Dance on Pitara Kids Network

The Nine Nights of Navaratri

Tue, 27 Aug 2002 01:29:21 +0000

This year, the end of September marks the onset of Navaratri or “nine nights” in the Hindu calendar. With this begins one of the most festive phases in India, with Durga Puja in east India, Dussehra in north, central and west India, and Saraswati Puja in South India. It also sets the stage for Diwali in the near future.

Navaratri literally means ’nine nights’. This nine-day period, sacred to Durga, is celebrated sometime in the months of October and November. It is considered the most auspicious time of the Hindu calendar.

The Rainbow

Mon, 03 Dec 2001 14:18:25 +0000

Out in the lush, green garden Binnu chased the multi-coloured butterflies which flitted from flower to flower.

Plants take root easily during the monsoon and with plenty of water to nourish them, new sprouts appear.

The Rainbow [Translated by:Mala Singh]

Suddenly there was a flash of lightening.

Soon, the sky was completely overcast and it begun to rain.
Binnu and his mother sheltered in the verandah and watched the rain.

Don't Stop the Music, I Want to Dance

Fri, 05 Oct 2001 16:52:04 +0000

Joseph Templin or Joe is an American teenager who loves to dance. He knows how to do a moonwalk, a swing, a twirl – all popular dance steps. The minute the music begins to flow, this lanky but handsome nineteen-year old, is all charged-up and itching to dance .

Nothing is extraordinary about this except for one little fact. Joseph is profoundly deaf. Which means that he cannot hear a note of the music he dances to so beautifully.

The Cool Firefly

Wed, 05 Sep 2001 14:21:52 +0000

Firefly is just a name. They are actually very cool insects. And they are not even flies, they are beetles. They have a way of sending out light signals every now and then. If you see them at night on a tree, you might think it is a brightly lit Christmas tree. That is the kind of light these fireflies produce.

But the light they send out does not have heat, like the bulbs we use. The firefly’s light is cold. Actually these beetles could be the most efficient bulbs if only we knew how to use them. For almost all the energy they produce gets changed into bright light – cool light.

Here Comes Pujo!

Thu, 12 Dec 2002 14:30:28 +0000

Durga Puja is the most important festival for the people of West Bengal, the Eastern Indian state that has been home to three Nobel Laureates – Rabindranath Tagore, Amartya Sen, and Mother Teresa – as well as Oscar awardee Satyajit Ray.

Durga Puja, or Pujo as it is usually referred to, ushers in a sense of well-being, with Diwali following close on its heels. The timing is just right: the sweltering heat, and the post-monsoon humidity gives way to Sharat or autumn.

Stage-O-Mania

Fri, 08 Nov 2002 18:57:56 +0000

Shakespeare once said, “The world is a stage and we are all actors”. Let us see how much you know about theatre.

From Russia with Love : Rudolf Nureyev

Sun, 30 Apr 2000 21:53:12 +0000

The most photographed male dancer in the world, Rudolf Nureyev electrified the world with his ballet for close to three decades in the second half of the 20th century.

In the world of ballet, dominated by the ballerina or the female artist, Nureyev brought male dancing to the limelight, and changed the nature of 20th century ballet. From peasantdom to stardom, he twirled his way to the very top in an eventful life.

Rudolf Hametovich Nureyev was born in a train near Irkutsk in Russia, when his mother was on her way to meet his father, in 1938. His father was a soldier in the Russian Army stationed at Vladivostok, in Siberia.

Excerpts from 'Everything has a History'

Thu, 26 Mar 1998 02:26:14 +0000

Haldane’s books are the best for communicating science to a layperson. He wrote almost 300 brilliant articles on popular science for ordinary workers, many of which were later collated into books such as ‘Everything has a History’, ‘Science in Everyday Life’ and ‘On Being the Right Size’. Here are two chapters from ‘Everything has a History’.

How Bees Communicate:

Eight years ago, I gave an account in ‘The Daily Worker’ of the early work of Von Frisch and others on the language of bees. In July 1947, I was at the London Zoo with Professor Hadorn of Zurich. We watched bees coming into the glass-fronted hive laden with pollen of different colours in the bags on their legs. He was able, by watching them, to tell me from what direction they had come, and roughly from what distance. So will you be, after reading this article.

Welcome Rains?

Tue, 29 Apr 2003 09:45:58 +0000

April 21: A few days ago, Delhi residents were pleasantly surprised when the sweltering April sky suddenly darkened with clouds and it began to rain heavily. A freak shower, they thought, since it hardly ever rains in Delhi in April.

But, surprise, surprise… the rains occurred the next day, too. And the day after. The unseasonal showers have transformed the weather marvellously. It hasn’t happened in Delhi alone.

Most of northern India, from Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh to Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi, western Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, have been hit by the rains. Some parts of south India have also been lashed by rains.

Slow Dance

Wed, 15 Aug 2001 05:49:47 +0000

This poem came to us as a forwarded email and we do not know the name of its author.

Have you ever watched kids
On a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain
Slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You better slow down.
Don’t dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won’t last.

Do you run through each day
On the fly?
When you ask “How are you?”
Do you hear the reply?

Dancing to Glory

Thu, 10 Oct 2002 11:56:59 +0000

It was a children’s dance-drama festival with a difference. At New Delhi’s LTG Auditorium recently, a group of ‘disabled’ children left the audience spellbound with their natural, joyful performances. Some of the children could not hear, others could not see or had difficulty walking. And still others were grappling with mental challenges. But that was no dampener to their spirits as they performed to an appreciative audience of eager parents, teachers and children.

Dancing to Glory

The Annual Inter School Dance-Drama Festival saw over 300 children from 20 schools all over Delhi, participate in the event. What was important was the manner in which all of them overcame their challenges to become performers with joyous abandon.

The 24-hour Film!

Fri, 22 Mar 2002 16:48:34 +0000

Guess how long it takes to make a feature film, say like Star Wars or The Sixth Sense? Nothing less than three to four months! And that’s rushing it through. And if it’s a musical or action film, it will take longer as you add in rehearsal time.

Hollywood makes something like 250 films a year and that’s counting foreign language films too. However, the largest film producing country in the world is India with over 700 feature films a year and in 16 Indian languages. Imagine each film studio juggling artists, cameras, sets, directors, stuntmen and others day after day! How confusing!

The Night of the Women

Mon, 20 Jan 2003 04:05:43 +0000

The Night of the Women [Illustration by Shinod AP]

March 19: A few days ago, the streets of Bogota, the capital of South American country Colombia, wore a very unusual look at night. Not one man was visible outside.

Bogota’s eccentric mayor, Antanas Mockus, had declared March 9, 2001, as the Night of the Women. All the city’s men were ordered to stay indoors and leave the city free for women that night, says a Guardian News Service report in The Hindustan Times.