mitha – a legend by all means – was born a Bengali Christian, at the intersection of two minorities discriminated against by ethnicity and religion in Pakistan, in 1929. At the time of partition, her family moved to Delhi from Lahore , which is where she attended college and learned the craft she would dedicate her life to. Bharatanatyam, a classical Indian dance form originating in Tamil Nadu, has become her strong point and she is her performer. She started teaching in India and when she emigrated to Pakistan after her marriage in 1951 she continued to teach in Pakistan, where she has been teaching for 60 years. The art form, originally associated with Hindu deities, under her creative vision became a tool of resistance, as she used it to explore themes of feminism and secularism.

How she moves was created by directors Anya Raza and Aisha Linnea. Raza is a Pakistani-Dutch filmmaker with extensive experience working in non-profit organizations, and currently about to complete her first novel. His approach to topics is thought-provoking, with a greater message of compassion. Linnea is a Pakistani filmmaker based in Islamabad with a particular interest in the study of subcultures in Pakistan. His work has earned him international recognition, in the process of making a name for himself in the field.

Pictures spoke to directors to learn more about their exciting business.

What made you want to produce a documentary on Indu Mitha and when did you first hear about her?

Raza first studied dance with Ms. Mitha as a young girl in Islamabad and was impressed when she met the confident, articulate and charming teacher. She was known for her discipline, her grace and the wealth of her historical knowledge.

There is hardly a better subject for a filmmaker than preserving art and creating space for self-expression, especially in a country like ours, she said of comment. of his film.

Fast forward two decades, when we heard that this was Ms. Mitha’s last presentation with her students, we knew it was a moment in Pakistan’s history that needed to be captured. At the age of 90, Ms. Mitha’s contribution to the preservation of ancient classical dance, despite a backdrop of growing intolerance in Pakistan, is a legacy to be celebrated. In a tight-knit conservative society like Pakistan, dance is a poorly understood subject and women expressing themselves publicly, especially physically, are rare.

What are the most surprising things you learned while filming?

Ironically, one of the earliest evidence of human dancing, the 4,300-year-old bronze statue of the Dancing Girl, was found in our own country, at Mohen-Jo-Daro in 1926, and is one of the most emblematic symbols of the Indus Valley. What’s even more ironic is that Pakistan is currently pursuing the return of this statue from the National Museum in Delhi.

Watching dance requires vulnerability, it is an intimate experience. Maybe our discomfort with someone else dancing stems from our own personal struggle with our bodies. As a nation, we struggle with conversations about our mental and physical health because we are unable to recognize our own bodies in the guise of modesty – to our own detriment.

In our research, we noticed two very distinct trends when it comes to dance in Pakistan. On the one hand, the influence of Bollywood and other Western dances on the erosion of classical dance, and on the other hand, the extremism, nationalism and suspicion of dance as an art form legitimate eroding even more all forms of dance. In the last three years we have seen dance classes banned, people killed for dancing, movies and advertisements banned for showing dancing, apps banned for showing people dancing … the list, unfortunately, is long.

How long did it take to produce this movie, from when you got the idea to when it was finally ready to screen?

We learned that Ms. Mitha was making her final presentation at the CAFN just weeks before filming began and therefore didn’t have much time to pre-produce. With the support of anthropologist / dance researcher Dr Feriyal Aslam, our first grant only arrived the day before the shoot and we toured consecutively for about two weeks.

Lots of interviews were done afterwards, as well as a few pickup shoots, but what really took time was the editing. The reason being that we actually decided to do something closer to 20 minutes, but after working with several editors here and abroad the consensus was that we needed at least double in order to show precisely why the teaching of classical dance in Pakistan was so scarce. feat. It was a delicate balancing act through the stories of Ms. Mitha and her students, exploring complex topics such as identity, rights and dreams.

How was the film received?

