Credo of a Dancer - Part 2 l Who was Balasaraswati behind all the eulogies and accolades l MOPA

The 2nd, concluding part of Credo of a Dancer looks at Bala’s artistic graph in the second half of her life. It has several frontline organizers talking about the success of her tours and residencies in the west. Students recall their time with her.

Here was a dancer who stood at a very interesting point in India’s cultural history – where she seemed to be synthesising ideas of tradition and change, of history and modernity, of the sacred and sensual, of heritage and transition. Trying to navigate these unchartered paths, she must surely have had many moments of uncertainty, doubt and anxiety. Yet, her faith in her art shines through.

With rare footage made available by her grandson @aniruddhaknight & @Balasaraswatiinstituteofperformingarts this documentary provides several fresh perspectives to her life and art.
The impact of her art, such as we know today, will live on for all time.

Errata: S Guhan (1932 - 1998, and not 1948 as mentioned).

MOPA thanks Kauvery Hospitals, Aim for Seva and Curatio for their support in this project.

Acknowledgements

AV script and photographs

o Balasaraswati – Her Art and Life – by Douglas M. Knight Jr
o Sangeet Natak Akademi’s quarterly journal 1984
o Journal of the National Center for Performing Arts, Bombay
o Bala on Bharatanatyam – Compiled and Translated by S. Guhan; Published by The Sruti Foundation, Madras
o Sruti issues 23/23-S, 27-28, 1984 March issue - © Sruti Foundation
o Archives of The Hindu
o Archives of Dr V. Raghavan Centre for Performing Arts
o Translated excerpts from Aadal Paadal by Kalki: Kalai Sirakka, Konjan Sirikka
o Balasaraswati – by Narayana Menon; Published by the Inter-National Cultural Centre, New Delhi
o Balasaraswati – a publication of the Balasaraswati School of Music and Dance, USA
o The Music of Bharatanatyam – Doctoral Dissertation by Jon Higgins, Wesleyan 1973

audio excerpts

o Balasaraswati Institute of Performing Arts, Chennai
o World Music Archive, Wesleyan University, CT, USA
o Private collection of Ravindra Narayanan

films
o Balasaraswati – Wesleyan University, 1962
o Bala – Directed by Satyajit Ray, Produced by the Government of India and National Centre for Performing Arts, Bombay

video excerpts
o Born to the Tradition: A Tribute to Bala – by Smita Shah; © Balasaraswati Institute of Performing Arts
o Documentary ©Aniruddha Knight 2006
o Luise Scripps – Tribute by Eva Soltes - vimeo.com/167272996
o Divine Legacy of Balasaraswati – with Luise Scrippa and Bob Brown – vimeo.com/67805659

interviews
produced by MOPA Foundation; ©MOPA Foundation
(Nandini Ramani, T M Krishna, Arundhathi Subramaniam, V Sriram, Usha Sivakumar, Ranjani Menon, Aggie Brenneman, Eva Soltes, Aniruddha Knight and his students)

curation and voice over for the documentary
Savita Narasimhan

digitisation and videography
Prashanth Balaji and Nivedha Shankar

video editing and CG
Jackin Skims

All text, photos, images and other data contained in The Credo of a Dancer are copyright 2017 of the Museum of Performing Arts (MOPA) Foundation. The same is intended for personal or educational use only and may not be used in any commercial form without prior written permission.

Produced by MOPA Foundation © 2019

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