Carnatic vocal Concert featuring: Ranjani and Gayathri

On May 12, 2012, 4:30pm

Venue: The Agnes Irwin School, 275 South Ithan Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010

The duo are accompanied by H.N. Bhaskar (violin) and Manoj Siva (mridangam).

On June 2, 2012, classical instrumental duet concert titled Strings Attached

featuring Jayanthi (veena) and Kumaresh (violin)

Ragas in Flute; concert by by G.S. Rajan on Sunday, May 6, 4:30 pm at Levy Senior Center. Maple Room, 300 Dodge Ave., Evanston, IL 60202.

Free. Donations welcome.

Hailing from India, Rajan had his early training in vocal music and Carnatic flute under his parents. Rajan's creative expression over nearly three decades has taken diverse musical forms. He has composed numerous songs in various Indian languages. Rajan will be accompanied by mridangist Athrey Nadhan. Hailing from Chicago, he is currently undergoing advanced training from Srimushnam Sri V. Raja Rao in Chennai, India.

Email - bill@natya.com

India Center of Westchester, Inc. presents P. Unnikrishnan (Carnatic musician & National award playback singer) in a semi classical and devotional music concert, the one and only concert in the tri-state area. The concert features Embar S. Kannan on the Violin and Thiruvarur Vaidyanathan on the Mridangam.

When: Saturday, April 21, 2012 from 6.00pm-9.00pm (seating starts at 5:30pm)

Where: Briarcliff High School Auditorium, 444 Pleasantville Road, Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510, USA.

Ticketed show.

For more info: Prema Aier at Cell Phone: 914-484-5291

Bharatanatyam dancer Ramya Ramnarayan has a solo performance at the prestigious New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC). She will be featured in the dance festival 'Jersey Moves!' along with American Repertory Ballet, Claire Porter, Freespace Dance, New Jersey Tap Ensemble, Randy James Dance Works.

Venue: Victoria Theatre One Center Street, Newark, NJ 07102

Date : March 25, 3pm

Nadanalaya presents Divyasena Haribabu’s Bharatanatyam recital on April 1 evening at Rowville College, Humprey’s Way, Rowille, Mel Ref 82E1. Call 040-4489424. Ticket - $10.

Mythili Kumar, Malavika Kumar & Anjana Dasu dance for Mahashivarathri Natyothsav at Sanatan Dharma Kendra, 897 Kifer Rd., Sunnyvale, CA 94086 on Saturday, February 18:

Mythili Kumar will perform 2:30 pm - 3:00 pm Malavika Kumar will perform 3:00 pm - 3:40 pm and Sunday, February 19: Anjana Dasu will perform 6:00 pm - 6:40 pm

Sruti is hosting its annual Thyagaraja aradhana on March 17, at Hindu Temple, Delaware. It starts at 8 am with the pooja and the singing of the pancharatna kritis and ends with a paid dinner at 7 pm.

Mail to - srutiphila@gmail.com

Shruti Laya, based in New York will begin this fifth year with Thyagaraja aradhana on Saturday, Feb.18 at the PS 115 Auditorium.

The programme will begin at 3:00 pm with the group Pancharatna krithi rendition and will be followed by two individual concerts by local area artistes and music teachers. The programme is completely free.

More info at www.sruthilaya.org

The Chennai-based senior mridhangam player Umayalpuram Mali is now in residence at the renowned Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, this time as a Fulbright scholar.

He has been awarded the prestigious Fulbright fellowship for the spring semester, ie Jan end to May end 2012. While Fulbright fellowships are frequently awarded to academics, they are rarely offered to musicians.

While at Harvard, Mali will be associated with Prof Richard Wolf of the Harvard Music Department.

Mali will be lecturing, giving workshops, performing in concerts and lec-dems, and making a study on the Art of Improvisation in other music traditions.

He will also interact with Iranian musicians, jazz musicians such as Ingrid Monson and Robert Levin, and composers such as Chaya Czernowin and Hans Tutschku, at Harvard.

A tribute meeting and concert to celebrate the late veena vidwan Kalpagam Swaminathan is to be held in New Jersey, USA on June 18 at the Chinmaya Mission, Vridavan.

The highlight of this event will be a veena concert by Nirmala Rajasekar who was a sishya of Kalpagam.

