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Guru Ravi Jain festival of classical dance and music

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Kalakunj , a cultural organisation returned with a bang after three years. Its annual festival of classical dance and music was held on the 19th of february, 2023, at India international centre,  New Delhi. The patron of  the society Dr. Ashok Chakradhar  honoured three senior doctors for their dedicated work during the pendemic. This was followed by a  cultural programme by  three  exponents - Neel Ranjan mukherjee  showed his expertise enthralling the audience on  Hawaiian guitaar playing raag hemavati, gradually increasing the tempo and finishing with a tihaai in teen taal. Richa jain is known for her equal  command on singing and dancing simultaneously. She started her recital  with  Ram stuti, first singing in a melodius voice and then dancing on the verses  with ease,  thus bringing back the katha vaachan parampara of kathak. She then presented the repertoire  of kathak including the 'jaatiyon ki tatkaar' .mesme...
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The doyen of odissi dance

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GURU KELUCHARAN MOHAPATRA It was due to the efforts of Guru Kelucharan mohapatra,the exponent of odissi dance,that this dance became popular in the northern region. Sometime in the early seventies it was an exiting  moment for me and some of the students of the class to meet guru  Kelucharan  mohapatra, the odissi exponent.He was coming to Delhi for a short course of three months.I was basically a kathak student but got interested in odissi  too after seeing  an odissi dance performance. We had been preparing for this moment ,practising some items to present before guruji (as he was affectionately called). Guru Harekrishna behra had already taught us a few steps and items and prepared us to go to the higher level and do the short term course with the exponent. Suddenly there was some commotion and some people entered the class room. We were introduced to guruji who was amongst them totally covered in cardigan,shawl and a monkey cap,since he was...
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what now

Some time back i had the privilege to see a play in kamani auditorium, " Mahaprayaan Chandragupt Maurya", written by Dr. Pratibha Jain and directed by Bharti  Singh. It was indeed a very good production and kept the audience involved throughout the play. Since it was organised by sahitya kala parishad  there was no dearth of funds. From the word go everything starting from the writing, direction, sets, artists, lighting and music in between were very well synchronized . My concern is after putting up such a wonderful show will there be enough organisers to stage the show again. What happens to the artists? I believe they will go back to their various fields/jobs  and assemble again when some new project comes up. This is the agony of theatre artists, the hard work which they put in, the output which they show is recognized once and then forgotten. I feel art and artists are misunderstood in our  country. Glamour with mediocre work is applauded and superior work many ...
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A WOMAN OF DIGNITY 'RAI PARVEEN' - THE NIGHTINGALE OF ORCHCHA , MADHYA PRADESH

There have been many talented singers and dancers in the past who have made a mark during their patronage from the kings and saved the honour of their state. Rai parveen was one such poetess and dancer. She was the paramour of Indrajeet singh of Orchha, the capital city of the mighty Bundelkhand empire during the seventeenth century. The king had even constructed a separate palace for Rai parveen decorated with ‘mudras ’and different postures of various  dances. The  palace stands tall just infront of the Jehangir palace which was constructed in honour of emperor Jehangir  where he stayed only for one day as the  royal guest of the king of Orchcha. Rai parveen was so well versed in  music,  dance and poetry that her fame spread far and wide. The famous poet keshavdass who was a teacher to his son Bihari and Rai parveen  has compiled ‘kavipriya’ to honour Rai Parveen and compared her to Roopmati and mrignayani.  The word about her beauty and ...
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