[ Silence ] >> Theadocia Austen: Good afternoon. I'm Theadocia Austen, the public events coordinator for the American Folklife Center here at The Library of Congress. And on behalf of the entire staff, welcome to the 5th concert in the 2013 Homegrown Music of America Concert Series. We bring you the best of traditional music dance from across the country. And to do that we work with very talented state folklorists and public sector folklorists to identify -- search the regions and identify the very best artists that we can and bring them here to you. The Folklife Center works collaboratively with the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center to sponsor all of these artists. So the performers come here to the Library and then will be at the Kennedy Center. This group will be there tonight at 6:00 if you want to catch them again, or if you know people that you think would enjoy the presentation there as well. I wanted to let you know that this concert will be webcast, and the content will go into our permanent collections at the Library. So this is a good time to turn off your cell phones, otherwise they will also be memorialized forever on the Library's website. Today we have a very special group of dancers from Bethesda [Maryland] called, "Kalanidhi Dance." They're directed by Anuradha Nehru. She'll be presenting information about each dance throughout the performance. You'll hear her voice blended seamlessly into the music for each piece. But we have a very special guest to introduce the group. His name is Dharan Sridharan [Sridharan Madhusudhanan]. He's from the -- he's the counselor for Press and Information and Culture at the Embassy of India. So please join me in welcoming Dharan. [ Applause ] >> Sridharan Madhusudhanan: Thank you, Thea. Good afternoon to all of you. I have the pleasant job of introducing this team. I intend to do it briefly by touching upon who they are, what they are doing, and what we are supposed to do. Who they are is very simple, thanks to friend, Anuradha Nehru, who is the director of the Kalanidhi. She briefed me fully. I may not do it justice, but briefly, that's it. "Kalanidhi," if you know the Indian language, means "a treasure, art treasure." "Kala" means "art," "nidhi" means "treasure or wealth." So this is basically about -- like all the important treasures in life, this is also a treasure that is worth having, which becomes more when you share. Other treasures are okay, but most of the important treasures we have in life become more when you share. And so they are sharing art with all of us. Anuradha is -, or the student, disciple, of one of the greatest [foreign word-- teachers] of Indian dance, Kuchipudi dance. And, I mean, Chinna Satyam -- Vempati Chinna Satyam is a well-known figure in Indian dance, and she is a direct disciple. And she has been teaching Kuchipudi for the last -- from 1992 onward she has been teaching and performing at various countries. And she has started the school here so that the kids can learn that. And the company -- as a company there from 2005 they are operating here. Like any of the -- I've been doing this introduction of Indian culture in a lot of organizations in Beijing, Hong Kong, Fiji Islands, wherever I worked. As a diplomat I've been doing work -- not just me, is that the dedication that these kids put into this. Even back in India you may have to drag people there. But here the people are so dedicated about the whole thing, and the whole thing has a pithy nature to it. The teacher -- in Indian tradition, as you know, the guru-shishya -- the teacher and student relationship -- is one of the most important relationships. I see that wherever I go that -- that tone of relationship is still maintained wherever they go. Now, coming to what they do, briefly, I'm sure Anur will do the more elaborate thing on this. Kuchipudi is actually a village, very, very tiny village. Even if you take Indian map you can't really find it. It's a tiny village close to the Bay of Bengal in Andhra Pradesh. And that is where this dance form emanated. People say from 5th Century, 6th Century, 7th Century, but beyond 1000 it doesn't matter. It's really, really classical dance form, one of the 8 forms that we have. And it has grown mainly as a male dance. The male dancers used to dress as females, and they used to dance it -- initially at the folk level, and then at the festival level, and later it became a very classical form, and institutions have started emerging. And why I mention this is when you see this, you will see it has more power in action than the normal Indian dances, because it was conceived for a male in mind. At the same time, since they used to dress like females, it has a little slightly accentuated femininity added to it. So this strange combination of power and this accentuated gracefulness makes it very special. And they have been performing in -- I mean, they have been to India in 2007 for one of the very important dance festivals, and they are performed in Singapore, they are performed in Jakarta, and this team has performed, of course, in US in so many places, including Kennedy Center. What then thus means that Anuradha is not restricting to just the classical form. They have interacted with French opera, and they contribute to French opera in bringing this cultural combination between this and that. So this is very exciting. And I just briefly saw the 5 beautiful, cute young dancers waiting for you. I don't want to stand in-between. But let me just touch up on what -- I said that who they are, what they do. The third one I said that what we are supposed to do. You know, we come for a dance and we can easily see it as a dance. But just to think of it, if they are going to do this, this is called a deer, right? And if they do this, this is a parrot. And this was conceived in 5th Century AD. And this has been coming along over the centuries from generation after generation. And this is one of