{"id":276,"date":"2007-05-30T11:45:06","date_gmt":"2007-05-30T03:45:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/indian\/2007\/05\/30\/bharatanatyam-on-clay-pots\/"},"modified":"2007-05-30T12:24:10","modified_gmt":"2007-05-30T04:24:10","slug":"bharatanatyam-on-clay-pots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/indian\/2007\/05\/30\/bharatanatyam-on-clay-pots\/","title":{"rendered":"Bharatanatyam on clay pots"},"content":{"rendered":"
A knack for dancing on clay pots<\/div>\n
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source<\/a><\/div>\n

By FAZLEENA AZIZ
Photos by KEVIN TAN<\/b><\/p>\n

fazleena@strmal.thestar.com.my<\/a>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Unique:<\/b> Kumari showing off her talent in dancing on a clay pot at the Kalamandapam Hall in Brickfields recently.<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

SO you think you can dance? How about doing it on a clay pot? Kumari Ramani, a Bharatanatyam<\/i> dancer from Chennai, India, showcased a stunning balancing performance on a clay pot in Brickfields’ Kalamandapam Hall recently.  <\/p>\n

“I don’t put all my weight on the pot; I find a focal point of balance,” she said.  <\/p>\n

Kumari, who has been performing the clay pot dance for the past 12 years, recalled that she initially found it very dificult to balance on the curved surface of the clay pot.  <\/p>\n

“It took me years to perfect my performance,” she said.  <\/p>\n

According to Kumari, although many people refer to the clay pot dance as Kuchipudi<\/i> (another Indian classical dance drama from Andhra Pradesh), the dance could be referred to as Bharatanatyam<\/i> as well.   <\/p>\n

“When I was honoured with the Kudakutu Kalaichelvi<\/i> (Master of Clay Pot Dance) award by the senior citizens of Chennai, I made a reference to Silapathikaram<\/i>, an ancient piece of Tamil Literature in which a Bharatanatyam<\/i> dancer named Madhavi performed the clay pot dance. Therefore this dance must have been derived from Bharatanatyam<\/i> and then adapted to Kuchipudi<\/i>,” she said.  <\/p>\n

Kumari said she made up her mind to devote her life to dancing as soon as she started dancing lessons at the age of eight.   <\/p>\n

“My mother is my inspiration and dance is life to me,” she said with a smile.  <\/p>\n

She made her debut in 1991 to popularise the an-cient esoteric Thi-rupugal<\/i> verses.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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On the spot:<\/b> Kumari’s stage is just the curved bottom of a clay pot.<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The Thirupugal<\/i> verses refers to praises when something good is appreciated and it was dedicated to the Hindu deity Lord Shiva, the destroyer.  <\/p>\n

She was accompanied by three young aspiring dancers during her recent performance in Brickfields.  <\/p>\n

The show was a preview of an upcoming programme known as the Indian Cultural Carnival, which will be held at the Malaysia International Exhibition & Con-vention in Seri Kemban-gan from June 22 to 24.   <\/p>\n

The show was sponsored by the Hindu Sevai Sangam and coordinated by VPS Production.  <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A knack for dancing on clay pots   source By FAZLEENA AZIZPhotos by KEVIN TAN fazleena@strmal.thestar.com.my  Unique: Kumari showing off her talent in dancing on a clay pot at the Kalamandapam Hall in Brickfields recently. SO you think you can dance? How about doing it on a clay pot? Kumari Ramani, a Bharatanatyam dancer from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[119],"class_list":["post-276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-indian","tag-dap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}