The Music Academy is holding, for the first time, a week-long dance festival from January 3 to 9, to mark the pioneering role played by the Academy in the preservation and propagation of Bharatanatyam. For it was seventy-five years ago in 1931 that the dance programme of the Thiruvalaputhur Kalyani daughters Rajalakshmi and Jeevaratnam was held under the auspices of the Academy. This was the first time that a dance recital was performed in a sabha.
The event marked the beginning of the renaissance of Bharatanatyam and came about after a protracted struggle by the supporters of the art led by E. Krishna Iyer, who was one of the secretaries of the Academy. Since then the Academy has featured Bharatanatyam and other dance forms in its festivals.
In 1973, the Academy awarded its prestigious Sangita Kalanidhi title to T. Balasaraswathi. The present dance festival will feature 17 solo recitals and five group productions.
Apart from Bharatanatyam the other styles featured will be Kuchipudi, Mohini Attam, Kathakali, Odissi and Kathak. Senior dancers will present a short paper in the morning with demonstration and follow it with a dance recital as an illustration of their respective styles. The first concert of the evening will be performed by solo Bharatanatyam artistes and they will be followed by solo or group productions of the other styles.
The Kathakali dance drama Karna Sapatham by Kerala Kalamandalam will be the concluding programme. M.A.
Baby, Minister of Education and Culture, Kerala Government, will inaugurate it.
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