Hema Rajagopalan
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Hema Rajagopalan
Hema Rajagopalan is a Bharatanatyam dancer, teacher and choreographer from New Delhi, India. Hema Rajagopalan started dancing in 1956 at the age of six under the instruction of her devadasi guru, Swarna Saraswathy. Hema Rajagopalan performed her first arangetram after just six months of training, and was then hailed a child prodigy in the art of bharatanatyam. Later on in her career, she also studied bharatanatyam under Padmasri K.N. Dandayudapani Pillai and his brothers K.N. Pakkiriswami Pillai and K.N. Dakshinamoorthy Pillai. Most recently, Hema Rajagopalan studied under Padma Kalanidhi Narayanan. Hema Rajagopalan moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1974 where she began doing smaller performances for friends to introduce Indian and Hindu culture beyond the small pockets of Indian immigrant communities. She then founded the Natya Dance Theatre to preserve and promote Bharatanatyam in the United States. Natya Dance Theatre performs contemporary interpretations of traditional dance ...
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Devadasi
In India, a devadasi was a female artist who was dedicated to the worship and service of a deity or a temple for the rest of her life. The dedication took place in a ceremony that was somewhat similar to a marriage ceremony. In addition to taking care of the temple and performing rituals, these women also learned and practiced classical Indian artistic traditions such as Bharatanatyam, Mohiniyattam, Kuchipudi, and Odissi. Their social status was high as dance and music were an essential part of temple worship. Between the sixth and thirteenth centuries, Devadasis had a high rank and dignity in society and were exceptionally affluent as they were seen as the protectors of the arts. During this period royal patrons provided them with gifts of land, property, and jewellery. After becoming Devadasis, the women would spend their time learning religious rites, rituals, and dances. Devadasis were expected to live a life of celibacy, however, there have been instances of exceptions. D ...
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Arangetram (dance)
Arangetram (in Tamil and in Malayalam, known as "Rangapravesha" in Kannada and "Rangapravesham" in Telugu) is the debut on-stage performance of a former student of Indian classical dance and music that follows years of training in classical music and dancing. Many Indian classical dance forms require their followers to perform an arangetram. Once a student has done so, they are thereafter allowed to perform dances on their own and to teach aspiring dancers. Etymology Arangetram is a portmanteau of the Tamil words for stage ("arangu") and ascent ("etram") and its literal translation is "climbing or ascending the stage". In the context of dance, the word refers to the graduation ceremony in which the guru presents his or her pupil to the public. Its origins can be traced to the devdasi (temple dancer) tradition. Arangetram can be performed for other Indian classical dance styles such as Kathak, Kuchipudi, Manipuri, Kathakali, Bharatanatyam, and Mohiniattam as well as vocal and inst ...
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Kalanidhi Narayanan
Kalanidhi Narayanan (7 December 1928 – 21 February 2016) was an Indian dancer and teacher of Indian classical dance form of Bharatnatyam, who was the early non-devadasi girl to learn the dance form and perform it on stage in the 1930s and 1940s. After a brief career in the 1940s, she returned to dance in 1973 and became a notable teacher of ''abhinaya''. She was awarded the Padma Bhushan Award, India's third highest civilian honour in 1985, the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Bharatnatyam in 1990, given by Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama and Kalidas Samman (1998). She was also conferred Sangeet Natak Akademi Tagore Ratna for Dance in 2011. Early life and training Born Kalanidhi Ganapathi in the Brahmin household of Sumitra and Ganapati, her mother was keen on getting her dance education, and this was supported by her father. Thus starting at the age of seven she trained intensively under various gurus, this included Kamakshi Ammal ...
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Abhinaya
Abhinaya (Sanskrit ''abhi-'' 'towards' + ''nii-'' 'leading/guide') is the art of expression in Indian aesthetics. More accurately it means "leading an audience towards" the experience (') of a sentiment ('). The concept, derived from Bharata Muni's ''Natya Shastra'', is used as an integral part of all Indian classical dance styles. ''Abhinaya'' can be divided into four, according to the ''Natya Shastra''. pp. 131–186 Expression of the limbs (''Āṅgika Abhinaya'') Angika Abhinaya denotes the movements of angas like head, hands, waist and face. Pratyangas like shoulder, shoulder arm's, thighs, knees and elbows and upangas like eyes, eyelid, cheeks, nose, lips and teeth. Additional hastas (hand gestures) have always played a significant role in conveyance of the emotion and through of a soul. Many of the natural gestures are found common to mankind and their meaning easily understood. Expression of speech (''Vāchika Abhinaya'') Speech is used in drama and also in music when ...
