Bereft Beauties 2 - Aravanis/Thirunangais

More...These pictures can be used freely only if portrayed in a positive manner. Pls do not misuse them.

Bereft Beauties 1 - Aravanis/Thirunangais

During the Aadi Festival in August, our team went to Salem(Tamil Nadu) to shoot some footage of various Tamil folk artists and performers who were part of the festivities. It is an ongoing documentary film project which we hope to produce through a possible collaboration. While we did get a lot of amazing street performances, most of it was commercial(I use this word because instead of performing for actual folk music and songs, many were performing for popular movie songs, even 'item' numbers).
Amidst it all, we met some Aravanis/Thirunangais (Transgendered women) who were really in their elements, singing, dancing and having a whale of a time, at the same time, enthralling their mostly male audiences. It was surprising to learn that the Aravani/Thirunangai community in Salem is actually respected and not shunned, abused, raped and ridiculed as is usually the case in almost every other part of India. Even their Chennai sisters do not get the treatment they get. We befriended the beautiful Nakshatra(extreme left among the group of 3) and her gang and there was a whole slew of fanboy-males who were swarming around them.

Ukranian Folk dance - Hopak!

One more folk dance from Ukraine..check the movements..and how well they are synchronized...and the music is so lively...for more check the internet world..

Hopak (Ukrainian: Гопак), also referred to as Gopak, is a Ukrainian dance. It is most often performed as a solitary concert dance by amateur and professional Ukrainian dance ensembles, as well as other performers of folk dances. It has also been incorporated into larger artistic opuses such as operas and ballets.

The Hopak is often popularly referred to as the "National Dance of Ukraine".

for more click here

thanks to Technology and the Internet and Wikipedia...for their services to humankind!!

Bharathanatyam Indian Classical dance!

How many of us actually know about folk dances that exist in different countries?? well, to start with i thought i'd introduce myself and you all to some of the Indian and the other folk dances in the world. Let's start with Bharatnatyam, which originates from TamilNadu..thanks to the internet..i don't have to keep researching a lot..i can give you and idea and you could check it out for yourself if you are interested in any one of these art forms!!
Courtesy: Wikipedia.org
Picture Courtesy:http://www.uc.edu/groups/sabha/DANCE_LINKS/bharatanatyam.htm

Bharatanatyam is a classical dance form originating from Tamil Nadu, a state in Southern India. This popular South Indian dance form called Bharatanatyam is a 20th century reconstruction of Cathir, the art of temple dancers. Cathir in turn, is derived from ancient dance forms. The word Bharata, some believe, signifies the author of the famous Sanskrit treatise on stagecraft, called NatyaShastra, and the word Bharatanatyam is sometimes given a folk etymology as follows:Bha for Bhava or abhinaya and expression, Ra for raga or melody, and Ta for tala or rhythm.
for more click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharatnatyam