Make-up for Dancers

I was talking to my friend when i realized that many dancers find it very difficult to apply make-up for a program. Main reasons being, tension, no time, and there is always a chance to ruin it by yourself!! 

so i thought i would help them, the little i can do is writing how to apply make up for dance. 

Primarily one needs the dance make up accessories :

1. Base/ Panc cake -- 25-27 for Indians and 21-23 for foreigners. 

2. Second base - Panc stick  -- Numbers same as above. 

3. Rose powder

4. Eye shadow - Pink, gold

5. Kajal - Thick (niki)

6. Lip stick (red / maroon)

7. Blush

8. Bindi 

9. Brushes : For Blush (thick), Kajal, Eye brow, lip liner, lip stick. 

10. Sponge (preferably in conical shape)  

11. Nose cut - Dark brown powder/base

P.S. I prefer 'Mi-Fi' products especially the base for dance make-up. 

People in Chennai will get these at Shanti Tailors, Mylapore. At Bangalore you will get these in Raja Market, Chicpet, or bhavani stores in jayanagar / Malleswaram 8th Block. 

Procedure to apply : 

1. Firstly, keep a bowl of water. Wet the sponge and wet your face. 
2. Now take the foundation and evenly spread across your face, neck, back side of the neck. 
3. With the wet sponge, take some Base 2, and apply evenly on the face. 
4. Dry the face with a help of hand fan. 
5. Now apply the rose powder. 
6. Apply pink eye shadow above the eyes 
7. Now apply gold eye shadow in a thin line just below your eyebrow. Make sure the pink and gold are not seen separately, if so, then smudge them together using the brush. 
8. Now draw your eyebrows - make it look like a arch. ( best results are found if you do threading of your eye-brow) if not, then you can cover the eye brow with the help of spirit/ gum (used on face) and   after the spirit dries, apply the skin colour or gold colour eye shadow on the eye brow. Now you can draw eye-brow in the shape you desire. 
9. Keep the eye-brow thin. 
10. Now the most important is the eye! Draw it thin in the beginning of the eye .ie. near the nose and gradually make it thick near the ending. Draw an extend and make this look thick and big, but Never cross the eye-brow line. 
11. Draw a small line like a pencil tip in the beginning of the eye near the nose to give the eyes a fish shaped look. 
12. Now give a nose cut with the dark base/powder. Draw the nose dark on either sides and make the front and tip of the nose sharp and bright with the help of the regular base. This will make it look sharp and neat. 
13. With the help of the eye/kajal brush, draw the lip-liner. Do not worry about the black colour liner. it will look great on stage. Shape the lip well. Make the lower lip thin and upper lip a little thick, this will give a spout look. 
14. Now colour your lip with lip stick in red or maroon. 
15. You are almost done! Just give a good blush on your cheek and if possible glitter. 
16. Coming to the bindi - depending on the style of dance the shape changes! But always use extra spirit/ gum to your bindi so it doesn't fall while dancing due to sweat! Also, give a white and black lining. This enhances the brightness of the face. 

Now, you look fabulous!! Before trying it on stage directly you can always try this at home when at leisure. 

This might take 20 minutes to half hour. Its worth trying than paying the money for the make-up person or beautician. 

Keep smiling while you dance.  

The recent show at Senior Citizen's Resorts was such a divine and blissful experience. I have experienced a unique joy while dancing for the group of old and aged people but very young at heart. They had the will and patience to do so many things that which is absent in many of us. 

It was on the night of Sivarathri and the auspicious day only enhanced the joy of dancing. 

Thanks to my mom who gave me the idea of dancing on that day in the location.  

After the performance, i went to a temple in Chennai, called Madhya Kailash. A well known temple at the heart of the city. A few young budding artists were singing for the lord through the night. Young students in their grads and also pursuing such creative arts which takes most of your time! They sang to the glory of the Lord Shiv, who enchants the world with His Cosmic Dance. It was a refreshing experience to watch so many young artists singing so well. 

I was impressed on the people who were arranging the whole event. They were young students as well. A group named Youth Association for Classical Music, (www.yacm.com) conducted and is giving chance to artists members who have the talent and ability to sing well. They also pay you a minimal fee for your contribution. I am impressed, in this world were you have to pay to perform, where you need to  beg an organisation to give you the one chance (which apparently might or might not assure you further more, because they donot have that kind of an audience), this organisation was one damn good thing. 

