Ranga Mandira Academy of World Dance/Performance and Indic Studies

15/05/2022

MAJLIS

15/05/2022

MAJLIS- Sufi Kalaam by Radhika Ganesh and Paras Banjara

15/05/2022

MAJLIS- Nirgun music by Paras Banjara
Kabir and Meera being sung

15/05/2022

MAJLIS- Ranga Mandira Melam artistes Ishwarya. Ruckmani, Pooja and Pavitra perform Sadir

15/05/2022

MAJLIS- Sadir repertoire of Javalis presented by Dr Swarnamalya

15/05/2022

MAJLIS - Puppetry by veteran puppeteer Ramlal Bhat from the Nat community

15/05/2022

MAJLIS Mandira

An evenIng of the ARTS - Puppetry by Veteran Bhat ji, Sadir by Ranga Mandira Melam, Nir Gun and Sufi Kalaams by Banjara ans Ganesh

Good food and so much to exchange and rejoice ! We at Ranga Mandira were thrilled to bring this evening along with our Arts In Partnership collaborators Ek Potlee Ret Ki.

Videos coming up in the next posts

07/05/2022

A WORKSHOP for young dancers. On 15th May we will spend 3 hours together, every 15 mins you will learn something NEW about Dance!

Stories about Dance histoy- Sanskrit, Tamil, Medieval, Modern- puppetry, Rasa and Bhava games, Ashtanayika exposition!
15-15-15 !

The workshop is for dancers of any age 6 and above.
You can come ON LINE and OFF LINE
(Offline to Ranga Mandira Studio at Cenotaph Road, Chennai)

To register email - [email protected]

29/04/2022

21/03/2022

Padmashri R Muthukannamal. I am a proud student, a proud legatee, a proud dancer and a proud woman.

Don’t miss how she kept refusing to be hand held to the alter by the helper😊she is a dancer ! Needs no hand- holding, Of any sort !!!! ✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽

02/03/2022

RANGA MANDIRA is very proud of our student Pooja R Balaji who has won the first place in her university organised Freshers Welcome Meet named Vibrance'21 and Fiesta'21 for the first year students on 15th and 16th of December 2021. She took part in the classical dance competition and was awarded the first place for her performance!

I’m a proud teacher !

18/12/2021

When the body becomes the site of curiosity and listlessness....Sadir Concert JAN 3rd Narada Gana Sabha BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW from this link below

https://insider.in/mega-isai-vizha-season-5-by-dr-swarnamalaya-ganesh-jan3-2022/event

ALSO DONT FORGET TO TAKE THIS QUIZ.... if you have the answer, put it in the comments box :-)

swarnamalyag • Original Audio

16/12/2021

https://insider.in/mega-isai-vizha-season-5-by-dr-swarnamalaya-ganesh-jan3-2022/event.

TO BUY TICKETS DO CLICK THE LINK ABOVE

Cant wait to share fun trivia and BTS with you. Coming up!!

226 Likes, 16 Comments - Swarnamalya Ganesh () on Instagram: “NEW BEGINNINGS- JOIN ME and the ensemble on JAN 3rd, 7 PM Narada Gana Sabha…”

05/10/2021

AMA- Ask Me Anything on Oct 7 Thurs 8 PM IST on IG and YT

03/10/2021

check out our newest Insta Reels on the multi lingual beauty that Sadir is!

19/09/2021

Dancing through Covid

08/08/2021

GET REAL...With Muthukannamal event was a heartwarming evening. So many dancers, senior dancers and younger dancers, dance lovers, history and social movement researchers, the public... they asked so many questions and Amma was thrilled to answer them candidly, with a beautiful sense of humour. Her truth was something that sat as a heavy load on the minds of everyone who listened to her. They left knowing that the truth is complex.

Amma has been my guru for the past several years.
Because she is almost one of the last surviving Devadasis of TN today, there has been such a research interest on her life.

All the expertise on the "subject" of Muthukannamal over these years, has drowned her truth and her voice, piggybacking on her identity to stage each one's personal and political agendas.

Often it made her and me angry but we more often laughed at the ability of people to manipulate. Ofcourse I could have written a post colonial critique scrutinising the “over there” methods in the colonial projects that people were resorting to who keep speaking about a living, breathing and very self made woman by denying her own voice. However, after a year of deliberations on ways of decolonising methods of research as well as engagement, our collective came up with this project. GET REAL...

It was refreshing to see dancers and public gather from around the world to talk to her face to face. In her voice and not in translation. The one lot who were conspicuous by their absence were dance researchers;-)

For whose who registered late, we will make a second edition possible. Please keep in touch.

