Singapore – June 19, 2023: On its 3rd day, Indian Performing Arts Convention (IPAC) welcomed another faculty member, young Mahati Kannan. Her workshop based on Charis from the Natyashastra for students at the foundation level, had been very eagerly anticipated by all here. Rama Vaidyanathan and Bragha Bessel continued developing the repertoire for advanced and intermediate level students who seem to walk around the campus with an extra glow after each session. On Day 3, Priyadarsini Govind started her “Teaching Abhinaya” to Kids masterclass for the Teachers training sessions followed by a Tala-Laya session for the teachers conducted by Gayathri Satchidanandar.
At lunch time there was the Lunch Time talk session – a conversation with Ms Thava Rani Mohan from the Bhaskar’s Arts Academy on their latest publication “Love for Dance” on the amazing life of Singapore’s dance pioneers Mr K.P Bhaskar and Mrs Santha Bhaskar.
Today’s evening sessions consisted of both music and dance and brought in a standing-room-only crowd into the AVAI theater space.
1) “Colors of Music” was a splash of musical hues, textures and shades by violin exponent Embar Kannan who had teamed up with the dynamically talented “keyboard” Sathya. They demonstrated how the keyboard can ignite emotional layering in varied genres of music – from classical Carnatic, to classical Western, to film melodies. Their masterful finale of Chinese music in Mohana raga left us wondering if we had just heard a symphony orchestral presentation.
2) “Thyagaraja Ramayanam” by Dr. Ananda Shankar Jayant and her student Neha Sathanapalli was a cherished garland to Lord Rama strung with musical gems of Saint Thyagaraja, movingly sung and recorded by the brilliant, late Sathiraju Venumadhav. What a treasure he was! The pair led us through a gamut of emotions through elegantly choreographed sections of key episodes from the epic. I have always admired Ananda’s ability to train her students with an aesthetic eye for excellence, and today, Neha did her teacher proud. Through her poise, confidence, and majesty, she completely held the attention of the audience – not an easy task while performing alongside the mastery of one’s own teacher.
Thus ended Day-3 of Naada and Natya! I’ll see you all again with my next post.
by Ramaa Bharadvaj
Tickets for IPAC Masterclass, Workshops and lecture demonstrations are available at : https://ipac.ticketer.sg/
Tickets for Showcase performances are at : https://www.sistic.com.sg/events?s=ipac
