Ameya Jammi

When I was an undergrad student at W&M, I spent a weekend at UPenn for a Model Congress conference. As a student of political science and mathematics, I avidly followed the public policy debates of the day (this was 2010, so… it was health care). At…

I’ve been writing a lot lately, but not here. I’ve been taking copious notes and writing essays for my courses at the university, and starting work on my thesis. I’ve been notating the works of our latest project in the dance class. I’ve also been…

I received this lovely gift today from one amazing woman who has encouraged, mentored, and inspired me for the last five years. I certainly did not know when I first met her that she would become one of my biggest cheerleaders. I moved back home to…

I’ve been a lot quieter here than usual because I’ve spent the past few weeks getting things geared up for the sixth year of ICAPS. That’s what’s on my mind, so that’s what I shall write about. First - the origin story. It was January 2014. We were…

I had this drafted a couple of weeks ago, so it’s long overdue. Hopefully, it’s as helpful to you as it was for me. I was recently talking with my grandfather, Sri Tumuluri Satyagopal, when he was laying out three ways a student of the performing…

I didn’t plan to take a hiatus for the month of December, but as John Lennon sang, life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans. I realized a couple of days ago, with a bit of surprise, that this time last year, I was waiting…

I have always envied people who have a strong sense of self and identity, whether it is their culture, or their profession, their hometown, sports team, their passion… I feel like every marker of identity I’ve had has come with an asterisk, starting…

The last ICAPS event of the year is typically a lecture demonstration. We wrapped up the fifth season with Sri Vijay Ganesh’s interactive lec-demo about the differences in the way the music is rendered and accompanied for kutcheries and dance…

Just a quick thought this time… One thing we can learn from the way our classical arts are structured is that ritual and practice are the key. One can read about the theory of music or dance (or yoga or meditation or skiing or any other number of…

One misconception that I keep running into is that tala is “innate” or a talent of a select few. We always talk about how complex the Indian tala system (which is true), and how difficult some tala structures or rhythmic phrases are to attain (which…

Navaratri has become my favorite time of the year, as much as it always ends up being a whirlwind period of rehearsals, practices, and programs. This year was no different, and the nine days were coupled with my own midterm projects for university.…

I’m back after a brief hiatus… the last few weeks have been very fulfilling (i.e., super busy) but I miss writing for not-workorschool, so here we go. If you haven’t already read it, go check out the introduction to tala. It provides, well, an…

If you’ve come to an ICAPS program, you’ve heard a version of this spiel, but seriously, go watch performances. Well, finish reading my piece, and then go watch a performance - if you’re anywhere on the Eastern sea board, I’m pretty confident there’s…

Sorry for missing last week’s post - some sort of nasty bug was making its way through our house. Here’s one that’s been kicking around in my head for a few months. I’ll do my best to have a few up for the next several weeks. Cover photo is from Dr. …

I grew up avidly watching Mastergaru's dance drama cassettes on repeat. And when I say repeat, I mean my brother would start the cassette of the season as soon as he woke up, and rewind and replay as soon as it finished until he fell asleep, and this …

My second semester has begun at the University of Silicon Andhra, and I am back to thinking about the role of dancers in society, but this time, from the perspective of Sanskrit texts. Dr. Sumithra Velury was discussing the primary treatises for the …

Before I dive into this, I want to express my gratitude for being a part of a dance community, where I not only have so many artists that I look up to and am inspired by, but also so many who are willing to reach out to me, mentor me, and encourage …

From middle school on, I can mark my summers with what happened in dance. There was the summer in Pittsburgh. There were summers when classes went from daily from 9 am to 5 pm. There was the summer spent at dance class in Vizag, the one touring for …

As I prepare for my second semester as a Masters student studying Kuchipudi at the University of Silicon Andhra, I keep returning to a question one of my professors, Dr. Yashoda Thakore, asked in the first class: what is the purpose of dance in …

This is an updated version of an introduction to tala and rhythm I wrote several years ago for our dance class students. Note: This does not go into the sapta talas (or 35 talas) or differentiate between that tala system and the chapu tala system. …