Concluded Programmes - 2004

December 18, 2004 Dhananjayan inaugurated the Lecture demonstration series organized by Kartik Fine Arts Society. Convener - Smt. Radhika Shurjit (a senior disciple of The Dhananjayans).

December 17, 2004 Sreelatha Vinod (a senior disciple of the Dhananjayans) and Athena Madhu (Kalakshetra graduate) presented a Bharatanaatyam performance at the Narada Gana Sabha Art festival series. Sreelatha is one of the finest Bharatanaatyam artistes in the country today and as some of the critics have commented she is a connoisseurs delight to watch. Sreelatha and her sister in law Athena (a brilliant dancer in the making) featured some of the very special items choreograohed by their Gurus Shanta & Dhananjayan.

December 16, 2004 9.00 am - Dhananjayan presented Lec-dem on “Propriety in choreography in Bharatanaatyam” at the Natyakala conference, Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, T.Nagar.

December 13, 2004 Chennai THE BIG DAY OF SATYAJIT’S RE-ENTRY INTO BHARATANAATYAM at Bharat Kalachar on 13th December, Monday at 7.15pm.

November 27, 2004 Chennai Performance of "Naatya Nivedanam" by Umesh Bheemanna Madhess (disciple of the Dhananjayans) on Saturday at 6.30pm at the Besant Nagar Pillayar Koil..

November 15, 2004 Chennai “Remembering Rajesh Balakrishnan” - a Bharatanatyam program by Prof C.V. Chandrasekhar, V.P.Dhananjayan & Shanta Dhananjayan at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Mylapore. Rajesh, a star dancer, par excellence did not live long to reach the top. Rajesh’s rise in the Bharatanaatyam arena was meteoric but the cruel hands of death did not spare him to reach the stardom. People always remember him not only for his brilliance in Bharatanaatyam but also for his exemplary character and dignified demure nature. The senior stalwarts Prof. C.V.Chandrasekhar and V.P.Dhananjayan paid a befitting tribute to him on 15th November 04 (Monday) with a Bharatanaatyam offering. 15th November happens to be Rajesh’s birthday. Rajesh was Mridangam Vidwan Adyar Balu’s second son and his first son Muthukukar is a rising star in Carnatic flute who accompanied the stalwarts. Muthukuar has already bagged several prestigious awards and Bharatkalachar honoured him with ‘Yuvakalaabhaarati' in 2004. This commemorative recital was under the auspices of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mylapore, at 6.30 p.m. For further details please contact Adyar Balu: 24465020.

October 29, 2004 New Delhi A 22 member group presented “Nritya-tarangini” at the ANANYA ART FESTIVAL. VENUE PURANAKILA.

October 24, 2004 Chennai Annual Vidyarambham pooja at Bharatakalanjali, Chennai on 24th Oct, Sunday at 9.00 a.m (New admissions commenced on this day).

October 15, 2004 Chennai Performance of Divya Sivasundar for Kartik Fine Arts at the Narada Gana Sabha Mini hall at 6.00pm.

October 14 & 17, 2004 Chennai Visit to Bharatakalanjali by two study groups from the Pittsburgh University, USA.

October 9, 2004 Payyanur Payyanur Bharatakalanjali annual day celebration.

October 8, 2004 Palakkad Swaralaya Art festival.

July 4 - August 15, 2004 Virginia, USA Yogaville Gurukulam camp, Virginia.

June 18 - 30, 2004 Detroit, USA Bharatanaatyam advance classes camp at Nrityollaasa Academy of Indian dance of Roopa Shyamsundar at Detroit.

June 13, 2004 Scotch Plains, NJ, USA The Dhananjayans (Shanta & Dhananjayan) presented their Bharatanaatyam performance for CMANA - Carnatic Music Association of North America - on 13th June in New Jersey. This fund raiser program was to collect funds for building a professional theatre for the Indian community in the New York and New Jersey area. On the 12th of June, Kamala Narayan was honored with the “Sangeetha Sagara” award. This is the first time a Bharatanaatyam artiste is being awarded this prestigious honor. The Dhananjayans felicitated the doyen of Bharatanaatyam. Babu Parameswaran and his Musical Ensemble who recently won the prestigious American award for his contribution to community development through his art of music in America will accompanied the Dhananjayans. The Dhananjayans presented heart touching classical items from the Carnatic Music repertoire reinforcing the theory that real “Naatya is the real Sangeetam”. Geetam vaadyam tatha nrityam , trayam Sangeeta-muchyatei….. Song, instrument & dance are the constituent aspects of Sangeetam or music concert. (Sangeeta ratnaakaram) For more information contact: Dr. Soundaram Ramaswami, Phone: 908 - 369 - 8917 or Dr. P N Aruna 732 321 0953 Email: jj@asanet.com Performance venue: Scotch Plains High school, Scotch Plains, NJ.

May 22, 2004 Payyanur, Kerala Parampara - The Dhananjayans’ & family performed at Payyanur, Kerala. Shanta, Dhananjayan, Seetha Sasidharan, Divya Siva and Deepti Rajesh ( Disciples and nieces of The Dhananjayans).

May 4, 2004 Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala Arangetram of VISHNU GOPAL, a student of Girija Chandran (Regatta) and Dhananjayans (Bharatakalanjali) - conducted by The Dhananjayans in Thiruvananthapuram.