Some exciting footage excerpts from the GET REAL... event will be out in a month's time on public forums for all to see.

- Swarnamalya

30/07/2021

So many years of speaking about her! So many people who continue to speak for her. Her tales have travelled far and wide, even as she remains in her humble abode, here at Viralimalai, Tamil Nadu, India

"GET REAL... with Muthukannammal" is the first in a series of curated opportunities that will open the doors to some of the homes of women and people whose lives have been of much interest to all.

She is not a "subject" of research or the "object" of historiography. She is not a shadow alluded to. Get Real...

So many of you have privately reached out to us over these years, wanting to have an opportunity to meet, speak or even see her. REGISTER NOW ! Talk to her yourself.

JULY 6th 6.30 PM
*A small registration fee is applicable which will go to her as an honorarium

15/06/2021

30/05/2021

PREMIERING TODAY at 5.30 PM https://youtu.be/Cao5T4fAabU Pls JOIN US. Like, subscribe and share our channel. Thank you

Learning Sadir means imbibing a legacy that has been carefully preserved and passed on. The joy of receiving the Sadir repertoire as part of ones learning i...

29/05/2021

We are really exciting about the release of a special Sadir Feature tomorow danced by some of the young dancers who are learning Sadir at Ranga Mandira.

We are even more thrilled that it is released by the super talented, young Prasanna, a bhagavatamela artiste.
JOIN us on the Ranga Mandira You Tube channel at 5.30 pm tomorrow.

01/05/2021

08/02/2021

From The Attic

It was a moment of great joy when our Guru Viralimalai R Muthukannamal Amma, the senior most performer and artist from a family that has served six generations for the arts received the State Art and Culture award at Pudukottai two days ago. It is a historic moment for dance history not only because she was awarded, but because in post independent India for the first time, a hereditary dancer has been awarded as "SADIR ARTIST"!
Assertion, restitution of dignity is not an over night "wokeism" that can be achieved on social media. It is a patient, long drawn empathetic journey where the stakeholders and their sensitivities are the center focus. This is a HISTORIC moment for RANGA MANDIRA and for our GURU R MUTHUKANNAMAL AMMA as well as for SADIR

05/02/2021

Establishing identity as an artiste, to reclaim dignity within one’s own community are the crucial and first steps towards assertion. We have been working consistently over these years to assist what every community artiste wishes to see as their legacy.

She wishes to be known and recognised as MUTHUKANNAMAL-DEVADASI who performs and imparts SADIR and belongs to PUDUKOTTAI. She is NOT a mere caste identity, she is AN ARTISTE PAR EXCELLENCE

HERE IS AN AWARD
To my Guru R Muthukannammal Amma !
She is bestowed with the கலை பண்பாட்டு துறை” recognition for the district or Pudukottai tomorrow !!!

This is the first step in the series of recognitions that are to come her way. She will receive the award tomorrow evening.

It is soul satisfying and truly a blessing that Ranga Mandira Academy of World Dance/Performance and Indic Studies has been able to play a role in making this happen. Something that is long over due in her illustrious life.

It’s a moment we at RM take in with great. joy and a deep breathe knowing that we have pushed only one of the many goals from our long list of agendas for deserving artistes like my guru. Actually this is the third award we have been able to make happen in very marginalised artistes lives😇

At this juncture we thank all the authorities who helped us in this endeavour.

More to come! Pls await.
- Swarnamalya

Establishing identity as an artiste, to reclaim dignity within one’s own community are the crucial and first steps towards assertion. We have been working consistently over these years to assist what every community artiste wishes to see as their legacy.

She wishes to be known and recognised as MUTHUKANNAMAL-DEVADASI who performs and imparts SADIR and belongs to PUDUKOTTAI. She is NOT a mere caste identity, she is AN ARTISTE PAR EXCELLENCE

HERE IS AN AWARD
To my Guru R Muthukannammal Amma !
She is bestowed with the கலை பண்பாட்டு துறை” recognition for the district or Pudukottai tomorrow !!!

This is the first step in the series of recognitions that are to come her way. She will receive the award tomorrow evening.

It is soul satisfying and truly a blessing that Ranga Mandira Academy of World Dance/Performance and Indic Studies has been able to play a role in making this happen. Something that is long over due in her illustrious life.

It’s a moment we at RM take in with great. joy and a deep breathe knowing that we have pushed only one of the many goals from our long list of agendas for deserving artistes like my guru. Actually this is the third award we have been able to make happen in very marginalised artistes lives😇

At this juncture we thank all the authorities who helped us in this endeavour.