We’ve been screened at over 10 film festivals spanning Portland to Bolivia and Macau to name a few, but we’ve also been awarded the Best Jury Award in our Documentary Short Excellence category. at the 43rd Asian American Film Festival as well as an honorable mention at the Women’s Voices Now.

So those are two great honors and the general reception everywhere has really been better than what we could have imagined. It’s obvious from the trailer alone that people are feeling inspired by the very captivating Ms. Mitha.

You said dance is a misunderstood subject, do you hope to change that with this documentary?

Language itself can be an oppressive tool and something you see through the film is how different segments of society can come together to communicate and create art when it is not verbal. There is a big gap in Ms. Mitha’s classes in terms of socio-economic position and gender, however, thanks to the power of Ms. Mitha’s teaching, dancing was a way these students were able to connect. each other. It says a lot, but we’ll have to let you watch the movie to decide what that means.

Overall, the purpose of the film is to contextualize our history, to highlight the importance of preserving our culture, and to show the impact that an empowering teacher like Ms. Mitha can have. We hope that a takeaway reflects the rich culture of Pakistan, and the need for its documentation and preservation, but also for education – so that Pakistani citizens are no longer deprived of the inspiring art of legends such than Indu Mitha.

How can Pakistanis watch the documentary?

We just had our premiere in Pakistan through the US Embassy and Pakistan US Alumni Network, as well as another month of festival screenings currently with Women Through Film.

What often happens with documentaries is that they get lost in the world of theaters and festivals and never reach the communities they come from, which can benefit the most. We have therefore developed a “boxed projection experience” with an interactive discussion guide, so that everyone can lead a projection! We are working in partnership with festivals, NGOs, universities and artistic spaces to disseminate the film across Pakistan.

Many people have reached out to put them in place and we hope for many more. If you are interested, contact us and we will organize it together!

Where can we find out more?

Instagram! Just follow @howshemovesthedoc for all the information on the screenings and everything we are up to!

For the first time ever in Hyderabad, LGBTQ + communities were offered a space to showcase their art by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), the Indian government’s Foreign Ministry. It was “Samantha”, an event organized by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Samanvay, Shilparamam and the LGBTQ + communities of Hyderabad. The event was held in Shilparamam, Madhapur, attended by various audiences. The Ethnic Hall in Shilparamam was the venue for a personalized breast cancer awareness seminar adapted to transgender people by Dr Ridhima Bindlish, followed by an exclusive handloom and handloom accessories show by people from LGBTQ + communities.

It was designed and executed by Ms. Sudha Rani, Abhihara’s social entrepreneur. The ramp show featured the plural and fluid fashion of many hues from LGBTQ + organizations, viz. Mobbera and Telangana Hijra Intersex Transgender Samiti, Telangana Hijra Transgender Samiti and many other LGBTQ + people and foreign students. The ramp celebrated ethnicity, fashion and gender fluidity and pluralism, all on one platform. The show was composed and hosted by Ms. Madhu Chebiyam, an associate of Ms. Sudha Rani.

Evening Kuchipudi, Bharatanatyam and Kathak dance performances were held at the Amphitheater. Starting with Ganesha Stuti, Mx. Patruni Chidananda Sastry presented a unique article where the masks of Cherial and Patha Chitra were used with dance to convey the importance of the art forms of traditional painting. This was then followed by a Javali. Sastry performed all of the Javali with austere, vivid reflections and re-imaginations of the self by a man, his emotions while disguising himself in the privacy of his bedroom within the larger context of societal non-acceptance. There was also a Padam and a Kuchipudi object “marakata manimaya chela” which captivated the audience. This was followed by a performance by transgender activist and Bharatanatyam dancer, Ms. Chandramukhi Muvvala. She introduced Alarippu to a clean nritta and a sharp technique of Bharatanatyam. The next point was Bho Shambo where his performance also portrayed Arthanariswara as one of the many forms of Shiva. Chandramukhi’s performance was immersive and marked by precision. The artist recruited by the ICCR who was to perform the Kathak that evening, Ms. Devika Devendra S. Mangalamukhi, was unable to come to Hyderabad due to personal requirements. Therefore, the organizers were forced to play Vaibhav Kumar Modi in place of Ms. Devika Devendra S. Mangalamukhi. The final performance was given by Mr. Vaibhav Kumar Modi who presented a Sargam in Kathak in raag Bageshree in teentaal, a technical piece of the Jaipur gharaana of Kathak. The clean lines and strict tatkaar delighted the audience in the melody of its intricate footwork.

