Clik here to view.
All About Kamala's Sister Rhadha - The Other Dancer in Bhakta Kuchela!
On a coupleposts I’ve featured a lovely, rare “twin” dance from the 1961 Malayalam film Bhakta Kuchela starring Kumari Kamala and an unknown dancer. There was a suggestion the unknown dancer might be...
View ArticleClik here to view.
This Blog Noted in The Asian Age!
I was thrilled when Ranjana Dave, author of the Mahatandava blog, correspondent at The Asian Agenewspaper, and content coordinator for the Pad.ma online archive, interviewed me for an article she was...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Kalpana (1948) to be Screened at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival!
"WHAT?!" That's what I said when I first heard the news this morning from commenter gaddeswarup and an online contact (thank you!). It's true: Uday Shankar's 1948 film Kalpana (Imagination) will be...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Visual Proof of Malavika Sarkar - Kathak Dancer and Ananda Bhairavi Star!
Back in January, I had posted about the 1983 Telugu dance film Ananda Bhairavi and its star Malavika who performed some of my favorite film Kuchipudi sequences. I had lamented the fact that there...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Minati Mishra's Odissi Dances in Arundhati (Oriya, 1967)
I've found the remaining Odissi dances of Minati Mishra in the 1967 Oriya film Arundhati! I'm simply stunned. I had figured I would never get to see any of the film's dances other than the rare...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Full-Length Bhavantarana is Now Up!
I would like to thank La_Surrealiste for posting in the comments today that the film/documentary Bhavantarana on the late Odissi Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra is now posted full length on YouTube--and it's...
View ArticleA Better Quality Bala AND Sanchari, Bamboo Flute, and Kuchipudi Revisited...
What a coincidence! I just discovered that not even a month after I had posted Bala (1976) on YouTube a much better-quality version was posted by the imagineindia channel which appears to be linked...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Series Kick-Off: Remembering Film Choreographers
Over the past few months, I’ve been working on a project to identify the choreographers and masterminds behind all of the classical-oriented film dances I’ve featured on my blog to date. It had dawned...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What's Next for Kalpana (1948)?
I decided to take a stroll at the World Cinema Foundation's website today, and look what is on their homepage front and center!It's an imaginative image from Kalpana! I'm almost convinced the middle...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Rare Video Clips of Devadasis, Uday Shankar & Simkie, Ram Gopal, and More
What a stunning find! The wonderful commenter Gaddeswarup recently sent me a video from the site BritishPathé.com, and I'm grateful he did because when I explored the site further I found it houses...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Kalavantulu/Devadasi Dances in the films Muddu Bidda and Periyar (An Ode to...
I've been posting a bit less frequently lately because I've been completely distracted by the discovery of a decent amount of fascinating scholarly research and writing on the subjects of the history...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Found: Devayani's Classical Dance in America Ammayi (1976, Telugu)
Yay! Another dance from my Holy Grail post found! This time it's Devayani's Kuchipudi-esque dance in the song "Ananda Tandavamade" from the 1976 Telugu film America Ammayi (American Girl), a remake of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Anjana Banerjee’s Bharatanatyam in Chhandaneer (Bengali, 1989)
I first learned of Anjana Banerjee whilst browsing YouTube for Bharatanatyam dance videos a while ago. You might have seen her infamous video titled “Anjana Banerjee – Hilarious Bharatanatyam Dancer”...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Three New 1950s Kamala Dance Finds
I've been working on my "Remembering Film Choreographers" film series for a while now, but the first nattuvanar post is taking much longer than I thought! I keep finding new research (and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Devadasi Video Mystery Solved! Gujarat and its Bharatanatyam Legacy
Back in July, I discussed a stunningly-rare video clip I had found at BritishPathe.com featuring two South Indian devadasis dancing some clear Sadir/Bharatanatyam along with their musical ensemble...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Dance in Early Indian Cinema: Some Video Evidence
What was dance in early Indian cinema like? It wasn't until a few weeks ago that I considered this question worthy of pursuing video evidence of. I had read how the vast majority of India's silent...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Found: Sharon Lowen's Odissi Dance in Swarnakamalam (Telugu, 1988)
In my post on Bhanupriya's classical dances in Swarna Kamalam, I noted to my astonishment that there was supposed to be a scene in the film after Bhanupriya's "Cheri Yashodaku" hotel number where...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Clear Copy of Kamala's Tandava Dance in Sivagangai Seemai
Finally! A clear copy of Kamala Lakshman's dance in Sivagangai Seemai (Tamil, 1957) has been uploaded by the awesome YouTuber Kandasamy Sekkarakudi Subbiah Pillai. This is my favorite film dance of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Rare 1930s Tamil Film and 1950s Padmini Dance Footage from Ellis Dungan’s...
Hiding in the most unlikely of places, the West Virginia State Archives in the US, are documentary films and video footage shot/directed by the late Ellis Dungan, an American who made a number of Tamil...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Film Classical Dances of Roshan Kumari
I’ve found two new Roshan Kumari film dances online! One seems to have not been available for public view until recently thanks to Angel (Basanta Bahara) and the other shows her dancing pure Kathak in...
View Article