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 AttenDance awards Photos: BV Suresh December 8, 2019 One of the much awaited events in the dance calendar of Bengaluru, the Attendance awards evening on November 30 was as usual a grand affair with a Nadaswaram vidwan and his Tavil accompanist providing a traditional touch and welcoming the guests. The venue was the ADA Rangamandira, Bengaluru. This was the 10th year of AttenDance awards and Ashish Mohan Khokar, dance historian and editor of the annual publication by the same name, took the help of Kathak gurus Murali Mohan Kalva and Nandini Mehta who were organising the Kalanadam three day festival of dance at the same venue."I started the annual awards as there are many awards for performing dancers but there are certain other categories which are not recognised like dance choreography, exclusive award for a male solo dancer, dance writing and overall contribution to the world of dance," said Ashish in his opening remarks.  Awardees This year's awardees included the Homeopathy doctor who is also a well-known Bharatanatyam dancer in city Dr. Seshadri Iyengar (Ram Gopal award for best male solo dancer), G Ulaganathan (Mohan Khokar award for writing on dance), two brothers Bharat and Sharat Prabhat (Uday Shankar award for choreography), The Italian dance company TTB-Teatro Tascabile di Bergamo (for overall contribution to dance). Praveen Kumar, Bangalore based Bharatanatyam dancer who is closely associated with the group in Italy received the award on their behalf. All the awards were given away by the ever energetic nonagenarian Vimala Rangachar. The star of the show was of course the eminent Kathak guru Jitendra Maharaj who, despite his age, made a brilliant speech and also briefly indulged in a jugalbandhi with the nadaswaram and tavil vidwans. He conversed with them in Hindi which they couldn't follow but matched up to him step by step. TTB has a 40- year- old connection with Indian dance theatre. They have come to India and learnt Kathakali from gurus at Cheruturthy like Kalamandalam John, Odissi from Guru Aloka Panikar and Hindustani music from Pt. Amarnath. They have also mastered Sanskrit.  Nadam ensemble  Nalini and Kamalini  Guru Jitendra Maharaj The function began with Kathak performance by Nadam dancers led by Nandini Mehta herself. Then there was a brief Kathak performance by the twin sisters Nalini and Kamalini from Delhi, who are disciples of Jitendra Maharaj. |
