BENGALURU : The annual AttenDance awards evening is around the corner again. Like every year, the 10th edition of the function will be held on November 30, at ADA Rangamandira.The awards were started, as while there are many awards for performing dancers, certain other categories are not recognised, like dance choreography, award for a male solo dancer, dance writing, and overall contribution to dance, said dance historian and writer Ashish Khokar, who has also been bringing out AttenDance, a year
book on Indian dance, for 20 years.
“We follow certain guidelines in choosing the winners. The composition of the jury is a secret, and includes eminent persons who are not necessarily performers. This is to avoid any kind of lobbying. Nearly 75 per cent of the awardees later get state or national awards,” Khokar added, pointing out that the award is not just a shawl and a shield. A young winner is helped to get three shows in India, or foreign internships. Recipients of the Lifetime achievement award are documented with a monograph, a biography or a short film.
This year’s awardees include Seshadri Iyengar (Ram Gopal award for best male solo dancer), G Ulaganathan (Mohan Khokar award for writing on dance), brothers Bharat and Sharat Prabhat (Uday Shankar award for choreography), and TTB- Teatro Tascabile di Bergamo, Italy (for overall contribution to dance). TTB has a 40-year-old connection with Indian dance.
They have learnt Kathakali at Kalamandalam John, Cheruturthy; as well as Odissi from guru Aloka Panikar, and Hindustani music from Pt. Amarnath. They have also mastered Sanskrit.The Lifetime Achievement award will go to Kathak guru Jitendra Maharaj.The function will begin with a kathak performance by city-based dancers from Nadam.(The writer is a city-based dance critic)