Perhaps the youngest dancer ever to win the Padma Bhushan. What else do you want to know?
Parampara, on the occasion of its 10th anniversary, is organising the Abhinaya Sudha 2006, a festival highlighting the expressional aspect of Indian dance traditions, from 1st to 3rd December. Six renowned dancers will perform the six dance forms of India: Kuchipudi, Bharatanatyam, Mohini Attam, Kathak, Odissi and Vilasini Natyam.
Today, Swapnasundari will be presenting the Vilasini Natyam dance recital at the Bhaskara Auditorium of the B M Birla Science Centre. Swapnasundari was trained in Kuchipudi under renowned masters Pasumarthi Seetharamaiah and Vempati Chinna Satyam. Her gurus in Bharata Natyam include K N Dakshinamurthy, Adyar K Lakshmanan and B Kalyana Sundaram. She received specialized training in abhinaya from the veteran performer and teacher Kalanidhi Narayanan, who is recognized for her mastery over the histrionic aspect, or the characteristic stylized mime, of Indian classical dance.
Apart from her sound knowledge of Carnatic music, Swapnasundari has also specialized in the art of singing padams with Shrimati Mukta. This training enables her to lend a distinct character to her dance rendering of traditional padams.
Swapna's painstaking research into the temple dance traditions indigenous to the region of Andhra Pradesh has resulted in the unearthing and reconstruction of a nearly defunct dance genre, Vilasini Natyam. She had received guidance in this art from Maddula Lakshminarayana. As the founder-director of the Kuchipudi Dance Centre in New Delhi, she has trained a number of students and produced several ballets.
The Delhi Government's Sahitya Kala Parishad Award and the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi Award from the Government of India are among the many honors that have been conferred upon Swapnasundari for her contribution to the arts. She is perhaps the youngest dancer who was presented with the national title of Padma Bhushan in recognition of her research into ancient dance forms and in the revival of the long lost dance art form, Vilasini Natyam.
Through Abhinaya Sudha, Parampara tries to explore the many dimensions of the expressional element in Indian dance traditions. With expansive dancing becoming the order of the modern day audiences, a very important aspect of Indian Classical dance which is Sattvikaabhinaya or dance which comes from and deals with the matters of the heart and soul, is probably being neglected, losing out the aesthetics of portrayal of myriad moods and sentiments.
As step in highlighting this abhinaya, Parampara and its director Sanjay Kumar Joshi, a renowned dancer himself, will be showcasing a galaxy of illustrious dancers in several dance traditions of India. Besides there will be lectures with demonstrations on the various aspects of abhinaya by some expert dancers.
For further details, please contact Sanjay Kumar Joshi at 2756-7626/98493-16526.
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