the 8 classical dancers. And we have hundreds of dance forms in India. And these are performed all over the world every day by hundreds and millions of people. So when you -- when it's raining you go out and extend your hand, and get a few drops on your hand, what you are experiencing is not a few drops, you are experiencing a magnificent rain. And you are experiencing the capacity that we can -- water -- our hands can take it. And that is how I see these performances. These are very small in nature, a few hundred people or so. But they are a harmony, a part of the harmony that's happening all over the world. We are very happy from the Indian Embassy to collaborate with Kalanidhi on various things. And we want to continue it with The Library of Congress. In this area also we want to continue a lot of collaboration. So I'm also no less eager to watch this program, and I wish the best. Thank you. [Applause] >> In Hindu philosophy as creation began, the divine, all-encompassing consciousness took the form of the first vibration, manifesting as the sound, "Aum" [Om]. "Aum" erases all that exists. It is an omnipresent reflection of absolute reality. In the first dance of this program, the dancers are inspired by Lord Ganesha, the manifestation of "Aum." Ganesha is the unsurpassed, the faultless provider. The dancers' movements to the rhythmic beats and musical syllables in the song, "Ananda Narthana Ganapathim," reflect Ganesha's joy. "Ananda Narthana Ganapathim" will be performed by Ramya Durvasula and Pragnya Thamire. [ Music and Singing in Indian ] [ Applause ] [ Silence ] Lord Shiva is the God of dance. In Hindu mythology, when Lord Shiva beat a hand drum the world heard its first rhythm. As he moved his body in time with its beat, the universe came into being. For this reason, Indian dancers conceive of classical dance as the highest form of worship, and dedicate themselves to Lord Shiva as the dancing Nataraj, the supreme symbol of cosmic energy. In our next dance, "Shiva Stuti," we present 2 distinct halves composed to a poem and a song. The dance begins with a poem, which describes Shiva as the 3-eyed God with 4 hands, the embodiment of peace, whose body glows like the early morning rays of the sun, the one blessed with a smiling face, who holds the river goddess, Ganga, in his hair, who destroys all evil, whose right leg is held in the beautiful konchitim [phonetic] position, while his left leg is lifted high above the ground. In his first hand he holds a trident, in his second hand, a kettledrum. His third hand is held elegantly in dolahasta, and his fourth hand holds a vessel containing fire. On his left ear he wears a moon shift earring, and on his right ear, an earring made of a crocodile skin. Adorned with snakes on his chest, his whole body is smeared with ashes. To such a Lord Shiva, the epitome of knowledge, we offered our humble prayers. The second half of the dance continues with a song that describes the power of Lord Shiva. He is accompanied by a celestial orchestra comprised of Lord Vishnu on the drums, Lord Indra on the flute, Lord Brahma on the cymbals, and Goddess Saraswati on the veena, as the stages and celestial dancers watch this performance in awe and wonder. "Shiva Stuthi," performed by Supraja Chittari, Ramya Durvasula, Pragnya Thamire, Ankitha Durvasula, and Deviga Valiyil. [ Music and Singing & Chanting in Indian ] [ Applause ] [ Silence ] The next dance that we present to you has been composed to the song, "Alokaye Shri Balakrishnan," taken from a Sanskrit opera on Krishna called, "Sri Krishna Leela Tarangini." Each song taken from this opera constitutes a chapter or a tarangini, and the dance composed to it is called, "a tarangam." A tarangam typically forms the centerpiece in a kuchipudi dance concert, as it incorporates all 3 elements of Indian dance, nrtta, or pure dance, nritya, or narrative, and natya, or mime. It characteristically ends with the dancer standing on the rim of a brass plate, while they move to complex rhythmic beats. Krishna, one of our most lovable and endearing gods, is often portrayed as child Krishna, capable of performing superhuman pastimes, such as lifting mountains with his little finger. Today the dancers tell the story of how the young Krishna dares to attack the venomous and mighty serpent, Kaaliya. A cowherd boy, young Krishna is often seen playing with his friends, as they take the cows to green pastures. In the nearby Yamuna River, lived the fearsome Kaaliya. One day Krishna leads his cows to the river to escape the summer heat. Krishna plays his flute, a favorite pastime of his, before he notices that his beloved cows have died. Aghast, he suspects the purity of the waters from which the cows have drunk, and discovers that they have been poisoned. He finds the source of the poison to be none other than Kaaliya, the deadly serpent. Krishna dives into the river and taunts Kaaliya. Kaaliya attacks Krishna, and a fierce battle ensues. Krishna emerges victorious, and dances joyfully on Kaaliya's head. "Alokaye Shri Balakrishnan," performed by Supraja Chittari, Ramya Durvasula, and Pragnya Thamire. [ Music and Singing & Chanting in Indian ] [ Applause ] [ Silence ] We conclude today's performance with synergy. Synergy is a creative concept of nrtta, or pure dance, which blends the traditional foundations of Kuchipudi with contemporary ideas, performed by Ankitha Durvasula, Ramya Durvasula, Pragnya Thamire and Deviga Valiyil. [ Music ] [Silence] [ Applause ] >> Thea Austen: The Kalanidhi Dance Group and I'd like to introduce the artistic director, Anuradha Nehru. [ Applause ] Kalanidhi Dance. [ Applause ] >> Thank you all so much for coming. They were beautiful dancers. Thank you all so much for coming, and please join us September 11th at noon, Los Texmaniacs, conjunto dance band will be playing here. So thanks very much. Bye-bye. >> This has been a presentation of The Library of Congress. Visit us at loc.gov. [ Silence ]