Subsequently, the Director of ICCR, Hyderabad, Sri Lakshmaji Rao Yesentarao ji appreciated all the artists with certificates. He also thanked them, the international students, all the artists and the larger LGBTQ + communities. Ms. Vyjayanti Vasanta Mogli, transgender activist and art connoisseur from Hyderabad, also concluded the evening with her thank you note by urging ICCR and the Indian government to introduce more such initiatives to include communities and communities. LGBTQ + people. The whole dance event was very tastefully organized and hosted by well-known dancer Mohiniattam and Malayalam actress, Ms. Anita Peter and the assembly thanked her for her contribution.

“To understand dance, you have to be still. And for really understand stillness, you have to dance ”.

– Rumi (13ecCE entry)

The space is silent, it has potential. The dancer enters, creates the movement and the magic begins. The space is sculpted, energized and redesigned. The imagination soars and hitherto unknown worlds are born as the dance progresses body takes us into the inner spaces of the heart and mind.

These magical moments in theaters everywhere have been interrupted for the time being being that the pandemic devastated the world and impacted our lives in in multiple ways. The privileged among us have, for the most part, fired through, but there are millions who have faced the wrath of the virus and saw their lives divided. More than ever, we need empathy – to our planet, for humanity and for nature. Physical isolation has shown us how lonely and disconnected our lives can be and this made us realize the value of links and relationships.

In these difficult times, the arts have been a lifeline – keeping people all over the world full of spirits and hope. Seen in this context, the Indian classic dance has a lot to offer as its scope is the vast array of human emotions. Yes judiciously exploited and presented with authenticity, classical dance can touch people’s lives in immeasurable ways, reminding us that we are all a part of the same humanity.

Dance as an experience

In classical dance, the dancer, when he dances with serious intention, takes himself or herself himself in deep, vast and wonderful worlds. When the technique, imagination and intention come together, complexity gives way to essence and dance moves from a ‘performance’ to an ‘experience’. Vulnerability becomes a force for the artist to enter moments of passionate depth. This dance experience can be astounding – sometimes as vast as a panorama view of the mountains and at other times – as delicate as a dew drop on a lotus sheet. Tradition is no longer a set of rules, borders or codes of convention. Rather, it is fluid and fluid – with the artist’s moving improvisation towards hitherto unexplored spaces. Classical dance becomes a quest – an effortless investigation into the walls of tradition. By diving deep into an expanding consciousness, the artist touches deep levels to reveal beauty and truth. By following the intense wake of the dancing body, the public is invited to discover themselves.

Dance when presented as an experience is amazing in its ability to attract the spectator by the power of intention and suggestion at “aha” moments. When the spirit of dance inhabits the artist, the borders of culture, language, form and content become partners for a greater cause. And, when presented to him depth, classical dance becomes the umbilical cord that connects us to our inner self and – the world.

Performance and experience

Sometimes a solo classical dance performance can be considered entertaining, attractive or stimulating, especially when the artist is an effective communicator. Such performances are typically marked by a certain mastery of the form, safe and proven movement patterns, easy mastery of space, and a flamboyant sign language in his confidence. The audience at such times is delighted to be able to understand and “read” the dance. resulting in an excitement that permeates the viewer. And rightly so!

