CuesheetP

ER

FO

RM

AN

CE

GU

IDE

Performances for Young Audiencesis made possible by

A One-of-a-Kind CelloSaskia Rao-de Haas started learning the cellowhen she was eight years old. Years later, shediscovered Indian music. Just one problem: Herchosen instrument simply didn’t match the needsand demands of playing Indian music. So, shecreated a brand new instrument. Her Indian cellois smaller in size than the Western cello (which

some think of as anovergrown violin thatis played in a seatedposition). Her cellohas five stringsinstead of thestandard four, and

10 additional strings that give the sound a wholenew dimension and allow her to play classicalIndian music. During the demonstration, she willtell you more about this instrument.

During the PerformanceWatch for…� the traditional costumes of handwoven silk(called saris), jewelry, dramatic eye makeup,and red coloring on hands and feet, whichbetter highlights their movements and gestures

� the half-seated position (with legs bent andknees and feet pointed outward) from whichmany movements start in bharatanatyam

� how the dancers become different characters

Listen for…� the variety of rhythms created by the musicand the stamping of feet

� the different styles of sounds that can becreated from the sitar’s many strings beingstrummed together

� how the cello sounds close in tone to thehuman voice

For more about dance and music of India,visit artsedge.kennedy-center.org/students

David M. RubensteinChairman

Michael M. KaiserPresident

Darrell M. AyersVice President, Education

maximum INDIA is presented incooperation with Indian Council

for Cultural Relations, New Delhi andEmbassy of India, Washington, DC.

Co-ChairsIndra K. Nooyi

David M. RubensteinStephen A. Schwarzman

Dr. Romesh and Kathleen Wadhwani

Presenting Underwriter

The HRH FoundationExecutive Council

Major support is provided byDavid and Alice Rubenstein.

Additional support is provided by theTrehan Foundation, Dr. Romesh andKathleenWadhwani, Amway Corporation,and RB Properties Inc.

International Programming at the KennedyCenter is made possible through the generosityof the Kennedy Center International Committeeon the Arts.

Additional support for Performances for YoungAudiences is provided by The U.S. Departmentof Education, The President’s AdvisoryCommittee on the Arts, and The ClarkCharitable Foundation.

Cuesheets are made possible by the U.S.Department of Education, AT&T, the Carter andMelissa Cafritz Charitable Trust, James V.Kimsey, The Morris and Gwendolyn CafritzFoundation, Newman’s Own Foundation, andDr. Deborah Rose and Dr. Jan A. Stolwijk, andthe Verizon Foundation.

The U.S. Department of Education supportsapproximately one-third of the budget for theKennedy Center Education Department. The contentsof this Cuesheet do not necessarily represent the policyof the U.S. Department of Education, and you shouldnot assume endorsement by the Federal Government.

Cuesheets are produced by ARTSEDGE, aprogram of the Kennedy Center EducationDepartment. ARTSEDGE is a part of VerizonThinkfinity, a consortium of free educationalWeb sites for K-12 teaching and learning.

© 2011 The John F. Kennedy Center for thePerforming Arts

©SA

SKIA

RAO-D

EHAAS

Dance and Music of IndiaPERFORMANCE / DEMONSTRAT ION W ITH

RagamalaDanceAND

S I TAR AND CE L LO DUO

ShubhendraRao AND

SaskiaRao-deHaas

Ragamala_Final:Layout 1 2/1/11 4:17 PM Page 4

Movement and Music of IndiaFrom the earliest days of Indian culture, there was music and dancing—and the love of both continues to this day. At this performance anddemonstration, you’ll see one of the oldest dance forms from India,bharatanatyam (pronounced BUR-uh-tuh-NAHT-i-yam) and hear twomusicians performing classical as well as modern Indian music.

Tradition’s FootstepsBharatanatyam goes way back. This popular classicaldance began some 2,000 years ago as a religious ritualand lives on in modern times as an expressive danceform performed on stage. The name itself combinesfour Sanskrit (an ancient Indian language) wordsmeaning expression, melody, rhythm, and dance.The dancers stamp out complex rhythms with theirbare feet and use very detailed movements, especiallyof the hands and face, to tell narratives inspired bymythology, epics (long poems about heroic deeds),and religious stories.

Music is important for supporting the rhythmic and melodicaspects of the performance, and dances are usuallyaccompanied by a small ensemble featuring a vocalist(singing lyrics from several Indian languages plusSanskrit), a melody provided by an instrument like aviolin, and rhythms created by drums and cymbals.

