#arangetram

[madscientist008]

Bharatanatyam💃

[corntort]

do you think a princess and the ultimate life form could be..... BEST FRIENDS?!?!??!!?!??

[cosmicrhetoric]

becoming disillusioned w/ higher education the second i left was so. okay a few years ago i sat in on a panel with 2nd gen south asian professionals (cause my friend was on it and we were hanging out after) geared towards brown high school kids looking to get into college. and everyone on the panel was pretty successful and had Done The Right Thing in hs and while there were a few liberal arts jobs up there it was mostly stem/business. but every single panelist refused to stick with the narrative they were supposed to stick with and every single one of them was like yeah i regret how I treated myself in high school and i regret assuming that if I can do well academically I'd be an ok person in the end. but during the q&a portion these 16 yr olds would raise their hand like "hi so how would I go about getting an internship in this very specific biomedical field that you were in" and the panelists had to be like "look. you aren't listening. if you keep doing this you are going to burn out so spectacularly that you will barely recover. the takeaway message is that none of this matters more than You" of course im sitting there like 😶 (cause that did in fact happen to me when i was 20 and im lucky i recovered) but the fact that every single person who was right there with me in high school has to spend their twenties like why did i do that. what was that all for. what did it get me. and there are no answers

[rahuratna]

Edit:

Finally completed this fic! Here is a very short glossary of some of the terms used, which I will provide a link to in the fic. The rest of the terms are explained in the story:

1. Adavu: a series of basic steps that form the foundation of bharatnatyam performances. These are drilled in dance class.

2. Katakamukha: one of the single hand gestures (part of the standard posture I was taught in early classes, with knees bent at an angle. We kept both our hands in this mudra as a basic starting posture). A reference picture is here.

3. Atman: a reference, in Hinduism, to the true and eternal self, the soul. Consciousness and awareness of yourself is seen as a symptom of possessing a soul. 

It's the day before my birthday, and I've just completed writing a fic that is very dear to me, on many levels. This past year has been a difficult one, and my writing has helped me cope with that on many levels.

As a former dancer and student of bharatanatyam, and someone who has experienced the lengthy process of trauma, healing and grief, my latest piece offers some insight into those things and the weight they carry in my life, along with my thoughts on the meaning of love.

It is called 'Arangetram' (a post-Shibuya Nanami x Reader) and I hope that you enjoy it.

[pmpmyread]

spreading positivity for yourself and for others: what are some fanfics you've written that you're proud of? who are your favorite writers in the fic community?

Hey Anon, thanks for your lovely ask! Sending some positive vibes right back at you 🩵

Your first question tasks me to choose a favorite among my children lol but I will give it a shot.

Distraction is a Drifter x Eris Destiny 2 fic I wrote last year. I'm proud of it because it was my first try at tiptoeing back towards the romance genre after over a decade since writing my previous fic (a FFVIII Squall x Rinoa thing I'd written on ffnet back when I was 19 lmao). It's pretty tame, I even stopped just short of tagging it as Romance, opting for Romantic Friendship instead, that's just how chicken I truly was LOL. My writing has definitely improved since, but ultimately, composing and sharing this fic helped alleviate some of my self-doubt at the time.

Nanami Kento & Casual Touches is one of my earlier JJK x Reader fics. I'm proud of this one not only for what I've created but the way by which it was produced. To this day, it was the easiest time I've had writing anything during what happened to be a difficult period for me. I'd somehow managed to turn my turmoil into one of the most hopeful and positive pieces I've ever written. Corny as it sounds, that story and that moment truly did so much for me. The only negative here is that I've been chasing that elusive high ever since LMAO.

I've answered a variation of your second question within a recent ask linked here, so do check that out as well, but I will certainly add some more inspiring writers below, along with my current favorite work of theirs.

@mysteria157 (JJK): Incredibly deep stories with some of the strongest and most admirable MCs you'll ever read. Rec: Love's Ransom

@rahuratna (JJK + BNHA): Intricate and immersive universes depicted in the most beautiful prose. Rec: Arangetram

@cmdrfupa (JJK): Expert-level character studies skillfully wrapped into elaborate narration. Rec: Furtive

@espace--positif (LaDS + JJK): A fluff merchant. Target-precise canon characterization depicted in wonderful, feel-good fics. Rec: Mornings with Him

@imonthemoonitsmadeofcheese (Destiny 2): Insightful and healing stories that truly dig deep into the vast Destiny 2 universe and the complexity of its characters. Rec: Perfection

This list is FAR from exhaustive as I've recently connected with so many talented writers within these different fandoms and I still have a ridiculously long TBR list. I will definitely create a recs list sometime soon. If there is one thing I am confident about, it's my fan work curation skills. lol 💅🏽

Thanks again for your ask, Anon, it was a great way to start my day 🩵

[akaikali]

TMAGP EP 26 REACTION (SPOILERS)

SORRY IM LATE MY SISTER IS DOING HER ARANGETRAM ON SATURDAY SO HECTIC HECTIC

Okay but like. I'm suspicious too why is it just "dog". And why is Celia like. Not concerned about that either.

