[Nakrabm]

Dear Mrs Mamata Niyogi-Nakra,

As I was surfing the internet on dance subjects I was dellighted to come across your site with information about your book Sikshu Sadhana.

I am teaching Bhrata Natyam in Holland. I am a student of Mrs Chandrika Sundararaman.
I teach to several groups and one childrens group and have found it very challenging to teach young children. I am very interested in anything that can help me to make the classes as interesting and enjoyable for young children as I can.
I am therefore very interested in your book and would love to receive a copy if possible.

I read on your website that you have given performances in Holland too. I would love to come and see any performance you give in Holland. Would you please inform me whenever you come to Holland again?

Thank you.
Sincerely,
Gita Mehta.

[Nakrabm]

Hello Madam,

My name is Deepti Mukund & I run a dance school Natyabhoomi here in the USA. I am a student of Lalitha Srinivasan living & teaching in the USA. I would very much like to have a copy of your Shishu Sadhana Book & DVD.

Please let me know how I can send you the payment for postage or otherwise. I have many young students & a 7 year old daughter & have had to search for themes for them. This is a wonderful work that I would love to see & learn from.

Thank You,
Deepti Mukund

[Nakrabm]

Thanks Mamta, I have been meaning to write to you, but
been traveling and also involved in art response to
tsunami with folk artists and BN. I loved your book
Shishu Sadhana and the cd.
much love and all my best wishes to you and your
husband.
Devika

[SeemaS]

The launch of Shishu Sadhana this past January, 2005, in Montreal, marked a beginning for many of us, the beginning of the teaching of Shishu Sadhana. As a student, dancer and a teacher at Kala Bharati, I first must say that I am very proud, honored and privileged to be a part of Mamata Aunty’s legacy.

Starting off as a very young student at the age of 6 with my sister, Jaya, who was 4 at the time, as each year progressed we remember learning all the traditional Bharata Natya items, many on stories of Shiva and Krishna. Now thinking back, what fun it would have been to have had the opportunity to dance these new items of Mamata Aunty’s repertoire, such as the Varna, with the big Giant, or the letter to Shiva in Meri Chitti.

It is only when Mamata Aunty asked us to share and participate in the making of the DVD for Shishu Sadhana, that I came to the realization of how unique and different this was for the art of Bharata Natya. When the seven of us teachers had the opportunity to view the Shishu Sadhana repertoire in its entirety, it was like the child inside us came alive again. It was so much fun to watch item after item, story after story. When having completed viewing all the items, three things struck me the most.
First how the repertoire’s items spanned the different Indian languages. We have had many children in our dance school of the different parts of India. Even I, being of Hindi background, never had the ability to understand the lyrics of our items growing up, as they were in South Indian languages. Now, children of the different languages will be able to understand the lyrics to at least one of the items, which makes it that much more meaningful.
The second thing that came to mind, was how Srikanth, was able to enact the items as a child to be able to bring out the child-friendly execution of the movements in each item.
The third thing was how Mamata Aunty with her very creative mind, captured so many detailed aspects of not only a child’s thought process but how a child really behaves in his/her child-like environment. For example, the child holding his big toe while sitting on the floor, the giggling of the child, or even the skipping at the end of the items. Being a student of Mamata Aunty’s for over 20 years and having had the ability to be a part of the numerous performances of La Troupe Kala Bharati, where Aunty always came up with items containing different aspects of choreography, complex sequences and a great variety of patterns, I knew that Mamata Aunty always had a very brilliant mind. But the creation of Shishu Sadhana shows at what lengths her creativity continues to reach and now it is even benefiting young children.

In January, at the time of the launch of Shishu Sadhana, I was thinking how much fun it would have been to have had the opportunity to dance these items as a child. My favorite item of the repertoire is the Varna, a story of a child having to try different ways to wake up a big Giant. I love the storyline of this item and can relate to the Giant aspect, as one of the favorite childhood stories of my sister Jaya and I, is the one of Jack and the Beanstalk, which also involved a giant, but in a different way. The manner in which Aunty has brought in the aspect of the tickling of the Giant with the peacock feather and the requesting of the bee to use her stinger to wake him up, are simply fun. I laughed so much while watching this Varna, that I can not wait to see one of our students actually dance this item.

As a teacher of Kinkini, Adi and Mukula (children of the ages of about 4 to 16), over the years, I remember having to teach other items to these young groups, as we never had specific child-friendly items. Having had the opportunity to teach Aradhana from Shishu Sadhana, to our Adi students, this session at Kala Bharati, I must say that it is not only a delight to teach the item from the repertoire, but an experience to see the joy and understanding the children have when they are dancing Aradhana.

