Meet Living Legend Danseuse Alarmel Valli At a Film Screening About Her Dance And Her Life

Monday, November 5, 2012

TIME: Opens 6:30 P.M.; Film Screening 7:00 P.M.; Followed by a discussion with the Danseuse
COST: Free, but RSVP is required
EVENT TYPE: Film and Discussion

                 Educational Foundation (EF) of Woman’s National Democratic Club joins with Dakshina to celebrate the 9th Annual Dakshina Fall Festival of Indian Arts with a tour de force of women from the South Asian region. For more information about the Indian Arts Festival, please visit www.Dakshina.org.  EF will host the film discussion ‘Lasya Kavya’ featuring living legend danseuse, Alarmel Valli, on November 5, 2012 after her performance at Lincoln Theatre on November 3, 2012.

                  ‘Lasya Kavya’, as the name implies, is dance that is creative, graceful and beautiful. It is dance as visual poetry. It is also the title of a film on celebrated dancer/choreographer Alarmel Valli, by director Sankalp Meshram, that takes a lyrical look at the intellectual, emotional and spiritual contexts within which she performs. Alarmel Valli’s dance has been described as being “uncompromisingly classical, but, at the same time, an undeniable language of self-expression…both a stylised idiom and an idiolect, blurring the boundaries between tradition and the individual talent, inheritance and invention.” The film examines this perception and also the idea that through dance, a dancer can be at once, poet, painter, actor and singer.

                  Perceptive camera work and skilful editing give the film a seamless quality. The dance sequences are interwoven with glimpses into Alarmel Valli’s childhood, including a unique sequence from her on stage debut at the age of nine.

                 Alarmel Valli says, “When I dance I feel I am at once a poet, painter and singer. For dance is a language that I internalise to write my personal dance poetry. The songs and poems I interpret are the line drawings to which I add colours and tints, to bring the picture to life. And, when dance and music go hand in hand, following the ebb and flow of each other’s improvisation, I feel I sing with my body and that the music dances”.

                 Watch a preview clip here: CLICK HERE. Read more about the danseuse at www.alarmelvalli.org.

Performance schedule:

Friday November 2, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. — Dancer Rama Vaidyanathan, considered as one of the best interpreters of the ancient art form of Bharata Natyam. Everyone who has seen Rama perform is struck by her unique thought process and fresh approach to dance. While deeply routed in tradition, she has evolved her own individual style without forsaking the core principles of Bharata Natyam. She will perfrom at UDC Theater 4200 Connecticut Avenue (Connecticut Avenue and Windom Place NW) University of the District of Columbia ( 5 Minutes from the Van Ness stop on the Red Line). Buy ticket here.

Saturday November 3, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. — Danseuse Alarmel Valli, a leading Bharatanatyam dancer and choreographer, will perform at DC Theater 4200 Connecticut Avenue (Connecticut Avenue and Windom Place NW) University of the District of Columbia ( 5 Minutes from the Van Ness stop on the Red Line). Buy ticket here.