More to come! Pls await.
- Swarnamalya

In Pic- Pudukotttai Rani throwing a shawl on Muthukannammal Amma

29/11/2020

From The Attic

From The Attic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vh5KG5WAkXY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWtAg5L4Tx0&t=1s
TWO EPISODES ARE OUT - THE LOOKING GLASS- Devadasi History Factoid Series

18/11/2020

From The Attic

From The Attic

DECOLONISING DANCE HISTORY- Evaluating what kind of writing has shaped the current understanding of the Devadasi in the last 70 odd years is not merely an exercise in mapping dance history but is a self interogatory process of analysisng "Who is wiritng- Whose voice is heard- Who are the audience- Where is it being written from- who is supporting this writing- who benefits so on and so forth..." Reevaluating the post colonial writing, more importantly post colonial engagements of writers and documentators with the subaltern in various capacities have been rendered as some what even, by public assumption or the lack of criticality.
That has today led us down a path where am afraid we are recolonising with/without our knowledge. The process is long and arduous. It is also very critical as it throws the spot light on the nature of the writer and intentionality which have been tucked behind sensationalism for far too long.

I am inspired by amazing contemporary scholars in India whose work make possible this interrogation, towards decolonising. It is a project whose task ahead is enormous but whose ground work lies in the hands and minds of people here- not yet again another fancy frame that needs to be imported from the same stables of academia. Breaking the conventions of traditional academia has also given me immense scope in this project. Some more exciting work is on its way. Here is one

"Why we should not write a book on the Devadasi"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWSE0_pbbRQ

03/11/2020

From The Attic

Senior Gondhalkar Nadi Rao (Behind me Left) has left his mortal coil. My association with the Tanjavur Gondhala community goes back to over twelve years now.

Nadi Rao ji was a wonderful artiste. Has travelled with us to many concerts, stayed at Ranga Mandira many a times and we have enriched from his great art. His humour, dancing, Rythme and discussion on traditions are etched in my memory.

His demise leaves a void. We pray for peace to prevail. We are committed to the community and it’s growth. Younger generations are here from their community to take on. He has taught them well.

I’m particularly satisfied that Ranga Mandira was able to facilitate his receiving the SNA award and a pension grant from the MOC that gave him dignity till his last breath.

We will soon start a series of workshops as a tribute to the memory of this great artiste.

22/10/2020

From The Attic

From The Attic

Vijayadasami is the New Year for us. Lots of nonstop music, dance, beautifully dressed artistes wearing their salangai s walking about, sweets, laughter and joy.

This year I’m thrilled to celebrate it with you all- watch the promo. We Ranga Mandira Academy of World Dance/Performance and Indic Studies
Are coming to your home on Oct 26th !

18/10/2020

THE ART OF PADAM IN SADIR by Dr Swarnamalya Ganesh

PADAM in SADIR is a central composition where the musicality of the dancer takes great precedence. She is the singer and the dancer. TO learn Padam performing in Sadir is to become a consummate artiste who will sing, stir the composition and carry forward the chosen emotive tone.

We are really happy to bring this methodology as part of our SADIR training to dance learners who are joining us both onsite and online.

RANGA MANDIRA ACADEMY forges ahead- be part of this journey. To learn more about SADIR LEARNING
email - [email protected]
with your name, age, occupation, country

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZRMLN-rmv8

The art of performing Padams in Sadir is a rich combination of music and dance. The dancer is the singer, she is the one who stirs the mood or the Bhava of t...

15/10/2020

DECOLONISING DANCE HISTORY- I am thrilled to present the first of the series of illustrated talks for KREA University. If you are interested to listen in, please kindly send an email with your name, age, occupation. and place of residence. Oct 28, 3.30 PM
It is time we revisit Post Colonial scholarship and look at it critically to see how and what has been accomplished. The need is now and here.

DECOLONISING DANCE HISTORY- I am thrilled to present the first of the series of illustrated talks for KREA University. If you are interested to listen in, please kindly send an email with your name, age, occupation. and place of residence. Oct 28, 3.30 PM

It is time we revisit Post Colonial scholarship and look at it critically to see how and what has been accomplished. The need is now and here.

12/10/2020

From The Attic

From tomorrow 13-18 let’s talk- fun, useful Dance related topics in Tanglish 🙂
Tamizh மற்றும் English on Instagram account !

05/09/2020

Teachers day 🦋

This is wishing you several years of teaching and learning. From the entire Ranga Mandira Family we wish you a very happy teachers day and a big big Thank you from the bottom of our hearts 💞