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| Sunday, 19 January 2003 |
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Photographic exhibition on Rukmini Devi The Centre for Contemporary Culture in collaboration with India-Sri Lanka Foundation and the Indian High Commission, Sri Lanka, is proposing to hold a photographic exhibition on Smt. Rukmini Devi Arundale, the doyen of Bharatnatyam Dance at the Indian Cultural Centre, Colombo from 1st to 6th February 2003. In Kandy, it will be from 8th to 12th February 2003. The Centre for Contemporary Culture, New Delhi is a non-governmental institution engaged in the field of public culture, history, arts and contemporary studies. The centre works in consort with Indian, Asian and international educational, cultural and artistic institutions to facilitate new inter-disciplinary scholarly studies and performances oriented research in theatre arts, folk arts, visual arts, crafts and media. It is the avowed endeavour of the Centre to promote integrated approach to Indian culture, history and performance. It has organised talks, painting exhibitions of scholars from America and Japan in India in 2002. It has also instituted Rukmini Devi Medal for Excellence in Arts. It is planning to bring out a picture book for children on Rukmini Devi and an edited volume of essays on Rukmini Devi and Kalakshetra in the centenary year (2003). The photographic exhibition includes the historical details on Bharatnatyam, Rukmini Devi and Kalakshetra - an organisation built by her to promote inter-disciplinary studies in dance, music, education and crafts. Smt. Rukmini Devi not only revived and refined the Sadir dance but also renamed it as Bharatnatyam and re-presented it with the mediation of modern lights, designer costumes and proscenium theatre. She was instrumental in adding Bhakti elements to dance and marrying dance to Tamil literature. She introduced dance ballets (26 in all) which were hitherto unknown. Her Kalakshetra was both traditional and modern inasmuch as it was Gurukul teaching for dance and music while for other subjects, it was Montessori system of education. She was also a votary for combining art with education. Her declared objective was, "Education without fear and art without vulgarity". Her aesthetic vision was holistic to combine dance, music and crafts. In building her Kalakshetra, she drew upon the experiences of Rabindranath Tagore, who had also built a Pan-Asian University called Visva Bharati. The exhibition consists of about 100 photographs taken by Conrad Woldring and Nachiappan in the 1950s. The mounted photographs are divided into five themes showing the evolution of Smt. Rukmini Devi and Kalakshetra. It is in the nature of a tribute to the memory of the doyen of Bharatnatyam in her centenary year (2003). In addition, the exhibition would include books, periodicals, panels, Kalakshetra sarees, dancing bells, etc. The exhibition has already travelled from Chennai to New Delhi, Kolkata, Penang, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore in 2002. It opens in Colombo and is scheduled to travel to Kandy and Jaffna in February 2003. In April, it is scheduled at Nehru Centre, London. In addition, it has been invited to Tokyo and Dhaka in 2003. |
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