Run my one the senior student of Sri. TM Krishna, named Rithvik Raja. Kudos to you and the entire team! Raghunandan on vocal stole the show! 

I wouls suggest, anybody who wants to contribute monetarily to an art form, they could donate to this organisation, they are doing a wonderful job.  

Well, one can find that being an artist is not that easy at all! 

One needs to hunt for a chance to perform and steal the show and then show people you have performed on that platform and keep improving everyday so you can be in business!! Ouch... a lot of hardwork! The best part is that it gives immense pleasure and comes automatically without frustration to work! 

Every time i begin to write, alas, i always presume the topic is vain and so i erase it all. 

Now i have finally decided to write... I was chatting on Fb with my cousin, gayathri, she suggested why not write something on ' why one should smile on stage while performing'. I thought, a good one to start with, so i penning down my views on this. 

Infact as she mentioned, many dancers are not smiling for that has become a fashionable thing to do. In fact i have myself tried it! alas, of only getting comments as, 'she became tired while dancing' or 'why were you so serious', 'probably you dint enjoy as much as we did'...!!! but hey i was only trying out something fashionable! 

Well, many famous and well known dancer smile only occasionally, I personally it looks fabulous on them! It brings energy to the movements and grip to the dance. But definitely not every dancer can carry that off. 

Let us begin with the first piece, an invocatory piece. Here, you appear first time to the audience, so one must smile and be pleasant to welcome them to stay through your show. You must make sure, they are tied to their seats, and this is possible only when the welcome drink is worthy enough to hang around there! 

So, smile, flaunt your 32 teeth and make the piece as gripping and crisp as possible. 

Then we move on to the next, which might be a sloka or verse from any old litreture, a keerthana or swarajathi... here smile suitable to the bhava but just hold on to the energy.. because audience have to stay put till the end. Smile and smile a lot. Let them know you are enjoying yourself. and you are capable to take them along. 

The important now enters.. the varnam. Here, it is very significant for a dancer to hold the sthayi bhava and yet to the abhinaya according to the sanchari and also bring in the nritta jathis interwoven with it! Wow, what a task! This calls for rigorous practice. Smile again, when ever necessary! For instance, when you are talkin to a sakhi asking her to do the favour, you better smile and let her know that you like her a lot and thats why making her an important messenger. and when you are showing her that you are angry on the nayaka, do not show her the real anger, let a tiny bit of your smile remain. When doing the jathi/theernaman/nritta portion, you start with the holding the sthayi bhava on your face and gradually indulge in your nritta and when you are about to end the jathi with mukthayi, let it speak a little about the bhava or when you are doing the arudhi, bring in the sthayi so as to connect it well with the next verse. Do not forget to retain the smile during the nritta. 

Following suit is a padam/ javali... well.. abhinaya is in the fore and ofcourse i can not write how to express! 

The final thillana.... happy ending is always the indian way of completing things. take home the happy stuff... so thillana needs the most energy and the biggest smile. 

In case you want to complete with a sad not, not a problem, its the titanic way. But make sure you come back on stage just to say a thank or pranam with a beautiful smile... it only enhances the sadness of your last item and also makes them think that you have achieved something! 

Smile ever... 