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Columbia College Chicago
Columbia College Chicago is a Private college, private art college in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1890, it has 5,928https://about.colum.edu/effectiveness/pdf/spring-2021-student-profile.pdf students pursuing degrees in more than 60 undergraduate and graduate degree programs. It is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Columbia College Chicago is the host institution of several affiliated educational, cultural, and research organizations, including the Center for Black Music Research, the Center for Book and Paper Arts, the Center for Community Arts Partnerships, the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, and the Museum of Contemporary Photography. Columbia College Chicago is not affiliated with Columbia University, Columbia College Hollywood, or any other Columbia College in the United States. History Columbia College Chicago was founded in 1890 as the Columbia School of Oratory by Mary A. Blood and Ida Morey Riley, both graduates of the Monroe Conservatory of ...
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National Endowment For The Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government by an act of the U.S. Congress, signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson on September 29, 1965 (20 U.S.C. 951). It is a sub-agency of the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities, along with the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The NEA has its offices in Washington, D.C. It was awarded Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre in 1995, as well as the Special Tony Award in 2016. In 1985, the NEA won an honorary Oscar from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for its work with the American Film Institute in the identification, acquisition, restoration and preservation of historic films. In 2016 and again in 2 ...
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Illinois Arts Council
The Illinois Arts Council is a government agency of the state of Illinois formed to encourage development of the arts throughout Illinois. Founded in 1965 by the Illinois General Assembly, the Illinois Arts Council provides financial and technical assistance to artists, arts organizations, and community organizations with arts programming. The Illinois Arts Council The Illinois Arts Council is governed by up to 21 members appointed by the Governor of Illinois The governor of Illinois is the head of government of Illinois, and the various agencies and departments over which the officer has jurisdiction, as prescribed in the state constitution. It is a directly elected position, votes being cast by p ... who serve four-year terms. They meet three times a year. Assisted by volunteer advisory panels, they distribute grants and oversee arts programs and services. Many arts organizations in Illinois rely on funding from the IAC each year. Governor Rod Blagojevich drastically c ...
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MacArthur Foundation
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private foundation that makes grants and impact investments to support non-profit organizations in approximately 50 countries around the world. It has an endowment of $7.0 billion and provides approximately $260 million annually in grants and impact investments. It is based in Chicago, and in 2014 it was the 12th-largest private foundation in the United States. It has awarded more than US$6.8 billion since its first grants in 1978. The foundation's stated purpose is to support "creative people, effective institutions, and influential networks building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world". MacArthur's grant-making priorities include mitigating climate change, reducing jail populations, decreasing nuclear threats, supporting nonprofit journalism, and funding local needs in its hometown of Chicago. According to the OECD, the foundation's financing for 2019 development increased by 27% to US$109 million. ...
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Indian Classical Choreographers
Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asian ethnic groups, referring to people of the Indian subcontinent, as well as the greater South Asia region prior to the 1947 partition of India * Anglo-Indians, people with mixed Indian and British ancestry, or people of British descent born or living in the Indian subcontinent * East Indians, a Christian community in India Europe * British Indians, British people of Indian origin The Americas * Indo-Canadians, Canadian people of Indian origin * Indian Americans, American people of Indian origin * Indigenous peoples of the Americas, the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Americas and their descendants ** Plains Indians, the common name for the Native Americans who lived on the Great Plains of North America ** Native Americans in the Un ...
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Bharatanatyam Exponents
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 '''', 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 tradit ...
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People From New Delhi
A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of property, or legal responsibility. The defining features of personhood and, consequently, what makes a person count as a person, differ widely among cultures and contexts. In addition to the question of personhood, of what makes a being count as a person to begin with, there are further questions about personal identity and self: both about what makes any particular person that particular person instead of another, and about what makes a person at one time the same person as they were or will be at another time despite any intervening changes. The plural form "people" is often used to refer to an entire nation or ethnic group (as in "a people"), and this was the original meaning of the word; it subsequently acquired its use as a plural form of per ...
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