HT City Delhi Junction: Catch It Live on 5 May 2025
Where: Triveni Kala Sangam, 205, Tansen Marg, Mandi House
When: May 5 to 7
Timing: 6pm
Entry: Free
Nearest Metro Station: Mandi House (Blue & Violet Lines)
What: Lusophone Film Fest | The Daughters of Fire
Where: CD Deshmukh Auditorium, India International Centre, 40 Max Mueller Marg, Lodhi Road
When: May 5
Timing: 5pm
Entry: Free
Nearest Metro Station: Jor Bagh (Yellow Line)
What: Becoming – Celebrating Illustrations in Children's Books in India
Where: Art Gallery, Kamaladevi Complex, India International Centre, Lodhi Road
When: April 23 to May 6
Timing: 11am to 7pm
Entry: Free
Nearest Metro Station: Jor Bagh (Yellow Line)
What: Bharatanatyam Recital by Karuna Ketan Bhakta
Where: The Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road
When: May 5
Timing: 7pm
Entry: Free
Nearest Metro Station: JLN Stadium (Violet Line)
What: Lock The Box – Book Fest
Where: Pacific Mall, Tagore Garden
When: May 2 to 11
Timing: 11am
Entry: Free
Nearest Metro Station: Tagore Garden (Blue Line)
What: Pranav Sharma Live
Where: Nojoto Creator Hub, PVR Anupam Complex, Saket
When: May 5
Timing: 4pm
Entry: www.bookmyshow.com
Nearest Metro Station: Malviya Nagar (Yellow Line)
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Indian Express
21 hours ago
- Indian Express
If books could dance: 7 literary scenes that beg for a Bollywood number
(Written by Kaashvi Khubyani) Some book scenes just feel like they belong on a big screen- full of drama, emotion and the kind of energy that begs for a twirl or a hook step. From tense ballroom glances to playful wedding banter, these are the stories that could've easily been Bollywood musicals. If choreographers ever wandered into fiction, here's where they'd probably want to start. Anna's entrance into that Moscow ballroom in black velvet is pure cinema. Without saying a word, she turns the mood electric. Everyone's watching, especially Vronsky. It's that kind of moment that begs for a waltz which is slow, intense and full of pauses where eyes meet but mouths stay shut. Think Bhansali meets Tolstoy: chandeliers, tension and heartbreak dressed in silk. You already know the story won't end well but for now, it's all dizzying romance. Lata and Kabir's Holi moment in A Suitable Boy is basically choreography waiting to happen. The air is full of colour and unsaid things. They're teasing each other, half in play, half in flirtation and you can already hear the beat building. Imagine cousins dancing in the background, lyrics that drop hints and camera zooms on stolen glances. It's the kind of scene that could stretch across songs, each one closer to something real. Sophie Mol's arrival is all about forced smiles and uncomfortable silence. Everyone's pretending to be polite but you can feel the tension under the surface. If this became a dance, it would be stiff at first like a school function where everyone's scared of messing up. Then something would shift. The rhythm would grow jagged, expressions would crack and suddenly the dance would reveal everything the characters can't say out loud. Shekhar and Lalita's love sits quietly in the middle of Durga Puja rituals- respectful, restrained but undeniably there. It's not about dramatic confessions; it's about looks that linger and movements that mirror each other. A dance here wouldn't be loud rather it would be soft, classical, full of eye contact and emotion held just beneath the surface. Every tabla beat would say something unsaid. Every step would mean more than words could. Draupadi's swayamvar isn't just a competition, it's a turning point. As Arjuna picks up the bow, everything pauses for a performance that would be thunderous: a Kathak-inspired whirlwind of control, beauty and inner chaos. Every spin could mirror her mind racing. Each beat could echo a choice already made by the universe. It's more than just a dance, it's destiny wrapped in ghungroos and silences that echo louder than applause. Before violence tears it apart, the village in Train to Pakistan celebrates a fair. There's music, flirtation, kids running wild, and lovers exchanging looks across lantern-lit paths. It's joy at its purest but fused with a sadness you only feel after. A folk dance here would be infectious: loud dhols, twirling skirts and laughter in the air. But underneath, there's that ache because both the reader and the land know what's coming next. In this gentle, time-bending tale, a woman who once danced longs for one more moment with her daughter. If this became a performance, it wouldn't be a duet. It would be one woman on stage, moving slowly, gracefully with more in the pauses than the steps. No flashy moves. Just memory taking form in movement. It's the kind of dance that feels like a letter never sent, a goodbye never said, but deeply felt. Some scenes don't need explosions or big sets. They just need rhythm, heart and a few steps that say what words can't. From ballroom tragedies to Holi flirtations, these books prove that literature and choreography can make magic together.