I know i am writing after a very long time... and really the excuse is nothing but laziness :( and ofcuz i dont have time!! finding time is my headache.. which i seem to realize only when time strides away swiftly leaving me gaping at it and wishing it came back! my bad, half of my life has flown through like this..! 
anyway.. instead of starting with my regular "oh no"s, "oh my"s and "not again's... let me write something which can be relevant to this blog... 
I was participating in a large production recently and the experience was mind-blowing! i was really enthralled with the magnitude of the production! there were 80 dancers dancing their parts - contemporary, mohiniattam, puppet/doll dance, dollu kunitha, kamsale, aerial dances, rope dance all in one dance production. The production lasted 20 minutes.. and yes it was just fabulous. 
The stage setting was massive, it was 24 feet wide stage and two walls constructed, one as a side exit and one as a back drop. The entire stage seemed like a entrance to the heaven! 
The song was a poem by Mr. Harivansh Rai Bachchan named 'Madhushala". select 10 verses were danced to a melodious tune. 
The stage setting had windows on these walls, and each dancer was given a window to dance.. and vertically parallel to the wall was a ladder and the doll dancers would climb to the top most and dance their steps! now... the audience is in a fix, as to what to watch, where to which. On the stairs are the Mohiniattam dancers. and guess what, the heights of this, everybody is doing the very same step and in such great co-ordination!! this was a treat for the eyes!!! 
every level there was a dancer, every nook and corner the dancer dances and every dancer becomes so vitally important on this stage, because every eye can see you. 
The general presumption of dancers in the front dominate does not work on this stage! 
The production was a high budget, high profile and damn beautiful.... it was one heck of a production , God!  

Theory ?!

How many of us have given importance to the theory part of this practically used skill? In fact hardly any of us.

and how important can this be?

Not very for a performer. But for a teacher and a performer it stands as an asset. Knowledgeable about the theory of dance leads you to impress people around you about dance, as an art. To draw laymen towards this so-called 'forbidden' art form.

The Natya Sastra - the bible for dance-  describes saying, "dance only for those who appreciate and understand dance language, don't try to educate laymen into this." 

What a statement in the very book dancers worship, I first thought. But later realized the significance of it. People who are not yet ready for this kind of art can never be easily tempted into enjoying a program. they find no pleasure in this. I don't understand then how can they enjoy a 3 hour movie which has the same story line, similar lyrics, similar action as a dance! It wonders me!

Natya sastra has 6000 sutras in 36 chapters covering  explanations about dance and drama. This is book was coded by Bharata Muni, in 200 B.C. This book explains about dance and drama and of course there are several others from which dance was re-created. Why I call it as re-created is because dancing was a lot different from what it was before this theory was given its due significance.

After interpreting the verses in these books, many eminent reformers beautified the dance form.

I would like to write a lot about Natya Satra but I will save it for forthcoming posts. As you would have noticed, the book has been written during 200 BC, and now we are at 2012, should anybody doubt if the book could be outdated?! I wouldn't deny any person posing this question. What was written then has now become a common-sense, has become just another part of dance now.

People have diligently followed the rules and regulations/ descriptions written in the book for centuries that today it is not a new information. Considering this, probably we should adopt Natya Sastra into the book for current century.  

Coming to the practical side of this, now-a-days it has become a fashion to bring from the past and dance is no exception. Dancers and choreographers are composing something that could have been done in the past with reference to NS. A drama on a chatusra stage with only Bharati as its vritti has become a fashion. A dance ballet with the usage of all four vrittis, choosing any of the dasaroopaka, usage of old instruments has now become the trend.
With no exception, dance has also undergone mighty change over the period and yes it is natural but to adopt. The wonderful part about Indian Classical dancing is, it still holds tight to its root while the branches are spreading like a giant in different directions in various ways.  

Here I am posting a link below of Rama Vaidyanathan's tri-kaala jathi of Varnam, swami naan undhan adimei. I would like you to notice a couple of things here :

1. The structure of the Jathi, simple and a long one.

2. The steps - modern yet traditional.

3. compare it to her performance today - a sea of change in sollu kattu, dancing, adavus!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Fv5JEpExOw&feature=related 

Krishna - The Divine

Krishna - The Divine, an excellent dance ballet by Sheejith Nambiar and Parvathy Menon.
Old theme, old stories put together with new movements and ideas.


Performed last month at Narada Gana Sabha.


