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Concluded Events - 2013



December 28, 2013

Anita Ratnam presented NEELAM...Drowning in Bliss on December 28 at Krishna Gana Sabha at 7.30pm.
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December 18-22, 2013
Kartik Fine Arts & Arangham Trust presented Purush: The Global Dancing Male, Conference/Performance Conclave
at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in Mylapore, Chennai




Bharat Kalachar conferred the VISWA KALA BHARATHI award on Dr. Anita Ratnam on Dec 1, 2013 at YGP Auditorium, Chennai.
Photos




Anita Ratnam received the Arch of Excellence award from Dr.K.Rosaiah, the Governor of Tamilnadu at the 73rd All India Achievers' Conference, New Delhi




Anita Ratnam received the Vainava Semmal award conferred by Zakir Hussain's Sri Paadham Academy of Dance from ESL Narasimhan, the Governor of Andhra Pradesh on Nov 24, 2013. She presented NEELAM...Drowning in Bliss at Vani Mahal, Chennai.
Photos



December 13, 2013
The KAISIKA NATAKAM in Tirukurungudi took place on December 13th night at the Azhagiya Nambi temple.
Link



November 16, 2013 Riverside, CA
Anita Ratnam spoke on De-centering The Goddess at CORD/SDHS CONFERENCE in Riverside, California. She also presented excerpts from MA-HYPHENATE.



October 29, 2013

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At the 7th Guru Debaprasad Award Festival conducted by Guru Gajendra Panda's Tridhara:
- Oct 29: Anita Ratnam presented excerpts from her contemporary works, About HER, four chapters on Goddess and woman. Anita Ratnam was honored with the GURU DEBA PRASAD AWARD for her contribution in the field of Contemporary Dance, (the first time a contemporary dance award is being given to a dancer)
At: Rabindra Mandap, Bhubaneswar, 6.30pm
Reviews



October 22, 2013
Anita spoke at NCPA seminar on Dance Scholars, Mumbai



October 2, 2013
Chief Guest for Swarnamalya Ganesh's annual school day function of Rangamandira at TN Rajaratnam Auditorium, Chennai



September 21, 2013
Anita Ratnam presented NEELAM...Drowning in Bliss for Saila Sudha's annual celebrations NRITYA SANGAMA.
At: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mylapore, Chennai, 6pm



July 23, 2013 Barcelona, Spain

Anita Ratnam performed ADHIROHANA - EMBODYING CHAKRAS and also gave a paper presentation at the annual conference organized by International Federation of Theatre Research, UK.
Venue: Institut Del Teatre, Barcelona, 11am



July 6, 2013
Anita Ratnam presented ABOUT HER at Laguna Beach, California



June 12, 2013 Bhubaneswar
Anita Ratnam presented ABOUT HER, a solo contemporary dance-theatre presentation in the NEO BHARATAM style at the ODISHA CONTEMPORARY DANCE FESTIVAL, 2nd edition of SAMAKALA FESTIVAL - 2013
At: Rabindra Mandap, Bhubaneswar

Performance and Co Choreography: Anita Ratnam
Choreography: Hari Krishnan
Costumes: Rex and Sandhya Raman
Music: Anil Srinivasan, Vedanth Bharadwaj, Navin Iyer, Krishna Kishor
Sound Design: Anita Ratnam, Hari Krishnan and Vedanth Bharadwaj
Lighting Design: Victor
Stage Management: L Subhasri

1. SITA
Drawing from the single moment of Sita refusing to return to safety on Hanuman's shoulders, this choreography expands on the single dance phrase of Sita's reply to the Monkey King. The gestures, movements and abstractions further reinforce the determination of the princess in remaining steadfast to her decision.

