Briana Blasko
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Briana Blasko
Briana Blasko is an American portrait photographer and artist. She has photographed celebrated dancers in the U.S. and India. Venturing extensively to reveal and evidence the treasures of her subjects, India has captivated her focus since 2003 and inspired the publication of two books: ''Dance of the Weave,'' Penguin Books India (2013), and ''Within Without: The Path of the Yogi'', HarperCollins India (2017). Early life and education Born and raised in San Francisco, she has a BFA in photography from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. She began her career as an intern for photographer Annie Leibovitz, where she worked for three years as a research and production assistant on ''Women,'' Leibovitz's book with Susan Sontag. She continued as a producer for the book, ''Talking Fashion'', by Sarajane Hoare and produced advertisements for Conde Nast Magazines and other clients including J Crew, Calvin Klein and Apple. Career Based in New York at the beginning of ...
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Tisch School Of The Arts
The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the arts, and filmmakers. The school is divided into three Institutes: Performing Arts, Emerging Media, and Film & Television. Many undergraduate and graduate disciplines are available for students, including: acting, dance, drama, performance studies, design for stage and film, musical theatre writing, photography, record producing, game design and development, and film and television studies. The school also offers an inter-disciplinary "collaborative arts" program, high school programs, continuing education in the arts for the general public, as well as the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, which teaches entrepreneurial strategies in the music recording industry. A dual MFA/MBA graduate program is also offered, allowing students ...
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Banarasi Sari
A Banarasi sari is a sari made in Varanasi, an ancient city which is also called Benares (Banaras). The saris are among the finest saris in India and are known for their gold and silver brocade or zari, fine silk and opulent embroidery. The saris are made of finely woven silk and are decorated with intricate design, and, because of these engravings, are relatively heavy. Their special characteristics intricate intertwining floral and foliate motifs, ''kalga'' and ''bel'', a string of upright leaves called ''jhallar'' at the outer, edge of border is a characteristic of these saris. Other features are gold work, compact weaving, figures with small details, metallic visual effects, pallus, jal (a net like pattern), and mina work. The saris are often part of an Indian bride's trousseau. Depending on the intricacy of its designs and patterns, a sari can take from 15 days to a month and sometimes up to six months to complete. Banarasi saris are mostly worn by Indian women on import ...
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Kuchipudi
Kuchipudi () ( Telugu: ) is one of the eight major Indian classical dances. It originates from a village named Kuchipudi in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Kuchipudi is a dance-drama performance, with its roots in the ancient Hindu Sanskrit text of Natya Shastra. It developed as a religious art linked to traveling bards, temples and spiritual beliefs, like all major classical dances of India. Evidence of Kuchipudi's existence in an older version are found in copper inscriptions of the 10th century, and by the 15th century in texts such as the ''Machupalli Kaifat''. Kuchipudi tradition holds that Tirtha Narayana Yati – a sanyassin of Advaita Vedanta persuasion,Krishna Chaitanya (1987), "Arts of India.", pages.74 and his disciple, an orphan named Siddhendra Yogi, founded and systematized the modern version of Kuchipudi in the 17th century. Kuchipudi largely developed as a Krishna-oriented Vaishnavism tradition, and it is known by the name of Bhagavata Mela in Thanjavu ...
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Odissi
Odissi (), also referred to as Orissi in old literature, is a major ancient Indian classical dance that originated in the Hindu temple, temples of Odisha – an eastern coastal state of India.Odissi
''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (2013)
Odissi, in its history, was performed predominantly by women, and expressed religious stories and spirital ideas, particularly of Vaishnavism through songs written and composed according to the ''ragas'' & ''talas'' of Odissi music by ancient poets of the state. Odissi performances have also expressed ideas of other traditions such as those related to Hindu Gods Shiva and Surya, as well as Hindu Goddesses (Shaktism)., Quote: "There are other temples too in Odisha where the ''maharis'' used to dance. Besides the temple of ...
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Manipuri Dance
, image = , alt = , caption = An illustration of the ''Manipuri Raas Leela'' dance, being depicted in a stamp from Armenia; transliterations of "Jagoi Raas" and "Manipuri Raas Leela", the terms in Meitei language (officially called Manipuri) and Sanskrit respectively, for the Manipuri classical dance, in Meitei script (Manipuri script) of medieval era , native_name = mni, Jagoi Raas, Raas Jagoi , etymology = ''" Raas Leela of the Manipuris"'' , genre = Indian classical dance , signature = , instruments = , inventor = Rajarshi Bhagyachandra ( mni, Ching-Thang Khomba) , year = , origin = * Manipur kingdom (historical) * (current) The '' Manipuri Dance'', also referred to as the ''Manipuri'' ''Raas Leela'' ( mni, Jagoi Raas, Raas Jagoi), is one of the eight major Indian classical dance forms, originating from the state of Manipur. The dance form is imbued with the devotional themes of Madhura Raas of Radha ...
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Kathakali
Kathakali ( ml, കഥകളി) is a major form of classical Indian dance. It is a "story play" genre of art, but one distinguished by the elaborately colourful make-up and costumes of the traditional male actor-dancers. It is native to the Malayalam-speaking southwestern region of Kerala and is almost entirely practiced and appreciated by Malayali people. Kathakali's roots are unclear. The fully developed style of Kathakali originated around the 17th century, but its roots are in the temple and folk arts (such as Krishnanattam and religious drama of the kingdom of the Zamorin of Calicut) southwestern Indian peninsula), which are traceable to at least the 1st millennium CE. A Kathakali performance, like all classical dance arts of India, synthesizes music, vocal performers, choreography and hand and facial gestures together to express ideas. However, Kathakali differs in that it also incorporates movements from ancient Indian martial arts and athletic traditions of South Ind ...