However, the real dance adventure could be a deeper journey that is experiential – where the viewer is led beyond the base camp of the expected, past gorges and cliffs of breathtaking beauty of interpretation, higher and higher at the top of the mountain to experience the euphoria of space, silence and countless new heights. This rite of passage involves the artist and viewer to embrace adventure, take risks and put aside the comfort of the experienced and tested.

If the work in solo or in ensemble remains a “performance”, we miss out on vitality of “experience” which refreshes the form and is an essential marker in Dance. If we prioritize understanding and reverse the ability to feel, dismissing it as unimportant, aren’t we eroding what makes us human? East is that enough to make dancing smart and entertaining? Or are we losing that quintessential vitality of classical dance – which must be moved, transformed, to be displaced from our ordinary self. Certainly, in a world that offers any type of entertainment, classical dance can be an instrument to show us other realities. Otherwise, we deny classical dance and ourselves the richness of life.

Solo and ensemble

The solo form has enormous potential and eminent artists through the years were celebrated for their unique art. This, in turn, encouraged a few younger dancers to hone their skills and continue the solo form despite it is an arduous process involving several years of sustained effort and training dedicated to skills, technique and emotion without guarantee of financial stability.

The last few years have seen a change in dance programming. More and more, the whole the work gained popularity and changed the choice of young dancers with many of them choose to dance in groups. In this environment, new directions have emerged in both solo and ensemble work. At some level there is success dance companies and dancers, astute enough to gain financial support or self-promote, who pack their productions with high production values ​​and widely use social media to advance their work. Others visibly dominate with the large number of dancers they present in any performance, using patterns and poses, choral dance and thematic narration of the gods and goddesses, who instantly attract a mass audience, given the familiarity of these stories. There is yet another level of “group work” which has saw a proliferation of dancers, often mediocre or below the norm, group with aspiration to tour.

The change in preference for ensemble work has become more and more palpable in Lately. Big productions have “action-packed” dance, several dances bodies on stage, frequent costume changes, charged light design, recorded soundtrack or multiple musicians on stage with increased instrumentation. To dance is then relegated to impressing rather than expressing.

In this scenario, with the exception of a handful of artists who have distinguished themselves, most of the others form nebulous groups of varying qualities. With no merit-based or healthy differentiation that separates professionals from amateurs and aspiring dancers, this represents a disorganized sector. It is particularly demoralizing for young dancers pursuing the dance seriously in the tent because the system has lowered the bar allowing mediocrity to assert itself in no uncertain terms.

Since there is no arrangement between practitioners, organizers or presenters to separate mediocrity and excellence, the dance arena becomes free for all. The collapse of the quality and standard of dance in general and the lack of differentiation in particular have tarnished the programming, the quality of the dance and the dignity of serious professionals.

The heart of the matter

Presenting dance as an experience leaves the solo artist dependent on the instrument of the dancing body, intelligent concept, consummate art, and effortless technique to keep the audience spellbound. Accompanied by musicians or dancing to recorded music, the solo program can also be enriched by high-level production values, with sophisticated sound and lightweight design. The need of the hour is to reappropriate the solo form in all its beauty and splendor, rediscover the nuances and transform classical dance from a simple performance to a useful experience.

Whether solo or in ensemble, the key question is the role of Indian classical music dance in the present day and its potential to adapt significantly to remain salient in the face of popular options. My own experience in solo Bharata Natyam dance took me on an inner journey to the heart of the matter – which is the relationship. Relationship with the world, with people, with nature. When this happens, the boundaries soften and the dance doesn’t stay a style with codes and conventions but which transforms to become an essential language of the heart and the mind. The dance repeats that without relation, life is empty. The dance is empty.

If a dancer chooses the path of solo dancing and dives deep, there are untold treasures and countless discoveries in the language of dance, vast content to choose from, amazing moments of harmony, hidden moments of dance. wonder and endless inspiration. Because in the magical moment of ‘rasa ‘when the dancer is the dance, both artist and spectator, meet in a moment of indescribable happiness. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Malavika Sarukkai is an adancer, choreographer and mentor.