2. AVANI
Inspired by the epic poem by Rabindranath Tagore, this contemporary dance is a response to his call to the earth as Prithvi, mother, protector and destroyer. She is both gentle and fierce - like Durga - capable of caring and devouring. Tagore's vision of man's greed and appetite for destruction brought about this poem that was written between the two world wars in the 20th century.
Reviews



April 15, Chennai
Forum Art Gallery presented RESIST - An Engendered Art Protest in association with Gallery Engendered Space, New Delhi. RESIST is first of its kind being shown in Chennai and has already created rave reviews in New Delhi. Giving the cause its due credit, it was a wonderful opportunity to engage the Chennai audience in a collective conscience with the national and the artistic and creative platforms in a dynamic dialogue of strength and solidarity!
Art is the only permanent resistance." This anonymous quote forms the backbone for RESIST.
- a first-of-its-kind temporal art intervention and protest that will bring together artists, musicians and fashion designers who through their works illustrated conscience and dissent against gender-based violence and injustice. Planned as an evening of live performances, art and fashion installations tol steer the artist's creativity towards a collective protest.
Anita Ratnam presented UPROOT, a live performance art installation
At Forum Art Gallery, Adyar, Chennai, 7pm
Info: (044) – 42115596 / 97



April 12, London
Dr. Anita Ratnam premiered MAA, HYPHENATE, a new solo at Purcell Room, London.
Ma - Hyphenate
a dance theatre work by Anita Ratnam
A triptych contemplation on women-Goddesses and the Fire within

Akka Mahadevi- daring- pilgrim- Peace
Meenakshi- fierce- champion- Victory
Annapoorani- compassionate- mother- Abundance

Ma - Hyphenate is an introspective look into the Goddess as Ma - the mother, through the lens/device of the Japanese concept of Ma - where the goddesses' Hyphenate personae are objectified utilizing stillness, movement, mime and music while equally prioritizing the Hyphenate pregnant-empty negative spaces between those object(ification)s in light, shadows, darkness and silence.

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Performance/Costume Design/Co-Choreography/Co-Sound Design: Anita Ratnam
Choreography/Direction: Hari Krishnan
Visual Design: Rex
Music and Sound Design: Vedanth Bharadwaj
Musicians: Sandhya and Subhiksha (vocals), KSR Aniruddha (multi-percussion and jati composition/recitation), Sashirekha (jati recitation), Anil Srinivasan (piano) and Krishna Kishor (Kanjira)

Special thanks to Alchemy for premiering this work.

Southbank Centre artist-in-residence, Gauri Sharma Tripathi, is a leading kathak artist whose work is much loved in the UK and India. It is deeply grounded in the classical South Asian dance form, to which she brings a unique, contemporary twist.

Gauri asked three artists - her friends and collaborators Mavin Khoo, Anita Ratnam (who premieres MA - HYPHENATE) and Chitra Sundaram - to share the stage with her for this one-off evening. All are bharatanatyam dancers travelling on a similar artistic journey, involving a departure from and a return to tradition.

'I have invited artists who are great personal friends and share a passion for reinventing the classical forms that ground us. I've watched them flourish in their practice and delight in the idea of reuniting with them all for Alchemy.' (Gauri Sharma Tripathi)

There was a post-show discussion after the performance.
Link



March 15 & 16, 2013, Bangalore
THE LONG WAY HOME Theatre Performances at Alliance Francaise de Bangalore, Evam Entertainment presentation.



March 10, 2013, Coimbatore
Anita Ratnam and the Arangham Dance Theatre performed at Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev's MAHASIVARATRI at Isha Yoga Centre, Coimbatore.



March 2, 2013, Chennai
Devdutt Patnaik created and spoke about Lakshmi, Saraswati and Devi, and Anita Ratnam responded with movement to the drawings at Apparao Galleries at 6.30pm, Chennai.



February 9, 2013, 10.30am
The Ramayana Festival organised by Nanditha Krishna was celebrated for the whole month of February 2013 with over 40 papers presented by eminent scholars from all over India and abroad. Anita Ratnam participated with a lecture demonstration of 'A Million Sitas'.
At: the CP Ramaswamy Centre, 1 Eldams Rd, Chennai
Schedule



February 2, 2013, 10am
Anita Ratnam participated in the CHENNAI STORYTELLING FESTIVAL 2013
At the Max Muller Bhavan, Nungambakkam
Schedule

Response
Response from Eric Miller, Director, World Storytelling Institute, Chennai
- 12 Feb 2013

I am still dreaming about your awesome performance. No words to express my feelings. I am working as a kindergarten teacher. As soon as I started this week with my children the first thing I did was only your performance. My kids really enjoyed and they started repeating it. You really opened my eyes. I thank you for giving us such a wonderful opportunity.
- Yasodha, 6 Feb 2013




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