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Bharatanatyam
Bharatanatyam () is a major form of Indian classical dance that originated in Tamil Nadu. It is one of the eight widely recognized Indian classical dance forms, and expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas, particularly of Shaivism and in general of Hinduism.Bharata-natyam
''Encyclopædia Britannica''. 2007
A description of Bharatanatyam from the 2nd century CE can be found in the ancient Tamil epic ''Silappatikaram'', while temple sculptures of the 6th to 9th century CE suggest it was a highly refined performance art by the mid-1st millennium CE. Bharatanatyam is the oldest classical dance tradition in India. Bharatanatyam is the state dance form of Tamil Nadu. Bharatanatyam contains different types of ''baanis''. ''Ba ...
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Navtej Johar
Navtej Singh Johar (born 8 August 1959) is an Indian Sangeet Natak Akademi award-winning Bharatnatyam exponent and choreographer. He is also an LGBTQ activist. Life and career Johar is faculty at Ashoka University, Sonipat. He is trained in Bharatanatyam at Kalakshetra, a dance school of Rukmini Arundale at Chennai, and with Leela Samson at the Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra in New Delhi. He also studied later at the Department of Performance Studies, New York University. He has received numerous fellowships for his research such as Times of India Fellowship (1995), the Charles Wallace Fellowship (1999). Johar has collaborated with composers Stephen Rush, Shubha Mudgal and installation artist Sheba Chhachhi among others. He has also acted in ''Earth'' by Deepa Mehta and ''Khamosh Pani'' by Sabiha Sumar. He is among the few male dancers of classical form in India and first Sikh to have taken to the art form. Activism In June 2016, Johar and five others, all members of the ...
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Madhavi Mudgal
Madhavi Mudgal is an Indian classical dancer known for her Odissi dance style. She has won several awards, including the ''Sanskriti Award'', 1984, President of India's award of Padma Shri, 1990, the ''Orissa State Sangeet Natak Akademi Award'', 1996, ''Grande Medaille de la Ville'' by Govt. of France, 1997, Central ''Sangeet Natak Akademi Award'', 2000, ''Delhi State Parishad Samman'', 2002 and the title of ''Nritya Choodamani'' in 2004. Early life and training Madhavi Mudgal was born to Professor Vinay Chandra Maudgalya, the founder of Gandharva Mahavidyalaya; one of the most famous dance schools for Hindustani music and classical dance in New Delhi. Professor Vinay Chandra Maudgalya is best remembered today for the lyrics of the song ''Hind Desh ke Niwasi'' in the animation film Ek Anek Aur Ekta by Vijaya Mulay which won the National Film Award for Best Educational Film. She inherited a love of art and dance from her family and under the guidance of her guru Shri Ha ...
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Kalakshetra Foundation
Kalakshetra Foundation, formerly simply Kalakshetra, is an arts and cultural academy dedicated to the preservation of traditional values in Indian art and crafts, especially in the field of Bharatanatyam dance and Gandharvaveda music. Based in Chennai, India, the academy was founded in January 1936 by Rukmini Devi Arundale and her husband George Arundale. Under Arundale's guidance, the institution achieved national and international recognition for its unique style and perfectionism. In 1962, Kalakshetra moved to a new campus in Besant Nagar, Chennai, occupying of land. In January 1994, an Act of the Parliament of India recognised the Kalakshetra Foundation as an "Institute of National Importance." The current Chairman of Kalakshetra is S. Ramadorai and the current director is Revathi Ramachandran. History Kalakshetra, later known as the Kalakshetra Foundation, was established by Rukmini Devi Arundale, along with her husband, George Arundale, a well-known theosophist, ...
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Mrinalini Sarabhai
Mrinalini Vikram Sarabhai (11 May 1918 – 21 January 2016) was an Indian classical dancer, choreographer and instructor. She was the founder and director of the Darpana Academy of Performing Arts, an institute for imparting training in dance, drama, music and puppetry, in the city of Ahmedabad. She received Padma Bhushan in 1992 and Padma Shri in 1965. She also received many other citations in recognition of her contribution to art. Biography Early life and education Mrinalini was born to a Tamil Brahmin father and Malayali Nair mother in present-day Kerala on 11 May 1918. Her parents were Subbarama Swaminathan, a distinguished lawyer with degrees from Harvard and London Universities, practised criminal law at Madras High Court, and A.V. Ammukutty, better known as Ammu Swaminathan, a social worker, an independence activist, and later a parliamentarian. She attended a boarding school in Switzerland for two years, where, she received her first lessons in the Dalcroze school, a W ...
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Nrityagram
Nrityagram is India's first modern Gurukul (residential school) for Indian classical dances and an intentional community in the form of a dance village, set up by Odissi dancer Protima Gauri in 1990. The residential school offers training in Indian classical dance forms, Odissi, Mohiniattam, Kathak, Bharatnatyam, Kuchipudi, Kathakali and Manipuri, eight hours a day, six days a week for seven years, following the ancient Guru-shishya tradition. Designed by famous Indian architect Gerard da Cunha, the community is situated near Hesaraghatta Lake 30 km from Bengaluru. Today the Nrityagram Dance Ensemble has performed across India and in many countries abroad. History The word Nrityagram, literally translated, means "dance village," and in founder, Protima Gauri's own words, Protima left Mumbai in 1989 to start the dance village, the land was given on lease by state government and by 1990 the institution had taken root, inaugurated on 11 May 1990, by the then Prime ...
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