The Hindu
2 days ago
- The Hindu
IIT professor develops ATAM, a patented and an innovative dance teaching tool
Dance forms around the world are marked by uniqueness, owing to the traditions and cultural contexts in which they have evolved. While efforts have been made to preserve the distinctive character of each, little attention has been towards identifying the universal elements that connect them. It is often said that all forms of music, despite their diversity, can be can be comprehended through the seven notes. What, then, is the equivalent in dance? This basic question, posed by academician and dancer Jayachandran Surendran, led him to explore form-neutral and style-neutral universal fundamentals for dance. Jayachandran's decades of research led to the development of a pedagogical tool aptly named ATAM (meaning 'motion' or 'movement' in Tamil, at a fundamental level), the first of its kind to receive a design patent in India. He explains, 'I observed that three parameters are universally present across all dance forms — postures, transitions between postures, and the rhythm in those transitions. Since my approach is based on the affordability and degree of freedom of each joint in the body, with a special focus on the lower half of the body, the tool can technically be applied to all kinds of movement. Movement is a common thread that runs through human activities such as sports, yoga, martial arts, dance, and theatre.' In Bharatanatyam, the basic unit of movement is called an 'Adavu'. Does Jayachandran attempts to go beyond this foundational element? Interestingly, he points out that the term 'Adavu' is not exclusive to Bharatanatyam; it is also used in traditional Indian martial arts such as Kuthuvarisai and Silambam. He argues that an Adavu is not intrinsically artistic; rather, it is a way of breaking down movement into smaller, functional units for pedagogical purposes. It is the intent of the movement which imports artistry to Adavu. 'Postures are common across various movement disciplines. The fundamentals of the classical dance forms have been assimilated also from the movement knowledge bank of martial arts and yogasana traditions. However, what differs across several movement systems is the transition — what happens between postures. While posture training forms the bedrock of dance learning, transitions are often absorbed through observation.' The ATAM tool, according to Jayachandran, isolates these transitions, and teaches them separately, offering students a more conscious understanding of movement flow. So, how is the ATAM tool designed? To make it child-friendly, Jayachandran mapped six postures onto the six faces of a dice. There are three-coloured dice: black for standing postures, red for half-sitting, and blue for full-sitting. Dice are placed in white holders for on-beat movements and black holders for off-beat. Two dials are used — one indicates foot positions (right, left, both) and transitions (like stamping, placing, turning, sliding, or jumping, each shown by a colour), while the other specifies torso angles in 45-degree increments. These dials too are placed in white or black holders based on beat alignment. The tool is intended primarily for children and beginners in dance to develop dance literacy. Jayachandran clarifies 'When we talk about dance literacy, the goal is not to make someone a professional dancer, but to help those unfamiliar with dance become comfortable with dance movements. Athletic training makes the body literate for movement, even if one does not become an athlete. In the same way, dance literacy involves training the body and mind to overcome unfamiliarity with movement. It is about developing awareness, control, and comfort in one's body through dance — not about performance, but about internalising movement as a language.' In classical dance training, the body is often conditioned to repeat only certain combinations of movements. However, with the ATAM tool, all possible combinations within six basic postures are explored, fostering openness and flexibility in posture practice. 'For children, no movement sequence is considered inherently right or wrong. If a particular combination already exists in a known dance form, we simply acknowledge it and move on. For those that do not have an existing name, we try to name them or inform them if a name already exists. As practice progresses, a two-beat movement may evolve into a three-beat one, and the number of possible combinations grows exponentially, reaching up to six raised to the power of three for a three-beat sequence,' he says. An interesting aspect of this approach is the reversal of traditional classroom dynamics. In conventional dance teaching, the teacher is highly active in planning, while the student's role is more passive. Here, while using the tool it is the opposite — the teacher remains mostly passive, keenly observing, intervening only when necessary. The children stay deeply engaged, often in pin-drop silence, with their attention fully focused on the tool. It becomes difficult to disengage them, as the process stimulates constant thinking. The tool allows for the creation of numerous variations in posture and angle, making it possible to capture the essence of all forms of dance within its framework. In the traditional knowledge system of the