During the performance and demonstration, thedancers from Ragamala Dance will explain thestructure, parts, and techniques of bharatanatyamand show you how they work in performance.

Building Musical BridgesFor centuries, there was a clear divide between music from India (East) andmusic from Europe and North America (West). Classic Indian music—like whatyou’ll hear during the dancing—features thesecharacteristics that distinguish it from classicWestern music:

� a strong melody

� a steady note (drone) rather than harmony

� different groups of notes and many rhythmpatterns

� improvisation

� different instruments tuned differently

Like dance, though, music is evolving as musicians build on tradition tocreate new patterns and sounds. Pioneering musicians (and husband andwife duo) Shubhendra Rao and Saskia Rao-de Haas will demonstrate someof these new directions, starting with the unusual instrument pairing ofsitar (si-TAHR) and cello—made even more unusual by the fact that thecello is an Indian cello, the only one of its kind in the world.

Both musicians trained with virtuosos of their chosen instruments.Shubhendra Rao is a master of the sitar, a classic Indian stringedinstrument with a long neck and pear-shaped body. He’s beencalled a musical bridge to many cultures for his versatile playingand blending of different forms.

Saskia Rao-de Haas, born in the Netherlands, followed herlove of Indian music all the way to creating a newinstrument, the Indian cello.

They perform together all over the world, playingtraditional pieces as well as writing and performingnewmusic that fuses Indian and European traditions—hence the name of their endeavor, East MarriesWest.

Ragamala Dance’s artistic directors Ranee and Aparna Ramaswamy usethe ancient movement vocabulary of bharatanatyam to create new dances.Along with musicians and sisters Anjna and Rajna Swaminathan—one ofthe only female practitioners of the mridangam,(mree-DAHGN-guh), orSouth Indian drum—the group maintains bharatanatyam’s rich traditionwhile also carrying it forward into the 21st century.

Shubhendra Rao on sitar andSaskia Rao-de Haas on Indian cello

THIS

PAGE

AND

COVER

PHOTO

S:RAGAMALA

DANCE

,BY

EDBOCK

Ragamala_Final:Layout 1 2/1/11 4:17 PM Page 2

Movement and Music of IndiaFrom the earliest days of Indian culture, there was music and dancing—and the love of both continues to this day. At this performance anddemonstration, you’ll see one of the oldest dance forms from India,bharatanatyam (pronounced BUR-uh-tuh-NAHT-i-yam) and hear twomusicians performing classical as well as modern Indian music.

Tradition’s FootstepsBharatanatyam goes way back. This popular classicaldance began some 2,000 years ago as a religious ritualand lives on in modern times as an expressive danceform performed on stage. The name itself combinesfour Sanskrit (an ancient Indian language) wordsmeaning expression, melody, rhythm, and dance.The dancers stamp out complex rhythms with theirbare feet and use very detailed movements, especiallyof the hands and face, to tell narratives inspired bymythology, epics (long poems about heroic deeds),and religious stories.

Music is important for supporting the rhythmic and melodicaspects of the performance, and dances are usuallyaccompanied by a small ensemble featuring a vocalist(singing lyrics from several Indian languages plusSanskrit), a melody provided by an instrument like aviolin, and rhythms created by drums and cymbals.

During the performance and demonstration, thedancers from Ragamala Dance will explain thestructure, parts, and techniques of bharatanatyamand show you how they work in performance.

Building Musical BridgesFor centuries, there was a clear divide between music from India (East) andmusic from Europe and North America (West). Classic Indian music—like whatyou’ll hear during the dancing—features thesecharacteristics that distinguish it from classicWestern music:

� a strong melody

� a steady note (drone) rather than harmony

� different groups of notes and many rhythmpatterns

� improvisation

� different instruments tuned differently

Like dance, though, music is evolving as musicians build on tradition tocreate new patterns and sounds. Pioneering musicians (and husband andwife duo) Shubhendra Rao and Saskia Rao-de Haas will demonstrate someof these new directions, starting with the unusual instrument pairing ofsitar (si-TAHR) and cello—made even more unusual by the fact that thecello is an Indian cello, the only one of its kind in the world.

Both musicians trained with virtuosos of their chosen instruments.Shubhendra Rao is a master of the sitar, a classic Indian stringedinstrument with a long neck and pear-shaped body. He’s beencalled a musical bridge to many cultures for his versatile playingand blending of different forms.

