2006 Events

Photo by Krishnan Sriram

Sangam Diwali Nite - November, 2006

'Diwali Nite' is MIT Sangam's annual show in celebration of Diwali, the festival of lights. The show features Indian music, dance and drama as well as a 3 course Indian dinner.

When: 8:00pm, Friday November 10, 2006
Where: Kresge Auditorium, MIT.

MIT Natya performed a Jathiswaram at this event. Jathiwaram is a pure dance presentation, devoid of any abhinaya (facial expression with the intent of telling a story). In this dance intricate pure dance sequencees are fused with repetitive melodic musical notes. The dance deals with the execution of adavus (basic steps) and mudras (hand gestures), combined in definite groups. Jathis (pure dance) are executed combining swara passages (musical scores) in a particular raga and tala.

Raagam: Vasantha
Taalam: Adi

Dancers: Samiksha Nayak, Shriddha Nayak, Priya Ramaswamy, Nina Suresh, Charuleka Varadharajan

Photo by Vaibhaw Vishal

The entire troupe after the show

Mudra - April, 2006

When: 6:00pm, Saturday April 23, 2006
Where: Little Kresge Auditorium, MIT.

In "Mudra", MIT Natya presented dances that are usually performed in a traditional Bharathanatyam recital. In addition, we demonstrated the basic aspects of Bharathanatyam at the start of the show, in a piece that was synchronized to live music played by members of our group.

Bharathanatyam is a classical Indian dance form that originated in the temples of South India. It is known for its rhythmic, vigorous footwork, crisp movements, sculpturesque poses and combines the energy of its Nritta (rhythmic movements) with the emotion of its Abhinaya (expressive movements).

This event was funded in part by a Director's Grant from the Council for the Arts at MIT

Visit the Mudra webpage for more information.

Performers

Dancers: Shriddha Nayak, Soumya Ramanathan, Krithika Sridharan, Gayathri Srinivasan, Chandni Valiathan & Charuleka Varadharajan.

Musicians: Aarthi Chandrasekaran (vocal), Dhananjay Dendukuri (violin), Gayathri Srinivasan (nattuvangam)