Nāṭyaśāstra, the way we read the śāstra often influences how we understand it. For instance, when the Nāṭyaśāstra speaks of five sthanaka postures, we tend to view them as distinct, fixed reference points. However, as a researcher, Jayachandran observes that there are many possible subtle in-between postures that the śāstra-kāras may not have explicitly mentioned, but left the practitioner to posit. He believes it is the responsibility of practitioners to explore and identify these transitional forms. A parallel can be drawn from music — while we are taught there are only seven notes, we know that between two notes lies a rich space for nuanced modulation, as seen in veena playing, where the pulling from one note to another opens expressive possibilities. Similarly, movement from one posture to another in dance involves not just fixed positions, but reference points, functional shifts, and continuous curves. Jayachandran's approach includes identifying 'pivotal index values' to map these transitions — such as naming a movement like Valithoruham as part of a larger curve. Instead of memorising each movement individually, he proposes understanding the frequency range and pattern of the movement like a graph or a curve, making the process more intuitive and less reliant on rote memory. While posturing, transitions, and rhythm are common across all dance forms, the next question arises — can abhinaya also be brought into this framework? Says Jayachandran, 'Training typically involves the anga, upanga, and pratyanga, with focus on both freeze points and transition points. Multiple modules can be developed to train different aspects — pure movement, abhinaya, and musicality. In the current system, pure movement training has been divided into upper and lower body segments. The research primarily concentrates on the lower half, as it forms the foundation of movement vocabulary. Even this area alone is highly complex, with a huge number of probable combinations. The upper body, especially in the context of nritta, remains an area to be explored. Extending this further to mukhaja abhinaya and other expressive elements opens up the possibility for creating a completely new movement vocabulary. What is currently being developed can be seen as a prototype that lays the groundwork for future expansion.' Physically, the tool takes the form of a dice with posture stickers and a board with rotating dials placed at pivot points, resembling a Pallanguzhi board. This tangible setup is designed especially for children, offering a screen-free alternative to digital apps and helping to reduce screen time. A web-based app version is currently under development for further expansion. Ultimately, ATAM aims to provide a non-hierarchical, exploratory learning environment, especially for children, where movement is play, inquiry, and self-expression. A live demonstration, Jayachandran notes, is the best way to understand its potential.
Indian Express
2 days ago
- Indian Express
Upasana Konidela reveals Sadhguru's advice she follows daily with daughter, says Klin Kaara ‘has to like it, no choice': ‘Look how glam his daughter is'
Ram Charan's wife and businesswoman Upasana Kamineni was over the moon when she welcomed her daughter Klin Kaara Konidela in 2023, almost 12 years after her marriage to the actor. In a recent interaction, Upasana spoke about ensuring her little one's meals are nutritious, with a special focus on traditional ingredients — particularly ragi, which she says is packed with nutritional value. In a conversation with Curly Tales, Upasana revealed that Indian guru and Isha Foundation founder Sadhguru advised her to give ragi to Klin daily. She said, 'Ragi is my favourite food and I make sure my daughter has ragi every day. Sadhguru told me, 'Make sure she has ragi in any form every day.'' Sadguru's daughter and Bharatanatyam dancer Radhe Jaggi vouched for traditional fermented drinks (kanji) and how the guru made sure she has one such drink everyday. Upasana shared, 'Sadguru's daughter told me that he would make kanji for her every day. Look how fit and glamorous she is and I want the same for my daughter, so I make her have ragi kanji.' When asked if Klin likes it, Upasana replied, 'She has to like it. There is no choice. It is non-negotiable.' During the same interaction, Upasana also spoke about Ram Charan's love for traditional South Indian food, revealing how he insists on having at least one traditional, home-cooked South Indian meal everyday even when they are travelling abroad and dining at some of the best restaurants in the world. She shared that this constant craving eventually inspired her to launch a venture selling dry home foods for travel purposes. She recalled, 'I started as a convenience because it was my problem. We used to go to the best restaurants in the world and then he would come and say, 'Okay, now I need Indian food.' I was like, 'Where will we find Indian food at 11:30 pm in the night?' Then we would go searching for Indian food in different countries because one meal of his has to be Indian, and it has to be breakfast or dinner. And not North Indian—his food has to be South Indian, and it has to be home-cooked. And when he is shooting, then it is a must.' She added, 'Now I travel with dry home foods everywhere. So I can just get everything ready in 10 minutes.'