May 2, 2004 Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala Performance by Trupti, a student of Girija Chandran & The Dhananjayans in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

April 23, 2004 Chennai, Tamilnadu Arangetram of TRUPTI, a student of Girija Chandran & The Dhananjayans. Presented by Bharatakalanjali & Regatta Trivandrum jointly at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mylapore at 7.00 p.m.

April 18, 2004 Chennai, Tamilnadu The Dhananjayans received for the prestigious SWATI-RATNA title and award instituted by the Malayalee Club of Madras, for their outstanding contributions to the propagation of the compositions of Maharaja Swati Thirunal. Eminent persons who have been decorated earlier with this coveted award are stalwarts like Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, K.S. Narayanaswamy (Veena), K.J.Yesudas, K.R. Kumaraswamy Iyer and P.Leela. The award ceremony was held on 18th April 2004 at 6.00 p.m at the Malyalee Club Auditorium, Club Road, Srinivasapuram, Chetpet, Chennai-31. (Given by the Royal family of Thiruvananthapuram in Memory of Maharaja Swati Tirunal, one of great composers of Carnatic Music) The award ceremony was followed by a performance of Swati Tirunal's composition in Bharatanaatyam by Bharatakalanjali seniors. Prof. S.P.Thyagarajan, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Madras presided and presented the Puraskaar to the Dhananjayans.

April 14, 2004 Trichy, Tamilnadu The Dhananjayans inaugurated KALA UTSAV at Trichy Amrita Cultural Society - Alpha Matriculation Higher secondary school.

March 21, 2004 Chennai Lecture demonstration by the Dhananjayans at the Naarada Gaana Sabha, Mini Hall on 21st March, Sunday at 6.00 p.m.

March 20, 2004 Chennai Sumathi Sriram & Divya Siva danced for Naatya Ranga at the Naarada Gaana Sabha, Mini Hall on 20th March, Saturday at 6.30 p.m.

March 8, 2004 Chennai Shanta Dhananjayan was honoured by PKR Arts college for women, Gopbichettipalayam on the occasion of International women’s day (8.3.04). Lecture demonstration by Shanta & Shobana.

March 3, 2004 Chennai Lecture demonstration by Dhananjayan & Shanta from Radhaa-Maadhavam for the International women’s association, Chennai ( IWA) at the Madras Club.

February 29, 2004 Chennai Rukminidevi’s 100th birth day celebration at Kalakshetra - organized by old Kalakshetra alumnae. Dhananjayan performed Kathakali (Daivakaarunyam). Shanta, Kala Ramesh Rao & Ambika Buch presented a Kshetragna Padam.

February 28, 2004 Chennai Bharatanaatyam performance by Lokesh at the Besent Nagar Pillayar Koil.

February 25, 2004 New Delhi Arts India presented: Remembering Rukminidevi. Dhananjayan, C.V. Chandrasekhar and Leela Samson danced together for the occassion at the Kamani Auditorium, New Delhi.

February 18, 2004 Chennai The Dhananjayans and Bharatakalanjali presented Gopalakrishna Bharati’s NANDANAR CHARITAM on 18th February 2004 at 6.30 pm in Bhavan’s auditorium, East Mada street, Mylapore, Chennai.4. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan presented this dance drama on the occasion of the Shiva Raatri celebrations. For more details contact Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Phone: 24943450 / 249940811 / 24611311.

February 9, 2004 Chennai Bharatakalanjali and the Dhananjayans presented a Bharatanaatyam performance by Shyama Ganesan of Jaffna (Sri Lanka) on 9th February 2004( Monday) at 7.00 pm at Besant Nagar Pillayar Koil. It happened to be a special day in Varasiddhi Vinayakar Koil with special Utsava Pooja.

January 12, 2004 Chennai Jyotsna and Archana performed at the Besant Nagar Pillayar Koil from 6 to 7.30 p.m.

January 8, 2004 Chennai Suryanarayanamurthy performed at Sri Krishna Gana Sabha at 6.00pm.

January 7, 2004 Chennai Seetha Sasidharan (senior from Kalakshetra and The Dhananjayans) performed at Sri Krishna Gana Sabha.

January 7, 2004 Chennai Preethi Athreya Praveen performed at Bharat Kalachar at 6.00pm.

January 7, 2004 Chennai Suryanarayanamurthy performed at Bharat Kalachar at 7.30pm.

January 2 - 7, 2004 New Delhi The Dhananjayans were in New Delhi from 2nd to 7th January 04, for Katha (childrens story Book publications) attending the International writers conference, organised by Katha. They performed and gave a lec-dem for the delegates and for under privileged school children - slum school run by Katha. For more details contact Geetha Dharmarajan Delhi: 011+26563256 email: geetha@katha.org.

January 6, 2004 Chennai Bharatakalanjali presented Katha-keli at IIC, Delhi from 6 to 8.00 p.m.

January 2, 2004 Chennai Preeti Sanjay gave a Bharatanatyam recital at Bharat Kalachar at 7.15.p.m.

January 2, 2004 Chennai Sunita Jagadeesan performed for the Indian Fine Arts Society at 10.30am. Venue: German Hall, Balamandir, GN Chetty Road, T.Nagar.