A group of local artistes that include Amrutha Viswanath, Gopal Kumar, Nirupa Kumaraswamy, Bhuvana Kannan, Bhavani Prakash, Kalyani Ramani and Raji Natarajan and others are coming together for this tribute concert.

An aradhana dedicated to saint Thyagaraja is to be hosted by the Hindu Temple in Allentown, PA, USA on May 21.

It starts with the group singing of the pancharatna kritis, folowed by solo recitals and then lunch.
At 2 pm is a concert by Chitravina Ravikiran.

The hosts say that over 50 people joined the group in singing and practise is on now for the 2011 aradhana.

Mail to - htsaradhana@gmail.com The event is supported by the Hindu Temple Society

Sruti, the Indian Dance and Music Society in Philadelphia, USA is currently celebrating its silver jubilee with a series of events. There are 3 big shows in May.

One big event is on May 7 at the Hindu Temple in Delaware with a concert which features maestros Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna and Chitravina Ravi Kiran, with Nagai Muralidharan on the violin and Mannargudi Easwaran on the mridangam. This is a big ticket show.

On May 28, there is a dance recital themed Trimurti which brings together dancers Sonai Skandan, Sonali MIshra and Parul Shah - Bharatanatyam, Odissi and Kathak dance styles - in a unique production. This will be followed by a concert by T. M. Kirshna.

On May 29, there is a concert by USA-based Kiranavalli Vidyashankar, followed by Bharatanatyam by Ramaa Ramesh of the USA and a concert by vidwan Madurai T N Seshagopalan.

Log on to www.sruti.org for info.

This is a re-telling of the stories of Kaikeyi, Shurpanaka, and Sita, three women or "tragic heroines" of the Ramayana, as Mythili likes to call them, in an attempt to take a closer look into their characters and actions in context of both the Ramayana and modern society.

'Stree Katha' was first presented as a work in progress in Orange County in May 2007. Since then, it has toured India, the United Kingdom, and Canada, and been very well received.

Mythili and her team has been invited to present 'Stree Katha' at the Esplanade Festival in Singapore in November.

Participants: Amritha and Anjana Mangalat, Apoorva Vijayakumar, Bhavna Chalupadi, Mamtha Raj, Manasa Jayanthi, Megha Joshi, Neha Kumar Prashanthi Sivasithambaram, Pooja Gupta, Ramya Ramadurai, Ramya and Thivya Ragupathy, Sahana Srinivasan Vithusha Thiru, Sneha Durgapal, Sravya Chary, Swathi Madala, Tara Krishnan

On: Sunday August 1st at 5 p.m.

Venue: Babson College Sorenson Theater, Wellesley MA, USA.

Admission Free

Contact - jothi_nrityanjali@yahoo.com

“Navarasa- Her Choice” will showcase 10 women from Indian mythology, fiction and history. The heroines epitomize the 9 universal emotions: Love, Bravery, Laughter, Anger, Revulsion, Pity, Fear, Wonder, and Peace.

Lasya’s production promises a riveting look into some of the poignant moments in India’s culture through vignettes from the heroines’ lives. Live music that includes tabla, flute, mridangam, violin, and vocals will give every story a fresh and dramatic appeal.

For more information, please visit www.lasya.org

Sunday, Aug 8, 4p.m., McAfee Theater, Saratoga High School, 20300 Herriman Ave, Saratoga.

Tickets General $15, Family (4) $

Bragha Bessel's visit has been made possible by Three Aksha, Philadelphia , PA. For more details please contact

Navia Natarajan : navnat_9@yahoo.com
Jyotsna Vaideeswaran : jyothu@yahoo.com
Priya Ramadoss : pramadoss@gmail.com

India Foundation of Hope Mills (North Carolina), USA is a non-profit organization committed to serving the community through the arts. One of its cultural outreach programs is called Rasikai, which represents an appreciation of the arts.

The Rasikai program aims to present a series of interactive and educative music concerts involving Indian music and dance artistes living in or visiting North Carolina to benefit the students and patrons of the arts.

The program got a start with a Carnatic music concert presented by Smitha Prasad (a Carnatic vocalist) accompanied by Sudhindra Rao on mridangam, and Partha Aji on morsing and flute on April 24, 2010. All the artistes live in the RTP (Research Triangle Park) area of North Carolina.

