On behalf of Shubanjali School of Performing Arts, it is a pleasure to invite all of you to a production of Beauty and the Beast on June 14th at 5:30 PM at Terrill Middle School. If you are interested, please email me through the forum for more details.
Last edited by rshankar on 08 Jun 2008, 05:16, edited 1 time in total.
Ravi,
You know that I would very much like to be there--if it were not for all the state hopping!
Wishing shubanjali and its students a beauty of a performance...
Sounds like an interesting idea. Ravi, write about the program when you get a chance. I am curious about how the adaptation was done ( especially the title song by the adapted Mrs. Potts!! ).
LOL...Chandra - see the title - it is not an Indian translation, but an 'Indian take'!
I have been asked to write a report on the program for 'official use'. I will find out if I can share that. All I can say now is that the music is truly awesome with some wonderful composition (both lyrics and music) and inspired singing from the likes of Ms. Manasi Prasad, and the choreography is superb. The songs are in very kannaDA - a type of kannaDA that I can follow very easily, so, I have been enjoying the rehearsals immensely. I hope it plays out well on Saturday.
Nigamaa: I do know that a professional videographer has been hired, and parents have signed up for copies. However, I am not sure if the DVD will/can be sold commercially. But I will ask.
Ravi: I figured it was not a translation but since it said it is an 'adaptation of the famous fairly tale...', I sort of took a wild guess that there will be similar but adapted characters No enchanted palace with speaking inanimate objects either? I will wait for your write up to learn more about what they did.
The performance went off very well. If Umesh or any other member of this group happened to watch this performance, please post your views/reviews.
There was a technical glitch before the start of the performance which served as 'driSTi parihAram' (something to ward off the evil eye!), and the entire evening unfloded quite well I thought, culminating in the perfromace of 'rUpA, virUpA'.
Here is the (official) review (from my point of view)!
Shubanjali School or Performing Arts, Scotch Plains, NJ celebrated its 15th anniversary by putting up a wonderful show at Terrill Middle School, Scotch Plains, NJ on Saturday, June 14th 2008 in front of a mixed audience of parents, friends, well-wishers and invited guests. In addition to numerous shows and honors to its credit, the school has the distinction of having trained many students and conducted several arangetrams.
The evening began with young students propitiating Sri Ganesa through the Ganesa Panchartanam. What followed next was an extremely vibrant presentation of 'Sankara Srigiri naatha prabho', a composition of Maharaja Swati Tirunal in the raga sohni/hamsanadi. The Cosmic Dance of Lord Siva, the God of Dance was depicted through complex footwork and statuesque and gymnastic poses by the Artistic Director and guru, Smt Suba Ramesh Parmar, accompanied by guru, Smt. Monalisa Dhobley, and Ms. Aditi Khatri. This energetic piece set the tone for the rest of the evening. As strains of the melodious raga malayamarutam wafted by, a jatiswaram was presented showcasing neat group choreography. A proudly strutting peacock dancing to the sounds of thunder and crackles of lightning symbolizes the very essence of spring in India. Madhumita Parmar, a post-arangetram student of the Shubanjali School treated the audience to an amazing peacock dance that would have made a real peacock proud! This was followed by a Ganesa kauttuvam, and a Lamp Dance. The concluding piece of the first part of the evening's program was a very imaginative number that grew out of Smt. Suba Parmar's involvement with teaching deaf students. Set to lilting music interspersed with crisp jatis, two groups of dancers presented the various hand gestures of bharatanatyam called hasta mudras.
