If you are living nearby Whitefield, Bangalore - going to Malleswaram for a classical music concert probably sounds like making a visit to the neighboring state. Thanks to "Onstage' founders Vallari and Rajesh Shah, here is an opportunity for you to do away with some of your interstate trips with added brownie points for burning fewer gallons of gasoline in the name of culture.
In their beautiful home in Laughing Waters, Onstage offers fans of performing arts an opportunity to experience performances up close. They feature artist in an intimate relaxed setting providing a close and rich connection between the artists and the audience. To see past performance and calender check out OnStage website
Here are a few images from an evening of collaborative music - " Nepal to Bangalore Express" - Sunil on Flute, Neeru on acoustic guitar and Karthik Mani on ghatam and konnakol
As a part of my ongoing project documenting senior dance Gurus while they are at work teaching their craft, I had the opportunity to photograph Abhinaya exponent Bragha Bessell during her workshop in the cosy and colorful basement of Ananya in Malleswaram. Typically I would like to limit the number of images in a blog post or a photoessay to ten , but doing so in this case would be a disservice to the seemingly endless emotive vocabulary of Ms. Bessell. Thanks to Nandini Mehta and Murali Mohan of Nadam Institute for organizing the event and for welcoming me to photograph the artist.
Every once in a while, there comes an artist who causes me immense existential crisis as a dance photographer. Without fail, they make me question what am I doing by missing out on an extraordinary performance. Instead of experiencing their performance like rest of the spellbound audience, there I was, burdening myself with 2 kilograms of camera equipment hung around my neck with my eyes strained on the viewfinder. Odissi dancer Sujata Mohapatra, got to be one of them. Even our 3 year old who seldom survives any concert after the first half hour seem to be hooked. While I typically steer away from the iconic "poses" while photographing classical Indian dance and tend to focus more on the kinetic aspect of the performance, I found myself being captivated by the stillness of some of these classic Odissi frames. A stillness only interrupted by the gently heaving torso and by those beads of perspiration that gave away the effortless ease with which Sujata moves across the stage.
As much as artists like Ms.Mohapatra are responsible for my momentary existential crisis, they inspire me to continue my work behind the camera - an imperfect exercise in two dimensional representation, in attempting to capture rare instance of classical perfection.
Images from the Kathak workshop conducted by veteran choreographer and Kathak dancer Dr. Maya Rao at the National Festival of Choreography in Bangalore. Thanks to Ms.Vijayanthi Kashi for organizing the festival and for facilitating photographic access.
No makeup. No blackouts. No spotlights. No seamless backdrops.
Stack of books on top of dining table by the side of left over orange juice. Titled posters. Random dining table chairs. Annoying glare of compact fluorescent tubes. Daylight from the wrong direction...barely illuminating the dancer in the foreground...Can the dancers rise above these indispensible clutter of our day today interior residential environments for the benefit of the camera? Can the photographer overcome the limitations of tight interior spaces in capturing the energy, grace and the emotive bearings of the dancer?
Here is a small collection of initimate, in-house performance portraits from the last two years most of them shot within the tight residential spaces in urban neighborhoods - Professor C.V.Chandrasekhar's apartment in Besant Nagar, Chennai ; His disciple Malini Srinivasan's apartment in Queens, New York ; Founder and artistic director of Navarasa Dance Theater - Dr.Aparna Sindhoor’s live-work home/dancer co-op in Sommerville, MA. Perhaps the only exception in terms of scale are the house performance shots of Smitha Radhakrishnan at the single family home of Vallari Shah in Whitefields outside of Bangalore.
Perhaps those center tables, window mullions, light switches and doorknobs in the background don't diminish the visual impact of these dancers. On the contrary, these photos remind us dance is often produced, practiced and refined within the comfort zones of ones personal space, even as it is marketed and consumed in public.
Why are classical Indian dancers almost always pictured formal context - literally elevated on a stage, as they claim the mantle of exclusive ambassadors of a narrow definition of culture. Perhaps we need more photographs like these to divorce the institutionalized relationship between the classical Indian dance as and elite nationalistic representations of culture. Perhaps we need these images to remind us that even classical dance forms at its very core are about the celebration of human body and the joy of personal expression.
As for the photographs for the Bharatanatyam, Odissi and Kathak performances during Independence Day celebrations, there should no cause for concern. There will always be plenty of overdone makeup, misdirected spotlights and dissonant backdrops.
Attention MDF Dancers & Choreographers ! Here is random pick of my personal favorites from the Boston shows last weekend. Do hang in there till we are done with the Amherst show. The complete set of edited and post-processed images will be available for print sales and online digital downloads once I am am done shooting and editing the Amherst show. If you email me at purpleganesh(at)gmail, I can let you know directly once the images are up. Thank you !
Exciting news! Purpleganesh Photography will be official photographer for the Massachusets Dance Festival 2011. Its going to be a full weekend with packed days and two full on performances in the evening. More information at http://www.massdancefestival.org/
Boston University Saturday Show
At The Boston University Dance Theater - Buick St. Entrance
I had a blast putting together this montage of cropped photographic compositions across a range of weddings from a mexican-punjabi mehndi in a suburban backyard to gay wedding between gorgeous Indian and Carribean brides in an apple orchard in Sonoma, to the standard Tam-Brahm 9 yards ....with just one self-imposed limitation: No portraits or candid shots of brides, grooms, or their families. This would be a montage of just the visual details - classic, quirky, complex and confounding - some in its entirety and some frames cropped and re-adapted from their parent frames. And yes no nadaswaram music or standard mehdni fare for the background score with thanks to Rehman !
"...When one knows what to do, there is only little time one needs for doing it. It is only when one does not Know what to do that it takes so much time. And to know what to do is the secret of it all."—Louis I. Kahn. from Heinz Ronner, with Sharad Jhaveri and Alessandro Vasella Louis I. Kahn: Complete Works 1935-74. p158.
Last month I had the sheer joy of experiencing Louis Kahn's Salk Insitute twice in one week. after my first visit eight years ago. As I approached the plaza I couldnt help but be uplifted by this masterpiece, yet again. Perhaps "timelessness" can be real in some places.
On the first day it was close to noon. Not the most ideal time for photography and yet there was nothing to complain about. The sun was shining bright on the travertine plaza, casting its deeps shadows along the hallways and perfectly crafted grooves. The plaza was mostly empty except for few isolated architectural pilgrims and those occasional scientists walking between the two wings. My 2 two year old shrieked in delight as she ran amok in the seeminly unlimited space, unable to resist herself from the sparking stream of cold water bisecting the plaza making its way towards the pacific expanse, the deep blue sky and those many distant horizons.