The stated objective of this concert was to promote an artiste-to-artiste dialogue coupled with an artiste-to-rasika dialogue as well. The ultimate aim is to promote a better understanding of music and dance in the minds of the audience so that attending a concert would be a wholesome experience.

Five items were chosen for presentation: a pada varNam (by Lalgudi Jayaraman), a kriti by Harikesanallur Muththaiah Bhagavathar, a song by OoththukkADu Venkata Kavi (OVK), a kriti by Muththuswami Dikshitar, and a tillAna by Svati TirunAL .

A panel of 4 dance teachers who run dance schools in the area attended the program along with an invited audience. The dance teachers were Asha Bala, Meena Rajagopal, Padma Rao and Sridevi Jagannath

The padavarNam “dEvar munivar tozhum…” in Shanmugapriya was presented as the first item. The panel discussed the features of the varNam which is a popular item for Bharathanatyam and the panel agreed that the varNam offered good scope to express the emotions very well. They also agreed that since the varNam’s theme is romantic (sringaram) it is not generally chosen as an item in Carnatic vocal concerts.

At the request of a member of the audience, the dance teachers did brief demos for a few varNams. The second item was “gam gaNapatE namO…in Hamsadwani (by HMB). This item is popular in the dance circuit. There was a discussion as to whether exclusively dance items would gain popularity in the Carnatic music stage. A couple of Kathak teachers pitched in saying that in Kathak many songs are very specific for dance only and they don’t make it to the music stage.

The third item was “alai pAyudE kaNNA…”. It was sung in its entirety. This piece is very popular in dance as well as the music stage. It is rich in lyrical and rhythmic beauty. The theme is a combination of sringaram and bhakthi.

The fourth item was “kanjcadaLAyadAkshi…” in the rAgam Kamalamanohari. It was presented by Smitha Prasad elaborately with tani Avardhanams by the supporting percussionists. The concept of manOdharmam was discussed by the artistes, and the panel.

The program conducted in a dance studio in Cary, NC was well received by the audience. More concerts centered on different themes are planned for the future.

<< You can contact the writer at - mahakavi@gmail.com >>>

Grand Carnatic violin concert on July 24th Friday @ 8 pm by Dr. Mysore M. Manjunath
- Violin with Arun Ramamurthy
- Violin accompanied by:Rohan Krishnamurthy - Mridangam and Narendra Budhakar – Tabla
Venue - Atmananda Yoga Center in downtown Manhattan.

Dr. Mysore Manjunath, visiting NYC for Mark O’Conner’s Annual International String Conference will perform his only concert in New York July 24. Music critics worldwide have described him as “exhilarating” and “passionate”. Rohan Krishnamurthy is another fast rising mridangist based in the US..

The Fine Arts Society of Yogaville, Viriginia, USA is hosting its 21st Annual Bharatanatyam Gurukulam in July and August.
The well known Dhananjayans will lead the training as always.

Here are the details - 1st camp - (All level)
July 8th - July 25th (18 days)

2nd camp - (Intermediate & Senior)
July 25th - August 3rd - (10 days)

Annual Gurukulam camp at Yogaville, Satchidananda Ashram is a home away from home.

Reported by Deepti Navaratna

On May 9th 2009, Salt Lake City's quiet mountains will welcome spring with the annual Thyagaraja Festival at the LDS Center, 951 E 100 South, Salt Lake City.

Every year since its inception in 1997, the Thyagaraja Festival has managed to bring artistes and rasikas across the Salt Lake Valley, United states and Canada to an intimate celebration of Carnatic classical music.

The festival boasts of a fabulous string of concerts in the past, with artistes like Sanjay Subrahmanian, T M Krishna, Omana Kutty Nair, Dr. Ramani N, and the Malladi brothers.

The event this year will feature T.K Govinda Rao, Hemmige Srivatsan, Vikram P. Sundararaman, Deepa Ramachandran, Divya Ramachandran, Sumath Swaminathan, Deepti Navaratna, Guhan Venkataraman and Vignesh Venkataraman along with several others who will pay their tribute to saint Thyagaraja under the artistic direction of T. K. Govinda Rao.