KAHDAKHFNE WE'RE GONNA SEE HELEN??????

MAGNUSSING. WE ARE IN FACT MAGNUSSING.

Celia just. Has a knife. Okay. I am sure Alice is kinda turned on by this. She's trying to be normal about this.

...is Mr. Jarrod able to compell people into doing what he says??

Oh dear lord what the hell this really is a nightmare I hate running

AN ARCHIVIST???? WHAT???? WAS I WRITE????? I SAID THAT ERROR WAS JUST AN ARCHIVIST NOT OUR ARCHIVIST.

Alice you just have proof that what Gwen went through absolutely happened.

Dyhard is MOVINGGGGG

HOLY SHIT ALICE YES. OUR GIRL OUR DETECTIVE ALICE. SHES GETTING IT SHES MAGNUSSING

Huh. So was Celia looking the Archivist because she was hoping it would be like Jon and would be able to tell her how to return to her dimension

Oh my god right Celia nearly got eaten by Helen I remember that. No wonder she's a bit taken back by her.

Also MY LADY HELEN PLEASE DONT BE A TORY HERE I LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU

(Faffing with brochures) took me out lmao they're so British

They're doing better this time! Also I wonder if Helen would have been like this had she not been Distortioned.

You know nvm she reminds me of Distortion Helen

(ITS VERY REMINISCENT OF THE DISTORTION) ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME I HATE YOU THATD MY DOORWIFE YOURE MAKINGCME MISS MY MESSED UP DOORWIFE

Sam and Jack-oh no. How is Celia supposed to leave if she's this serious about Sam? Enough to have her kid meet him?

THE BABY IS A TORY AKDHSKFH

oh. OH OKAY THIS OKAY THEN WELL.

Return of Rusty Quill Kissing Noises

OKAY SO YEAH A LOT. A LOT JUST HAPPENED. AHHHHHH.

[bagelmist]

Drew my friend cuz queen just finished her Bharathanatyam Arangetram and I’m so proud of her!!!!

[ramayantika]

Umm is it okay to say no to my roommate for not accompanying her to the market??

I haven't practiced dance for my periods and my class timetable is 9-5 so I can only have one hour in the evening to do so, and now we have extra classes to cover for the upcoming semester exams which makes it even more hectic at times, and I must keep practicing devotedly to do my arangetram and score well for my odissi exam

She won't feel bad right??

[malconnorsupremacy]

masterlist

here's the masterlist where there's (mostly) all of my posts- headcanons, fics, textposts, etc.

here we go!

PJO

Malconnor headcanons

all pjo nonsense, including textposts (keep in mind i was immature and very 16 for most of these)

fics:

malconnor:

we're happy, free, confused and lonely in the best way (250 words, T)

Malcolm has a hard time getting his eyes off a certain son of Hermes.

percabeth:

golden like daylight (378 words, T)

Percy has a nightmare.

Six of Crows

Kanej x Massages

Kanej x hair worship

other soc nonsense (no textposts lol)

kanej fics:

our secret moments in a crowded room (1.5k words, M)

Kaz and Inej, at a party.

love is a ruthless game (unless you play it good and right) (multichapter, M)

Inej is kidnapped, and it doesn't help when the abductor is the man she walked away from a year ago.

dancing with our hands tied (AU, multichapter, M)

Inej is presented with a golden opportunity to make a name for herself as Kerch's first Suli to get a Bharatnatyam Arangetram, a ceremony she had always desired, when Dirtyhands gets her out of Heleen's institute.

But she does not see the consequences of being associated with the most dangerous man in the Barrel coming.

this love left a permenant mark (multichapter, 7k words, M) (complete!)

