"Visweswaran and I just returned from a very interesting workshop-master classes-performance tour of the USA. My senior disciple, Ramaa Ramesh, of Narthana Academy of Arts deeply devoted to dance and music in Philadelphia, organised a meaningful workshop and master classes in music and Bharatanatyam under Visweswaran and myself respectively.

The workshop and master classes were oriented not merely at learning new pieces, but were conceived and aimed at looking into each piece of dance or music in literary, musical, poetic and aesthetic depth, thereby becoming an eye opener to all the participants' future experiences in music and dance.

Equally rewarding, were the master classes and workshop organised by Indumathy Ganesh and Priya Ramchand, both senior disciples of mine and committed teachers in their own right, in the Bay area. Amongst Visweswaran’s several santoor concerts, his performances at San Jose, Baton Rouge, Swami Dayananda Saraswati’s Arshavidya Gurukulam, Saylorsburg and Raleigh were noteworthy.

Specially memorable on this tour was the double billing of Visweswaran’s santoor and my dance hosted by the Philadelphia Museum of Art in their auditorium as a special event showcasing Indian culture.

An added bonus for me on this tour was being invited as a delegate to the National Asian Indian Dance Convention 2003 co-hosted by the Arathi School of Indian Dance and University of Texas at San Antonio, wherein several important issues relating to the study, practice and dissemination of dance at different levels and in varying situations were thrown open to serious discussion - it was a joy meeting up with the dance community present, especially my colleagues V.P.Dhanajayan, Narasimhachari, Revathi Satyu and Ratna Papa.

An added honour for me on this trip was the invitation to release Jasrangi, a magazine on classical music, brought out by the disciples and followers of Pandit Jasraj in the presence of the maestro himself."

Chitra Visweswaran presents a thematic dance feature, 'Panchali Sabatham' on the opening day of Natyarangam's dance fest at Narada Gana Sabha on 29 August.

Her other up-coming performances include: 'Raghuvamsa Tilakam', a dance drama that is being revived after several years and to be presented on September 12, for Muthukrishna Swami Mission's Navarathri celebrations at Mylapore Fine Arts auditorium, Madras; 'Mahatma', a group presentation on October 2, for the opening of the Madras chapter of Gandhi Sarvodaya Memorial Trust at SIET college auditorium, Madras; 'Panchali' a dance drama for Soorya's fest on October 8,9,10 at Trivandrum, Trichur and Palakkad. The dancer also has a busy schedule for the December Season 2003 in Madras. (Keep a tab on this website for the concert schedule).

Contact Chitra Visweswaran at e-mail: vichechu@vsnl.com