Saskia Rao-de Haas, born in the Netherlands, followed herlove of Indian music all the way to creating a newinstrument, the Indian cello.

They perform together all over the world, playingtraditional pieces as well as writing and performingnewmusic that fuses Indian and European traditions—hence the name of their endeavor, East MarriesWest.

Ragamala Dance’s artistic directors Ranee and Aparna Ramaswamy usethe ancient movement vocabulary of bharatanatyam to create new dances.Along with musicians and sisters Anjna and Rajna Swaminathan—one ofthe only female practitioners of the mridangam,(mree-DAHGN-guh), orSouth Indian drum—the group maintains bharatanatyam’s rich traditionwhile also carrying it forward into the 21st century.

Shubhendra Rao on sitar andSaskia Rao-de Haas on Indian cello

THIS

PAGE

AND

COVER

PHOTO

S:RAGAMALA

DANCE

,BY

EDBOCK

Ragamala_Final:Layout 1 2/1/11 4:17 PM Page 2

CuesheetP

ER

FO

RM

AN

CE

GU

IDE

Performances for Young Audiencesis made possible by

A One-of-a-Kind CelloSaskia Rao-de Haas started learning the cellowhen she was eight years old. Years later, shediscovered Indian music. Just one problem: Herchosen instrument simply didn’t match the needsand demands of playing Indian music. So, shecreated a brand new instrument. Her Indian cellois smaller in size than the Western cello (which

some think of as anovergrown violin thatis played in a seatedposition). Her cellohas five stringsinstead of thestandard four, and

10 additional strings that give the sound a wholenew dimension and allow her to play classicalIndian music. During the demonstration, she willtell you more about this instrument.

During the PerformanceWatch for…� the traditional costumes of handwoven silk(called saris), jewelry, dramatic eye makeup,and red coloring on hands and feet, whichbetter highlights their movements and gestures

� the half-seated position (with legs bent andknees and feet pointed outward) from whichmany movements start in bharatanatyam

� how the dancers become different characters

Listen for…� the variety of rhythms created by the musicand the stamping of feet

� the different styles of sounds that can becreated from the sitar’s many strings beingstrummed together

� how the cello sounds close in tone to thehuman voice

For more about dance and music of India,visit artsedge.kennedy-center.org/students

David M. RubensteinChairman

Michael M. KaiserPresident

Darrell M. AyersVice President, Education

maximum INDIA is presented incooperation with Indian Council

for Cultural Relations, New Delhi andEmbassy of India, Washington, DC.

Co-ChairsIndra K. Nooyi

David M. RubensteinStephen A. Schwarzman

Dr. Romesh and Kathleen Wadhwani

Presenting Underwriter

The HRH FoundationExecutive Council

Major support is provided byDavid and Alice Rubenstein.

Additional support is provided by theTrehan Foundation, Dr. Romesh andKathleenWadhwani, Amway Corporation,and RB Properties Inc.

International Programming at the KennedyCenter is made possible through the generosityof the Kennedy Center International Committeeon the Arts.

Additional support for Performances for YoungAudiences is provided by The U.S. Departmentof Education, The President’s AdvisoryCommittee on the Arts, and The ClarkCharitable Foundation.

Cuesheets are made possible by the U.S.Department of Education, AT&T, the Carter andMelissa Cafritz Charitable Trust, James V.Kimsey, The Morris and Gwendolyn CafritzFoundation, Newman’s Own Foundation, andDr. Deborah Rose and Dr. Jan A. Stolwijk, andthe Verizon Foundation.

The U.S. Department of Education supportsapproximately one-third of the budget for theKennedy Center Education Department. The contentsof this Cuesheet do not necessarily represent the policyof the U.S. Department of Education, and you shouldnot assume endorsement by the Federal Government.

Cuesheets are produced by ARTSEDGE, aprogram of the Kennedy Center EducationDepartment. ARTSEDGE is a part of VerizonThinkfinity, a consortium of free educationalWeb sites for K-12 teaching and learning.

© 2011 The John F. Kennedy Center for thePerforming Arts

©SA

SKIA

RAO-D

EHAAS

Dance and Music of IndiaPERFORMANCE / DEMONSTRAT ION W ITH

RagamalaDanceAND

S I TAR AND CE L LO DUO

ShubhendraRao AND

SaskiaRao-deHaas

Ragamala_Final:Layout 1 2/1/11 4:17 PM Page 4