The event is jointly organized by India Forum of Utah , Sri Ganesha Hindu Temple, Utah Tamil Sangham, Talugu Association of Utah , Kannada Koota, and Enthusiasts of Kerala Arts.

Young keyboard artist Sathyanarayanan joins Embar Kannan and Poongulam Subramanyam on a tour of USA and Canada in April and May 2009.

The tour starts with a concert in Portland (USA) on April 4 and ends with a concert at Toronto on May 30.

April 27th is recognized by UNESCO as International Dance Day and all dance affiliated organisations worldwide are encouraged to engage the community in dance related events.

In California, USA, dancer and guru Viji Prakash of Shakthi Dance Company has decided to recognize the stalwart dancers of the Shakti Dance Community who had presented their arangetrams (solo dance debuts) in as far back as 1989/90.

She says that these dancers have over the years inspired many to take up the study of Bharata Natyam. Says Viji, "Thanks to these dancers, who are still continuing to dance and pursue other professions, who are now mothers, doctors, lawyers, engineers etc. Bharata Natyam and Shakti, has now blossomed into a community of dancers, musicians, artists, and connoisseurs, many of whom are actively engaged in the practice, study, teaching, performance and enjoyment of Bharata Natyam."

It was and remains the Lalgudi heritage - the violin, venu and veena ensemble idea that the maestro Lalgudi Jayaraman created and promoted.

Now, his daughter Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi is taking it forward whenever she can.

She is leading a troupe to the USA and to UK this season to perform as an emsemble.

In the troupe are Sikkil Mala Chandrasekhar - on the flute ( venu), Jayashree Jairaj (veena), Bhagyalakshmi Muralikrishna (morching) and Rajna Swaminathan (mridangam). Yes, this is a women's troupe and it took off from Chennai on March 17 on a tour through March and April.

Contributed by P. S. Ajay

Shruthilayam Academy lit PA once again with its Unity in Diversity winter festival held on DEC21st, 2008 @ the Bharatiya Cultural center. Students were on high spirits and the hall was filled with a feel of enthusiasm in celebrating the festival.

With Senator Stewart Greenleaf as the Chief Guest the evening started off with an amazing Bharatnatyam performance by the eight year old Ashraya Ananthanarayanan who is still in the process of learning this art.

Though a budding student her Alaripu was simply an amazing take off as her beautiful eye and body movements conveyed the essence of the piece which delighted the audience.

Every dancer should know music for it is an integral part of dance. Ashraya learns Classical Vocal and Violin from her Father Shri. Ponnani.S.Ananthanarayanan a Vocalist and Violinist trained under Smt. Vasantha Kannan and hailing from the legend Lal Gudi Jayaram's school. Ashraya's knowledge of music was evidenced in her neat recital of both Bharatnatyam and a Vocal piece.

It was indeed a proud moment for Shruthilayam when Ashraya Ananthanarayanan recieved a leadership award from the Senator for her efforts of using her fine art talents to raise funds for several needy organizations in India.

Tanmai Rao and Ashraya Ananthanarayanan were the proud reciepients of the Shruthilayam Academy award during the event for their dedication to promote the rich Indian classical Music and Dance.

Few other students of the Academy also recieved an award for their dedication to the art at such a young age and coming out with flying colors in the Annual exam conducted by the Academy.

Professional and highly acclaimed artists like Dr. Allyn Miner, Dr. Manohar and Soujanya Madhusudhan gave a special touch of glow to the entire event.

A drama produced by the student of the school Mr. Jagannathan on Krishna and Sudhama put up a big smile on the faces of the audience. Very well written and directed the young and toddler student actors presented it in a wonderful manner.

All the students of the academy performed their best during the show and kept the torch of light high for the entire duration constantly feeding the audience with varied and highly talented pieces of classical vocal, violin and dance.

The event concluded with the unveiling of the SOHAM newsletter and a salutation to the Indian flag by the students of the Academy.

Swaralayam Arts Forum, Houston, Texas, a non-profit organization with a public charity status promoting the education of Carnatic Music has announced the instituting of the 'Sulochana Pattabhiraman Music Award' starting 2009. This is a special award for science projects on music at the Clear Creek Independent School District (CCISD) Science Fair and the Science and Engineering Fair of Houston (SEFH).

