Chennai Dance and Music Festival - Dec-Jan

The annual Chennai Dance and Music Festival takes place every Dec-Jan to coincide with an auspicious time in the Indian calender (margali masam). This is a good place to check out the Dasi Dance scene and to get a good overview of the different dance schools, styles and gurus. Many students or aspiring students come to these festivals to decide which teacher or which school in India they wish to learn from and be affiliated to. Many festival directors also shop for Indian artists whom they wish to showcase abroad. Hence for many emerging artists this is a great forum to be discovered. For the intelligent traveller to India this is a wonderful forum to immerse oneself in some of the most inspired dance and music that Chennai has to offer. It is also a very vibrant and colorful time as many rashika (patrons of the arts) come out to the festival decked in their very best saris and exquisite jewellery. This is a wonderful time to check out the elegant Indian fashion set that patronizes high art in Chennai. But be warned that for star dancers and muscians the tickets get sold out really early. So make sure that you have pre-booked your tickets way in advance. The Dec time is also the cooler period in Chennai and the evenings are breezy and pleasant. If you can coincide your trip to India with this festival - you will definitely come back deeply inspired !!!

Behind the Scenes:
Needless to say the slots for performances are jealously guarded and the process of which artist gets the choices sabas (dance venues/theatres) and the most popular evening slots are far from transparent. A combination of lobbying and years of networking and media support is what it takes to land an artist a slot in the Chennai Festival. Talent can also play a role. A good dancer or artist probably stands a slightly better chance of landing a slot when compared to a not-so-good dancer given all other things are equal (which it never is)