Somana Kunitha - A Folk Dance Celebrating Spirits and Village Deity

Every time we drive past DakshinaChitra on ECR, Chennai, we used to think, one day we should go there. Over a long weekend, finally we made it and the experience was very rewarding. 

Nowadays, DakshinaChitra is also becoming a prime location for wedding photo shoots! However, this is a heritage museum. Those who wish to get a glimpse on art and architecture of southern states of India, DakshinaChitra, is a must go destination. Trust me you won't be disappointed. Check their events calendar when you plan for a visit. Usually over the weekends and public holidays they have live performances. 

The museum is housed in 10 acres on ECR, facing the Bay of Bengal. We knew there was going to be a performance at 4 pm on that day. We were quite early, so we were exploring traditional houses of Kerala, which was near the performance ground. By 3.45 pm, we were exhausted and wanted to get a drink, so we were heading out of the ground and...suddenly we heard vibrant music from behind. We turned around to look. 

We were mesmerized by the huge colorful masks that were fast approaching towards the ground. That's it! We forgot about heat, thirst and just rushed back and found a perfect spot to watch the performance. At that time we didn't know about the name of that folk art. 

The musicians filed towards the stage area. The artists who carried the mask on their head slipped it on their faces with deft moves. The one who looked like the leader was carrying a whip, he came center stage and announced that they were going to perform Somana Kunitha, a folk dance native of Tumkur, Karnataka. 

As the lead was narrating in Kannada, I had to do the guess work and all i could get was that the performance had something to do with Godess Chamundesweri. Let me share the visual treat:

After the performance, we approached the group and thanked them for the wonderful performance and had a chat with the lead. We learned that the dance was to celebrate victory of good spirit over the bad one. Soma means mask and Kunitha is dance. The red mask represented good and the yellow the bad. The lead was actually the priest who invokes Godess Chamundesweri to support the good spirit! Had a chance for these close ups too. 

 

Add caption

 

Wish DakshinaChitra can arrange for translators for all the performances, so that non-native speakers of that particular folk art too can get a better understanding!

Karagattam - Folk Dance

Any village festival in Tamil Nadu is sort of incomplete without Karagattam. Until, my last trip to India, I never had a chance to meet and take pics of the dancers. This time round, we met a group in Namakkal, (Tamil Nadu, India) who were practicing for a competition! So I'd a good photo opportunity:)

Balancing the karagam - For SOOC and Shadow Shot Sunday 2

Yes, balancing this pot (Karagam) on top of the head without holding it and performing graceful, yet fast paced dance (attam) movements is KARAGAATAM!

Ready to dance

Until then, I used to wonder if they tie up or 'glue' the pot on their head and disguise with makeup! But now, for sure I know that it is purely an art of balancing the decorated 'karagam', which is most important to start the attam!!!

They dance with so much grace that it is hard to believe how the pot royally sits on their heads.

At times, as a challenge, they lie down on their stomach by few dexterous movements and pick up a small piece of wood or fruit from the ground, while balancing the karagam!!!

The dancers are called as 'karagattakaran (men) and karagattakari (women). The music is also very peepy and you feel like tapping your foot.

The man in white is musician of this troupe!

Karagattam should be highly regarded and encouraged. But, it is not considered as 'fashionable' among city dwellers, so, I feel that this form of art is under suffocation.

Pushpanjali - A Floral Tribute!

It's an age old custom and tradition in India to use flowers for worship, rituals, to honor someone or to welcome guests. Here is a perfect shot that depicts this tradition!

Pushpanjali - Floral Tribute in Sanskrit!

I took this shot during the photo shoot session, meant for designing the souvenir of a dance program to be held in June 2011. This program is to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Nrittasamudra dance school. In Sanskrit, 'Nritta' is body movements (as in dance) and 'samudra' is ocean. So, Nrittasamudra is Dance Ocean.

True to its name, Nrittasamudra's founder and eminent classical dancer Mrs. Sandhya is an ocean of expression and I have seen her expressive gestures when she teaches Bharatanatyam to her students. My daughter is one of her students.

Pushpanjali dance is a way of honoring Lord Nataraja - the patron God of Bharatanatyam, Guru - the dance teacher and Sabhaa - the audience! And, my daughter is one of the dancers to perform Pushpanjali dance, at the start of the program.