This special award represents the honouring of Smt. Sulochana Pattabhiraman who was instrumental in the support of Swaralayam Arts Forum from its inception in 1996 till she passed away in 2008. She was also a member of its faculty teaching and guiding from Chennai.

Music related science projects will be awarded prizes for the Junior (7th and 8th grade) and the Senior (9th to 12th grades) divisions at the CCISD District Science Fair (where Swaralayam Arts Forum is headquartered) and the Science and Engineering Fair of Houston (the 4th largest Science Fair in USA leading to the International Science Fair).

For more information visit the website : http://www.ccisd.net/frontpage/scifair_homepage.asp

The winner of the Junior Division will receive a $50 bookstore gift certificate and a Carnatic Music CD. The winner of the Senior Division will receive a $100 bookstore gift certificate and a Carnatic Music CD. The winners at the SEFH will also receive a plaque and an all tuition paid scholarship to attend Carnatic Music classes at Swaralayam Arts Forum in Houston for either the summer or the fall semester following the science fair.

Natya Dance Theatre Company, Michigan has organised a dance recital by wellknown dancer Priyadarshini Govind, disciple of Swamimalai S.K. Rajarathanam Pillai and Kalanidhi Narayanan on Nov. 8, at Triton College Performing Arts Center.
This ticketed show has concessions for students and senior citizens.

Venue: Triton College Performaning Arts Center, 2000 Fifth Avenue, River Grove, IL 60171 at 7 pm.

Sri Venkateswara Temple, Pittsburgh, PA will present Samhita - conversations in Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam by dancers Vijay Palaparty and Nalini Prakash.

Samhita meaning ‘to join’ or ‘to collect’ in Sanskrit, this event is an artistic collaboration in two of India’s popular classical dance forms, Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam.
This project is supported by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency, through its regional arts funding partnership, Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts.

This event will be held on on Sunday, October 26, 2008 at 3.00pm
Venue: Sri Venkateswara Temple, South McCully Drive, Penn Hills, PA
Admission free.

On Sunday evening, October 19, Prema Bhat will present a concert of classical music from South India at the First Congregational Church of Crystal Lake (461 Pierson Street). Bhat is an ccomplished Indian classical vocalist.
Accompanied by Manjula Rao, violin (Indian style), and Ravishankar on the mridangam (percussion) Bhat's recital will include fifteenth through eighteenth century compositions by Purandara Dasa, Tyagaraja, Dikshitar, and others. A free will offering will be collected.

Bhat was born in Karnataka, South India, where she began performing music at the early age of six. She initially received training from Kanchana Narayana Bhat and later completed advanced training from Srinath Marate and Srimathi Neela Ramgopal, acclaimed vocalists in Carnatic music.

For nearly four years, Bhat hosted the Princeton-based radio program, Sangeet, an Indian classical music program. She was a member Emory University Music Faculty from 1997-2006 where she taught courses in Indian classical music and directed the Carnatic Music Program. She promotes Indian classical music through concerts and lecture demonstrations by well-known musicians from India. Ms. Bhat has lectured and given demonstrations at the United Nations, Princeton, Rice and other universities, Atlanta's Goethe German Institute, etc.

Nrityanjali , an established Bharatanatyam institution in Gaithersburg, MD is presenting a new production BHAKTI MANJARI on September 20 and 21 at Kreeger Auditorium Rockville, MD.
Nine dancers including Meena Telikicherla, the Artistic Director will be present this dance drama depicting a kaeliedoscope of various forms of devotion. The dance choreography is by N. Srikanth, a well kown Chennai-based dancer.
You can contact Meena Telikicherla at - meena@nrityanjali.com

Sishyas and well wishers of senior Bharatanatyam and Mohiniattam dance teacher, guru Thankamani Kutty of Calcutta are planning a series of events to mark a milestone of this guru - 50 years of teaching in Calcutta. Kutty came to Calcutta in 1958 following her marriage to the Kathakali dance exponent, late guru Govindan Kutty.
Through these years, Thankamani Kutty has trained tens of hundreds of students directly or through her senior students.
The launch event is on Sept.15 evening at Kala Mandir.
More events have been planned and they will be held till 31st December, says Somnath G. Kutty, Hony. Secretary of Kalamandalam Calcutta.
The contact number is 98311-68491.