The next part of the program was the premiere of the eagerly awaited 'Roopa Viroopa', an Indian adaptation of the fairy tale of Beauty and the Beast. In 2005, when a talented couple, Sri Sanjay, and Smt. Shama from Bangalore, India happened to visit the USA, they witnessed a performance of the Broadway show, Beauty and the Beast, and like many, came away smitten. When guru, Smt. Suba Parmar met with them, she expressed her desire to stage a show that would be relevant both to Indian audiences as well as her students and local audiences; discussions lead to the choice of Beauty and the Beast as an appropriate tale to adapt, and a partnership was born. The project received funding in part from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts (a partner agency of the NEA). Sri Sanjay and Smt Shama and their team conceived the concept, wrote the lyrics, and composed the music for 'Roopa Viroopa'. The original production was staged in Bangalore, India in 2006 in the kuchipudi style of dancing. On Smt. Suba Parmar's request, a narration in English was added to the sound track to orient the audience and form a connection between the scenes, and some of the music was modified as well. For the premiere in the US, Smt. Suba Parmar added a pushpanjali at the beginning and a tillana at the end to showcase the trademark choreography of her school. She then re-choreographed the show in bharatanatyam style and taught it to her students. Character roles were played by the teachers of the school (Smt. Suba Parmar, and Smt. Monalisa Dhobley), visiting dancers (Smt. Marichandra Murugan, Ms. Chitra Ramaswamy), and post-arangetram students of Shubanjali (Ms. Sharbari Bose, Dhanya Chandramohan, Sumana Ramakrishnan, Aditi Khatri, Madhumita Parmar, Ragaranjani Gunnia, Minal Patel, Manaswini Rajaram and Shika Patel). Other senior and sub-senior students formed the rest of the cast.
This timeless tale opened with a very lively pushpanjali introducing the handsome king (portrayed by Ms. Chitra Ramaswamy) as he comes to the local Devi temple to offer worship. The story then went on to describe how he subsequently incurred the wrath of the Devi and was cursed to become an ugly Beast, and his subjects, uncouth cavemen. We were then introduced to Beauty (Vasundhara, played by Smt. Suba Parmar), in the full blossom of youth. Her father sets out to find a groom for her, and is taken prisoner by the Beast (enacted by Smt. Monalisa Dhobley) and his cavemen. The tale of how Vasundhara goes into the forest to find her father and falls in love with the Beast, thereby setting him free of the curse formed the rest of the show.
As we in the audience sat spell bound, the fast paced production moved from scene to scene with professional ease. While the artists in the character roles mesmerized us with their emoting and acting abilities, the young students wowed us with their beautiful footwork and clean dancing. All through this, the music that was being presented as visual poetry was a powerful, living force moving both the cast and the audience alike. The joy of Vasundhara's union with the King freed of the curse was captured in an exhilarating and breathtaking tillana in the raga valachi with many beautiful formations - a fitting and grand finale to the production.
The choreography of the production deserves a special mention – it bore the hallmark of authenticity, and was very complex; both of these are trademarks of the Pandanallur style of bharatanatyam in general and Smt. Suba Parmar's choreography in particular. The moves in the fight sequences in the format of kalaripayittu, a martial arts form from Kerala were worthy of noting. What was interesting was that even within the framework of this innovative production, several elements of the traditional margam, like the pushpanjali, padams, a kavadi-like piece, a kuratti/gypsy dance, and a tillana were discernable.
Another aspect of the production that was appreciated by the audience was the amazing and extremely well coordinated costumes. Great care had been taken to design the costumes in bright and attractive colors; the costume and make-up of the cavemen, and the Beast were truly 'beastly'!
The dancers and the crew who managed the stage with slick scene changes, and superb lightning effects were so good that a member of the audience who was visiting from Germany was heard to remark that they were so good they could go on a very successful tour! A very well deserved, standing ovation from the audience brought the curtain down on an evening that was truly magical!
Ravi,
Thanks for the vivid picture you paint about the show. Comes across as an impressive production.
Congratulations to Shubanjali School of Performing Arts, the dancers and to the parents!
Last edited by arasi on 28 Jun 2008, 10:16, edited 1 time in total.
Ravi, I enjoyed the show very much! Sorry I did not get around to posting a review, but I see now that that would have been completely unnecessary! No doubt Suba akka has some very talented dancers in her school, and the whole concept was very well executed (I'm hoping for a change of venue next time, though ).
No enchanted palace with speaking inanimate objects either? 
).