Anandam-Senior School 2019-20
The saga of melodious events, appreciated by all parents and grandparents
As rightly quoted by Ms Michelle Obama
“The arts are not just a nice thing to have or to do if there is free time or if one can afford it. Rather, paintings and poetry, music and fashion, design and dialogue, they all define who we are as a people and provide an account of our history for the next generation.”
These words embody the spirit of the AHA arts program at Shiv Nadar School. The Annual Anandam - of the senior students learning which was held, was inaugurated by one of our grandparents along with the principal and the Head of School. The event started with the invocation of the auspicious lamp by the Chief Guest and the recitation of shlokas by AHA art mentors.
The various presentations from all the AHA baskets mesmerized the audience.
MUSIC:
The Guitar basket played the Classic Rock piece ' Highway Star' by the band Deep Purple. The violin students played a beautiful and soulful rendition of a bandish in Raag - Charukesi which was an original composition of their mentor. The students of Hindustani Vocals presented a melodious piece ‘Jugalbandi of Shudh Basant and Purya Dhanashree in Teen Taal and Ek taal’. The keyboard team presented a jazz piece - Blue Bossa. The western vocals basket performed a thrilling Tribute to Michael Jackson.
DANCE:
The Manipuri classical dance basket celebrated the Vaishnava tradition of Raas Lila, the cosmic union of Krishna and the Gopis. It revealed the sublime love of Radha and Krishna and the Gopi’s devotion to Krishna. 'Raas' is the quintessential composition of Manipuri dance and the students of grade 10 presented a sequence from ‘Vasant Raas’.
The Bharatanatyam basket presented a contemporary musical composition inspired by Carnatic Sholakattu or rhythmic syllables. This is a pure dance presentation, devoid of abhinaya or narrative, in which, intricate sequences are fused with repetitive musical notes. The dance involved the execution of adavus (basic steps) and mudras (hand gestures), showcasing the beauty and aesthetics of Bharatanatyam. This Nritta or pure dance consisted of intricate and detailed footwork, with complex rhythmic patterns combined with stylized body movements.
Kathak basket has been exploring the pure dance aspects of this classical dance style. The student presented Nritta or pure dance in varied tempos. They performed Thaat, Tihaai, Ladi, Uthaan, Paran, Aamad etc. in Teentaal, a cycle of 16 beats.
Russian Classical Ballet basket introduced this year presented a contemporary ballet piece - employing classical ballet technique but also allowing a greater range of movement of the upper body
THEATRE
Sita's Ramayan: Our mythological stories have existed for ages and have existed as one concrete story which is rarely thought of from another perspective. In an attempt to present the ‘other’ perspective of one such story, the play Sita’s Ramayana reads and understands Ramayana from Sita’s perspective. In this play, the woman who is the central character to the whole story of Ramayana, gives her voice to the incidents that happened with her and around her.
Shakespeare on trial: A play about Shakespeare being brought back to life after more than 400 years and his plays are accused of being outdated, undecipherable and hence, boring. The play was an introduction to Shakespeare, his life and works. A courtroom comedy, the play gave glimpses of different genres and plays Shakespeare has written.
VISUAL ART
Visual art is one of the finest art forms where artists can express their feelings on any surface through any medium.
Students explored border design and developed designing skills such as pattern making, where the repletion of a motif (geometrical, floral) created a kind of motion and eye movement in the design. Abstraction, one of the art forms exhibits the balanced or imbalanced combination of form or shape, line and colour.
Students started exploring the art style and artworks of the renowned Nigerian-American artist Kehinde Wiley. They became aware of the history of black art movement and the reasons behind the emergence of such a movement in the field art. They learned the art of creating a three-dimensional illusion by making colourful patterns in the background.
The students also created a “Wall of Fame” where the album covers were displayed, and graffiti done by the students was used to embellish it.
During the change over breaks, students exhibited their individual talents
A fun-filled adaptation of ‘Table Game’ by Sarah Kay was performed by Khushi Soni and Samarth Aggarwal of Grade IX and they had the audience smiling all through.
Ishaan Goswami and Simar of grade IX presented a humorous piece ‘Kya Hamare Purvaj Bandar the’ by Asha Karan Attal.
Anjaneya of grade XII recited a self-composed patriotic poem MAELI WARDI which elaborated
on the emotions and grief of a martyr’s mother.
Tarisha Kaushik, a young published author of Grade XI read out her favourite pieces from her
book ‘Ouroboros’.
Akshansh Bagga, Aryan Mishra, and Harman Dewan of Grade IX ‘The Constitution of life’ which
was composed of our own talented and budding poet Akshansh Bagga.
Abhyuday Sultania and Madhuakshi Mehta presented an oral interpretation of “Kate Hath”,
discussing the consequences of unemployment.
The grand show culminated with the much-awaited mesmerizing qawwali written by Ameer
Khusro in praise of his beloved teacher Nizamuddin Auliya - Chaap Tilak.