'In the Beginning' is a Biblical perspective of creation through Indian dance and music which will be performed on July 26 evening at the Ernst Cultural Center Northern Virginia Community College, 8333, Little River Turnpike, Annandale, VA 22003.

Ushas Entertainment USA and the Nrityalaya (www.nrityalaya.net) School of Dance & Music, India, is presenting this innovative dance production.

'In the Beginning' is an original artistic experiment using the medium of Indian dance and music to depict the Biblical perspective of the 6-days of creation. Traditionally, Indian dance and music have been used to depict stories from Hindu mythology, Indian folklore and more recently, address broader social issues. This inventive project will use the rich and dynamic forms of Indian dance and music to bring out another visual dimension to this well-known theme.

This production has been choreographed and directed by India-based dancer N. Srikanth.

Bharatanatyam dancer Bragha Bessell presents ' Abhinaya' on July 17 evening at Venice, CA in the USA.

This performance will include excerpts of choreographic pieces of Bessell and Harikrishnan Kalyanasundaram created for Shakti Dance Company.
For more info, e-mail - danceyatra@yahoo.com

A concert featuring the celebrated Carnatic musician T.V. Gopalakrishnan will be presented by the Arch and Jiva Performing Arts on June 20 at the Arch Space in Manhattan.
Gopalakrishnan has excelled not only in vocal music and mridangam but also instruments such as the violin, and saxophone and he has performed in thousands of concerts in a career spanning over 60 years.
He will be accompanied by Arun Ramaurthy on violin. Arun is a young up-and-coming violinist who has trained originally with the A. Ananthakrishnan. Later, Arun learnt from the celebrated violinist brothers, Mysore Nagaraj and Mysore Manjunath. A. R. Balaskandan will accompany on the mridangam. Balaskandan is a versatile mridangist as well as violinist who hails from the renowned Karaikudi R. Mani style of playing.
The event is sponsored by The Arch and Jiva Performing Arts.

US-based arts organisation Rasika begins the 10th season with a dance production of Dr. Jayanthi Raman's NATYANJALI.

US-based arts organisation Rasika begins the 10th season with a dance production of Dr. Jayanthi Raman's NATYANJALI.

The event is on June 1 at the Portland Center for Performing Arts, Portland.

Portland-based dancer, teacher and choreographer Jayanthi Raman presents Akila Rao & Ramya Raman as featured dancers with 15 NATYA dancers celebrating 15th year of her dance school Natya Dance Academy. (www.natyapdx.com)

This show is billed as 'an opulent, colorful production of traditional, theatrical, contemporary and folk items'.

Jayanthi Raman's career as a dancer and choreographer spans three decades. Celebrating the 15th year of her dance school based in Portland and Hillsboro, Jayanthi now has Akila Rao and Ramya Raman as teachers to educate the younger generation in this dance form.

This Mother’s day weekend, May 9and 10, 2008 Salt Lake City’s quiet mountains will welcome Spring with the annual Thyagaraja Festival.
At the LDS Center, 951 E 100 South, Salt Lake City.
Started in 1997, the Thyagaraja Festival bring artistes and art lovers across the Salt Lake Valley, United states and Canada to an intimate celebration of Carnatic music.

The event this year will feature artistes including Maharajapuram Srinivasan, Sankaran Mahadevan, V. K. Arun Kumar, Deepti Navaratna and Kumar brothers along with several others who will pay their tribute to Saint Thyagaraja under the artistic direction of violinist Mullaivasal G. Chandramouli. The event is partially sponsored by the Utah Arts Council.

Expressions of the Spirit, a performance by the students of Natya Dhaara Center for Performing Arts, based in Atlanta.

The program includes south Indian Classical dance of Bharata Natyam, folk as well as a few East- West fusion pieces.
Directed by Uma Palam Pulendran, this program is in collaboration with Association for India’s Development (AID) Atlanta Chapter, a non-profit charitable organization.
The organisation says that all the proceeds from the event will be donated to AID and will benefit their projects in rural India.

At a special event organised by the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem, MA, Bharatanatyam dancer Aniruddha Knight and ensemble will present a traditional dance recital.

