Geeta Chandran Presents Arangetram Of Disciple SOWMYA LAXMI

By: Jul. 27, 2018
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Geeta Chandran Presents Arangetram Of Disciple SOWMYA LAXMI Geeta Chandran, founder-President of Natya Vriksha, presents Bharatanatyam Arangetram performance of her disciple Sowmya Laxmi (Daughter of Mythili Narayanan and P.K.Narayanan).

The performance will be Saturday, 4 August, 2018 at 6:30 p.m. at Chinmaya Mission Auditorium, 89, Lodi Road, New Delhi- 110003

Arangetram is an important occasion in the career of any Bharatanatyam dancer. After several years -- decades even -- of arduous training, when the Guru is confident that the disciple can sustain a solo performance, the Arangetram is announced.

The Arangetram thus is an honour to the Guru; a momentous rite of passage, it marks the first milestone in the disciple's journey into the ocean of Bharatanatyam.

To Sowmya Laxmi, 4th August 2018 is much more significant than just the date of her Arangetram - it marks a full eleven years of her engagement with and dedication to Bharatanatyam. This was the art form that she was a keen young observer of when her elder sister learnt it. Those classes sowed and stirred the seed of passion within Sowmya.

As she crossed the threshold of six, the little rasika found artistic sanctorum under Geeta Chandran at Natya Vriksha. Since then dance and Sowmya have been inextricable. Moving far beyond the label of extra curricula, dance seemed to infest every domain of Sowmya's life. This was the result of her own discipline and dedication coupled with the unwavering direction and hawk-eyed guidance of her teacher.

Sowmya's interest, expertise and formal training in Carnatic music (under Dr. Vasanthi Krishna Rao), as well as the chanting of Vedic hymns (under Dr. K. Anantha) has helped in profoundly embellishing her dance. This was furthered by her excellence in Yoga, all of which culminated in her being elected as the Cultural Secretary of The Mothers International School, where she is currently enrolled in Class XII. She was also a member of School's Sanskrit Editorial Board.

Sowmya believes that even her strong grasp over academics is a manifestation of the parent-like tutelage under her Guru's wing. Therefore dance proves to be in every way Sowmya's medium towards ultimate realization.

In 2012, Sowmya received the prestigious CCRT (Cultural Talent Search Scholarship) of the Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India. In 2014 and 2015 she acquired first position in Duet Category as a part of the Bal Kala Utsav. She has also secured the first position at several interschool classical dance competitions.

Sowmya has participated in several group performances including the SPANDAN festival organised at the India International Centre in 2014 and in Geeta Chandran's ANEKANTA (2016) which marked 25 years of Natya Vriksha.

A celebrated artist and a star-performer, Geeta Chandran began learning Bharatanatyam from the tender age of 5 years under the tutelage of Smt. Swarna Saraswathy, who hailed from the traditional Thanjavoor dasi parampara. Subsequently, Geeta continued learning diverse aspects of the classical dance from a galaxy of eminent Gurus.

Today she is a renowned artist who has synthesised the knowledge she received from her Gurus to imprint Bharatanatyam with her personal vision of the dance. In her dance presentations Geeta Chandran skilfully weaves abstract notions of Joy, Beauty, Values, Aspirations, Myth and Spirituality.

A polymath, Geeta Chandran effortlessly catalyses multiple vectors of creativity; She is celebrated not only for her deep and composite understanding of the art of Bharatanatyam, but also for her Carnatic music (she is a trained and accomplished vocalist), her work in television, video and film, theatre, choreography, dance education, dance activism and dance-issue journalism.

Geeta Chandran is Founder-President of her dance academy Natya-Vriksha in New Delhi. Natya Vriksha aims to make youth aware of the immense potential of Bharatanatyam to become a live voyage of learning. Through the dance, Geeta Chandran makes them comprehend the complex inter-linkages between the classical dance tradition and its strict grammar with other disciplines: Philosophy, Ritual, Religion, Myths, Ancient texts, Poetry, Literature, Art (Painting and Sculpture), Cultural Studies, Yoga, Handicrafts & Handlooms and Beauty & Aesthetics. Gender dynamics, gender equity and equality are integral to the pedagogy that Geeta has developed in her unique training module.

Geeta Chandran is also Artistic Director of the Natya Vriksha Dance Company, known for the high aesthetic quality of its group presentations that showcase Geeta's metier as a choreographer.

A rare combination of being both a luminary and a visionary, Geeta Chandran is a widely respected role model for the young generation. She guides reputed national cultural institutions and prestigious universities as their Board member, and she also serves on the Advisory Boards of several reputed schools and colleges and on several Boards and Empanelment and other Committees of the Government of India.

An influential spokesperson for classical dance, Geeta Chandran is the author of SO MANY JOURNEYS, an intensely personal collection of her writings narrating her engagement with Bharatanatyam. She also writes an insightful dance column in The New Indian Express/Sunday Standard, and uses her unique space on social media to promote issues relating to Indian performing arts.

Promoting Art in Education is her particular passion and she is committed to catalysing youth audiences everywhere on the values that classical dance brings to life and living.

In her effort to "en-dance the universe," she engages in a strategic range of dance-related activities: performing, teaching, conducting, singing, collaborating, organizing, writing and speaking to new youth audiences.

Geeta was awarded the prestigious national award -- Padma Shri -- by the President of India in 2007. She has also just been conferred the equally prestigious national Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Bharatanatyam for 2016, which she received from the Hon. President of India on 17 January 2018. In July 2017, Geeta received the NIRBHAYA PURUSKAR for mainstreaming gender equality issues in her dance. And in January 2018 she was conferred the International Women Achievers' Award in Bahrain by the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO).

Founded by the renowned classical dancer (Padmashri) Geeta Chandran, Natya Vriksha enshrines the best philosophies of Indian classical culture. Natya Vriksha aims to make youth aware of the immense potential of Bharatanatyam to become a live voyage of learning. Through the dance, Geeta Chandran makes them comprehend the complex inter-linkages between the classical dance tradition and its strict grammar with other disciplines: Philosophy, Ritual, Religion, Myths, Ancient texts, Poetry, Literature, Art (Painting and Sculpture), Cultural Studies, Yoga, Handicrafts & Handlooms and Beauty & Aesthetics.

2016 marked the silver jubilee celebrations of Natya Vriksha.

The Natya Vriksha Dance Company is unique in that all dancers have been entirely trained in Bharatanatyam by (Padmashri) Geeta Chandran, who is Artistic Director of the Company. Since the dancers have grown up together, the level of trust and togetherness evident in the Company's choreographies, ensure a completely different emotional appeal. The Dance Company has forged a reputation for its crisp and mature group dance presentations. The Company has performed widely to rave reviews and has set high standards for group performances.

Natya Vriksha's vision statement seeks to probe the continuing relevance of classical tradition in a world of changing values. It showcases the aesthetics of Bharatanatyam and its history, how the tenets of the dance can be employed as a means of communicating issues of contemporary concern, even while exploring linkages between history and continuity, between external body and internal mind-space, between yesterday and tomorrow, between artist and audience............between roots and wings.



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