City of STARS... with the Moonlight...

The GOLDEN MAN.

#89^th Oscars was a starry night…

For many years, I have followed a ritual of sorts: my OSCAR movie week begins after the event (ceremony) happens. I surely do have a busy week ahead (wink). This year however I made an exception with the musical LA LA LAND.

Priyanka Chopra convincingly said on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, she’s glad that La La Land was received warmly in the U.S. To her, it has, in a way, paved the way for Hollywood enthusiasts to comprehend the narrative style of traditional Bollywood films. “Otherwise Bollywood is just considered a Zumba class around the world,” I agree.

Damien Chazelle, Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling (cute & hot: wink) and every member of the film have recreated magic. Set in contemporary Hollywood it is definitely Bollywood at heart with the larger than life locations/sets, and the most important element of Hindi cinema music and dance.

City of Stars!!!

My knowledge is limited, when it comes to JAZZ music and dance. Having said that my personal favourite piece is the Lovely Night Dance in the movie. The woman behind this classic performance is Samantha Jo “Mandy” Moore. Many confused her with the actress Mandy Moore at the Golden Globe last year. So let’s just say will the real Mandy Moore please stand up!!! (wink).

The real Mandy Moore...

Jazz, a conglomerate of a few dance styles viz: Tap dance, Swing, Lindy Hop and Jitterbug, is often regarded as an Umbrella.

The best part about Jazz is that it can be danced to different types of music, since it does not have a language of its own. Over the years Jazz dance has evolved with contemporary dance artists adding their own flavour to it, mainly isolations, slow and fast tempo, energy variations and more.

With LA LA LAND being the flavour of the season I am very keen to learn JAZZ dance soon. Hopefully we at TT (Taal pe Tanz) will bring to you a JAZZ video in the near future (fingers crossed)

Coming back to the Oscars, the epic mix up with the best picture award (Moonlight) at the ceremony did give us two amazing speeches at the Finale. Honest mistakes are always welcome (wink).

To sum it all up it was : City of STARS…with the Moonlight…

HAR HAR MAHADEV.

            

 “Wahi SHUNYA hai, Wahi EKAAY,

Jiske bheetar Basa           SHIVAAY…”

This wonderful song from the movie SHIVAAY resonates the beauty, power, faith and life of Mahadev. 

My dance guru always taught me to feel every emotion while performing. He would often tell me “Immerse yourself in the music and surrender to the Universe (Natraja), that’s when you will be a soulful dancer”

‘Mahashivratri’ – scriptures say today (night) Lord Shiva and Maa Pravati  entered the beautiful phase of togetherness: Marriage. There is also a belief that on this night Lord Shiva performed the dance of creation, preservation and dissolution 'Tandava'.

Tandava or Tandavam is a divine dance performed by Natraja (Lord Shiva) that depicts his inner soul. This piece is usually synonymous to anger or destruction (Rudra Tandava) but not many are aware that there are two forms, the other being ‘Ananda’ (happy/joyful) Tandava. No points for guessing he must have performed the Ananda Tandava on Mahashivratri….

During my Arangetram (debut on stage for Indian Classical dancers with prior training- in my case Bharatanatyam) I had the privilege of performing the Tandava. My repertoire allowed me to showcase the Rudra Tandava, wherein Lord Shiva opened his third eye and caused destruction only to create life again.

Just imagine what dance can do!!!

I have not had the opportunity to perform the ‘Ananda Tandava’ yet. Well its never too late.

Yesterday my bestie told me “Whatever you wish for today will be GRANTED (wow)”. It is believed that all the Lords and Goddess’ were so happy on the unison of Lord Shiva and Maa Parvati that  they would grant every wish.

So Janata Janardhan AAJ DIL KHOLKE MAANGO!!!

Taal pe Tanz-TT

I am often asked, what is Taal pe Tanz - TT (earlier Mansissism)? Is it a dance school?, Is it an e-magazine wherein I cover the story of the famous dance artists? and some more queries…

I (Mansi Nagda) and Madhuri (aka Happy) Baheti are bankers by profession. In the corporate world we are so used to the ‘VISION-MISSION’ statements, the 5 year growth plans, so on and so forth. I guess it’s time to define the ‘VISION & MISSION’ of TT.

Tanz stands for Dance in German (Danke). Dance/Nritya/Tanz has played a major role in my development as an individual. I am thankful to Financial Guru (dad) and Raj Mata (mom) for introducing me to Bharatanatyam at the tender age of 4 and later to Ballroom (Standard & Latin) for my professional training.

My tutelage in these two forms (Sri Kalyan Raman Pillai- Bharatanatyam & Sandip Soparkar- Ballroom) which are very different from each other has only helped me to better understand the dynamics of Dance.

The spectrum of Dance is so wide that it is surely going to take me more than a lifetime to cover every element. Having said that Taal pe Tanz is an initiative to bring together all the Dance forms (National & International) to all the dance lovers, through my eyes.

There can be no Tanz without Taal (Music), so we would also put forth the different type of music that is inherent in different styles  and various other elements that encompass the universe of Dance.

Happy Baheti, a dance enthusiast herself is the co curator of TT. She brings in the fresh perspective of how do we take the ideas at TT to the common man. A true believer of Janata Janardhan (wink).

And finally to sum up the Vision & Mission our moto is:

'KEEP LOVING KEEP TANZING...'

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