Aniruddha is the grandson of the famed dancer T. Balasaraswati. He performs in the early 19th century Bharatanatyam style, singing as he dances.

The event will be held on April 5, 2008, at 4 to 6pm

Venue: Morse Auditorium, Peabody Essex Museum, East India Square, Salem, MA

This special event is held in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology Heritage of the Arts of South Asia (MITHAS)

An annual music festival is hosted by Chicao Tyagaraja Utsavam (CTU) during the Memorial Day weekend every year.

This year the festival will be celebrated from May 24 to 26, 2008.

Children and adults pay homage to Saint Tyagaraja at this festival.
CTU invites registrattion to participate in the festival. The registration process for participating at the Utsavam will be open in the next few days. Registration Deadline: April 18, 2008

Nrithyanjali Institute of Dance, with a history of over 15 years is presenting 'Garland of Indian Dance' featuring the Tradition of The Tanjore Quartet, a Bharathanatyam dance presentation by leading dancers visiting from India with live orchestra, and Kuchipudi and Mohiniyattam. This year the event will be held on April 5, 2008 at 5 pm.
At West Windsor Plainsboro Community Middle School, Plainsboro, NJ

LearnQuest Music Conference featuring the best of Indian classical music, both in Hindustani and Carnatic styles, starts the Spring season this year for music lovers in Boston.

This music festival, a five day event, begins on April 9, 2008 is an annual event held for the third year this time.

The festival presents 20 music concerts by various artists performing vocal and a wide range of instrumental music such as the flute, sitar, veena, sarod and the violin with traditional accompaniments of tabla, mridangam and other percussions.

Eminent performers Hariprasad Chaurasia (Hindustani Flute), Aruna Sairam (Carnatic Vocal), Anindo Chatterjee (Tabla), Dr. Prabha Atre (Hindustani Vocal), O.S.Tyagarajan (Carnatic Vocal), Shujat Khan (Sitar), Jayanthi Kumaresh (Carnatic Veena), Gundecha Brothers (Dhrupad), Shashank (Carnatic Flute), Debashish Bhattacharya (Slide Guitar) are among an array of about 40 artists participating in the conference.

The event also includes a Hindustani Vocal Lecture Demonstration by Gangadhar Rao Telang, a lecture demonstration on Tabla and Mridangam, and a documentary film, Raga, on the life and music of the sitar maestro Ravi Shankar.

The concerts of the festival will take place at multiple locations in Boston area. The opening concert on April 9 will be at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the second day, April 10, at the Stata Center of MIT, Cambridge.
The remaining events from April 11 to April 13 will be held at the McDevitt School in Waltham, MA.

The festival is co-sponsored by the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) and MITHAS (Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Heritage of the Arts of South Asia.)

New England Hindu Temple Inc. (NEHTI) Committee on Youth Cultural and Educational Program offers Nrityanjali to Lord Nataraja as a part of Sivarathri Celeberations this year.

The event will be held on Feb. 23, 2008 Location: Sri Lakshmi Temple, Ashland, MA Time: 2:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Dancer Induvadana Malli, daughter and disciple of senior Bharatanatyam guru Adyar K. Lakshman will present an evening of homage in dance on the occasion of Shivaratri.

She will present unique dance choreographies of her guru Adyar Lakshman along with the students of Bharatha Choodamani school of Bharatanatyam run by her in Michigan

On March 16, 2008. From 4 pm to 5.30 pm

Bharatanatyam dancers Srinidhi Raghavan and Sahasra Sambamoorthi present in New York, USA, 'Her Story' which portrays the lives of four women in Indian mythology and literature — Kaikeyi, Devaki, Kannagi, and Andal. The show is due on Saturday, February 16 evening, at the Peter Norton Symphony Space: Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater. The artistic direction is by Usha Raghavanand the music has been scored by Sudharshana Arunkumar

Recounting pivotal moments in the lives of these women, the two dancers explore how these characters transformed the worlds they lived in through their ability to love unconditionally.

Srinidhi Raghavan learnt Bharatanatyam from her mother and guru, Usha Raghavan, and guru, Malathy Thothadri. Her experiences with dance have spanned several cultures and countries, including those of the UK, Europe, Barbados, the US and India.