Mamata Aunty has opened the doors to the creation of child-friendly items in Bharata Natya. As a proud teacher and student of Kala Bharati, I thank Mamata Aunty for so graciously having shared this experience and unique legacy with us. We cannot forget to thank Bans Uncle, who is always in the wings. This Child-Friendly repertoire is not only a gift to the teachers and students of Kala Bharati, but a gift to children and teachers all over the world. I hope we are able to bring her pride in propagating the art of Bharata Natya and now her legacy in the years to come.


Seema Srivastava
Kala Bharati Dance School

[Nakrabm]

Namaste Aunty,

In delhi I did get time to go through the book on Shishu Sadhana and whenever I turned a page I felt very bad for myself and other dancers of my generation for not having such a thing during our childhood because the book is so well crafted so well planned that it not just talks of dance but many aspects related to it. It encourages to think, which I feel is very important for the children and also their parents - to be able to view dance in totality and not something hanging in the air in isolation.
It will be a pleasure if I can be of any help in this project.

With love,
Kunju

[Nakrabm]

Dear Smt.Mamata,
Thank you for sending me a copy of Shishu Sadhana and the DVD. I congratulate you on this interesting venture. Although I have not gone through the book fully, I feel that this will be a lively addition to the innovative areas in the dance scene.
Greetings.
Regards,
Nandini Ramani

[Nakrabm]

Chère Mamata,

Nous avons déjà échangé il ya quelques temps, je suis la dernière disciple de Guru Kittappa Pillai d Thanjavur.

Je vous remercie de votre invitation mais cette information me parvient trop tard car pour venir assister à ce colloque qui me passionne il aurait fallu que je sois prévenue plus tôt pour m'organiser.

Mes plus jeunes élèves ont trois ans et je transmets cette haute tradition du Bharata Natyam auprès des plus petits et chorégraphie pour eux des danses traditionnelles en groupe aussi

Vous pouvez visiter mon site: www.natyamaya.net cela m'interesserait de recevoir votre DVD.

Je danse le dimanche 29 mai pour récolter des fonds pour les pêcheurs du Tamil Nadu et serait à Thanjavur du 19 juillet au 12 AOut après de mon enseignant actuel Guru Herambanathan qui m'a recueuillie après le décès de Guru Kittappa Pillai.

En communion avec vous par la danse le 29,

Maya

[Nakrabm]

Dear Ms. Mamta Niyogi Nakra
Congratulations for your excellent effort for publishing the book & DVD titled “Shishu Sadhana”.

I am also grateful to you for sending me these wonderful creations.I will write to you in detail once I go through the entire book & DVD in detail. But this mail is specially to send you a request.

Yesterday I was discussing with one of the Editorial Board Members of “Sananda” about your books and DVD.(Sananda is a very popular Bengali magazine).They want a set of books & DVD for reviewing this unique venture in their magazine.
Please send a copy to the magazine.
I will be hoping to meet you personally when you visit Kolkata next time.
Best wishes & regards,
Madhuboni Chatterjee

[geeta]

Namaste,

First of all, I would like to thank Mamata Aunty for sharing her precious gift of Shishu Sadhana with all the Kala Bharati family and with the entire world through her innovative and creative piece of literature. The talents with which Shishu Sadhana has been created are tremendous and depict the artistic strengths of the author. It truly is the finest gift Aunty could have ever shared with her many “shishyas”.

Being a part of the launch of Shishu Sadhana was an incredible experience. We were able to share our thoughts and impressions with many of the well-wishers of Kala Bharati and truly be inspired from Aunty’s hard work. I was able to derive much inspiration from the pleasant atmosphere with all the students, parents, teachers, and Mamata Aunty and Bans uncle. The bringing together of Srikanth bhaiya’s childlike movements and expressions, the beautiful musical compositions of O.S. Arun and the child-friendly choreographic patterns of Mamata Aunty have indeed made this repertoire original, lively, and suitable for all children. At the root of this magnificent creation is Aunty’s vision and ability to capture the smallest details of how children play, interact, and dance. I am looking forward to teaching the many items of this repertoire and passing on the art to students in the future.

Mamata Aunty and Bans Uncle, thank you for teaching us about our culture, our traditions, and our values. I admire and respect both of you very much and look forward to preserving the tradition and sharing the legacy of Shishu Sadhana.

Love, Geeta

[Nakrabm]

Dear Mamata,
I am presently reading your book and watching your wonderful DVD.What a gift to me and to all the children of the world! I have also read your husband’s speech on multiple intelligence. Very interesting and thought provoking. I feel so privileged to know you both.
Much love ,
Marie