The dance Drama started with the depiction of krishna's favourite - Yamuna ' nadhi ' . It was an impeccable nritta portion and this was followed by a song 'nanda lala' where the birth of krishna.
The town then celebrates the birth of  ' Janardhana' - boys pick up their drums and start their grand celebration when the audience were left spell- bound by the scintillating performance of the like of Pung Cholam by the 4 boys. out of them, 2 were kalakshetra products and 3rd, a disciple of the Gurus and 4th - Sheejith himself.
I have attached a link below of this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaviqxvE8sE&feature=fvst  ( this is at Nishagandhi festival, kerala) 


After this, we could here the favourite Yaman Kalyani - Krishna nee begana Baro, where Krishna gives his grand entry. Though the entry of the main character was done in an old fashioned way, more like the pravesha daru of yakshagana, it still gave a good effect.
Here Little krishna, though enacted by Sheejith Nambiar himself was convincing enough to be a little one! :)
The Gopikas, usual complaints of steeling butter were well depicted. Although when Krishna started playing the flute, one could hear the mridangam, vocal and nattuvangam, this could have been restrained to only flute, which could have sounded alluring.
in the charanam ' Jagadho dharana...' the scene where krishna shows the entire universe to His mom was effectively portrayed, a few distractions by the others dancers on the stage could have been avoided!
Valachi Ragam began the scene II, here the usage of many karanas for deer and peacock movements were excellent.
for the song 'Gaana Mazhai' in behag, the dancers had enacted extempore on the stage portraying the given character, which was absolutely stunning to watch given the odds of a group dance! it was a fantastic job.
The favourite Dance depiction of krishna was shown in the next scene with Purvi Kalyani ragam, a well selected ragam - 'Tasmeen kale' - the song with good lyrics for 'Kalinga Narthanam'. 3 snakes and the snake like movements were well choreographed , krishna's striking steps on the head of the snake was very good, though one could a lot of repeatition in krishna's steps. A special mention has to be made here, in the last posture, One of the best mishap management on the stage. though the boy carrying Krishna slipped, though Krishna's one leg fell on the floor, the posture was so perfect, it was marvellous, probably better than the original one!
The other miracle that krishna performed was lifting of the  Govardhan. This scene carried a palpable sense of devotion.
A jathi here with words 'Uddhaara Govardhana' was well composed. Govardhan Giridhara, a popular song, was then danced by all. the end of this scene was natural. I liked the way, a bhaktha sits devotionally on the stage when everybody leaves the stage along with krishna, suddenly realising this, krishna turns back , everybody turn back, krishna makes a run to this bhaktha, hugs and takes him along too.
Oh, yes, the Gopikas are here, 'Chaliye Kunjanamo' - an awesome song, beautifully choreographed by the Dancing Couple and well portrayed. this scene ended on the boat with all the gopikas on river yamuna. And yes, how can one miss 'Raas' when talking about vrindavan, neither did Nambiar and menon forget this. A powerful raas piece was inserted here and relaxed the audience with the song 'Gopi gopala bal'. 
The ever depressing situtation, krishna leaves Vrindavan and the depression could have been more effective! 
Scene 6- entering Dwaraka, people of Dwaraka sing in praise of Sri Krishna with 'Swagatham Krishna'. 
towards the end, the ballet started dragging, it was time to end but it dint! various songs like, Bhaktha hridya mandara, nanda nanda ( a bhajan type), dasavatharam ( an unnecessary insertion), bhagavad gita (yada yada hi dharmasya), shanthakaram, vishva roopa dharshanam... there was everything. The bhajan type of dancing was excellent and the vishvaroopa dharshnam would have been more effective with use of better back lighting! All in all, it was admirably composed ballet, just like Divine Shri Krishna. 

Back...

Occurs once in four years, This day, lucky to return to the Vibrations of the Gunguroo today!

I actually almost forgot the ID of this blog. !!!

after the long break, I was fortunate enough to perform at few places. With the gaps that i have taken, i was afraid if i would dance well... not bad at all but never as satisfying as it should be. 

It was my priviledge to attend a few shows and attend a dance camp.

i had not been to several programs like i used to, but i found time to go for a few and have enjoyed completely. 

yea, the camp, a wonderful one at Thennagur, one of the best camps for any dancer. Conducted by Narada Gana Sabha at Thennagur. they call the best musician, poet, literary person and dancer to feed us all with sumptuous knowledge on dance and its allied arts. This year, like last year, it was pouring rain of 'gyan', luckily i had taken a recorder this year so i can recall the classes now, lest i would have missed half of the stuff if i was taking notes. They are too fast and vast in their knowledge that your writing speed would defeat you. 

Now i am sitting at Mumbai, trying to attend some classes and conduct workshops here. I Hope things will turn out fine.