Inej, as she learns that marking and being marked does not mean losing one's identity.

lightning in a bottle (modern AU, college/uni)

A day in the life of Kaz and Inej when nothing and everything went their way

[b-sai-des]

A New Frontier: South Asian Fusion

In terms of any actual formal music knowledge, I come from the side of Carnatic music, the Indian classical music style, having been learning the mridangam for around ten years under my guru, Sri T.S Nandakumar. I am always eternally grateful for all that he has done for all of us students, and one of the many things I admire about sir is his willingness to explore unconventional avenues with the mridangam. The mridangam is a two-sided barrel drum usually played as an accompanying instrument in a Carnatic piece that may feature vocals or violin, and veena as well. Nandakumar sir is a renowned accompanying artist, but he’s also given his students many opportunities to perform like chamber concerts and arangetrams. One really unique thing he’s done is a large orchestra of mridangams and other Carnatic percussion instruments at the Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival, which he’s done for multiple years and encouraged even younger students to practice and perform there. It’s unusual for the mridangam to take such a center stage like that, where you have around 100 players playing together in an epic display alongside veena and violin. It was also cool to see Nandakumar sir bringing in western drums into those performances as well, along with drum pads there and in other performances. Having that exposure from a young age really opened my eyes to the potential of Carnatic music elements in contexts that you don’t normally see, and I got curious about what else is capable. Carnatic music for example utilizes many, many different talams (time signatures) apart from just 4:4 (Adi in Carnatic music), and it would be really interesting to see how that could be utilized more generally.

South Asian fusion is a huge, diverse space that’s hard to really pigeon-hole because of how many types of South Asian music there are (Carnatic is just one, there’s also Hindustani, Sufi music, folk music, Bhangra, etc.), along with different genres that they are mixed with like jazz, rock, pop, etc. You had mingling in the past, like Ravi Shankar and The Beatles. Later on it grew, definitely a more recent phenomenon and likely accelerated due to immigration and assimilation in the west. Younger generations are really at the forefront on it  – you see a ton of high school and college clubs doing Indian music or dance fusion. Rutgers has many, including RU Dhol for example. Some of these student clubs lean more on the side of Bollywood-oriented stuff, and there are times that can overshadow other ways to explore the genres – my sister sometimes talks about how the South Asian fusion club she’s part of really neglects classical dance forms like Bharatanatyam or Kathak. In that club it’s seen as the less hip thing, and people will say “it’s cool that you’re so confident to perform that” rather than actually having an interest in it and the people who want to share it. Then again, I'm talking about high-school pettiness here – it's not like this everywhere. RU Dhol combines South Asian instruments and styles of playing with western equivalents. This performance places electric guitars next to the Indian classical violin style in a really fun way.

One of my biggest experiences with South Asian fusion is with Brooklyn Raga Massive. My aunt is a Bharatanatyam teacher, and in 2018 or so she had collaborated with a theater director for a production of Jungle Book, where her students performed Bharatanatyam in a song. After the show, we had met some of the other musicians involved in the show, since my cousin learns Carnatic singing, my sister Bharatanatyam, and I mridangam, and we talked to a percussionist who was part of Brooklyn Raga Massive. He had told us about them – they do daily events at a Prospect Heights venue along with bigger events and performances, and he encouraged us to come on a Thursday where they hold an open mic jam session. We definitely got excited about this, and we went one evening.

The venue was a real hole in the wall type bar with a small stage and seating area in the back, and there was a decent and rather diverse crowd of people. Dim lights and creaky wooden floors, very aesthetic. It’s interesting because now they’ve grown immensely as an organization, and I don’t believe they still have events at this place. It was really cool to see the really different talents displayed there – one woman performed a really interesting singing performance which now I can’t pinpoint what style it was. You also had more traditional classical instruments like tabla and sitar. What’s really cool is that even though I was only in eight grade and my cousin was only in ninth grade, they gave both of us the opportunity to play with them, and they were super friendly and inviting, even despite any mistakes or hesitation I had. There were no judgments, just the spirit of experimenting and playing. I still look at that night with a lot of fondness. 

What I played that day, it was really incredible to get that opportunity and for it to be so low-key and welcoming. My cousin is also there on the stage (dressed in white), he’s an incredibly skilled Carnatic vocalist.

Recently I was inspired by all this and for my midterm assignment for the class I’m writing this for, I made a music track with mridangam and electronic effects in Ableton (free trial came clutch). I initially spent a lot of time worrying about doing it right and perfectly planning everything, but it only came together when I just let go of that and just messed around, re-arranging recordings of me playing and layering effects. Just doing it was fun, and I learned a lot from it.

shameless plug to my video

There’s a free-ness with something like this that’s a really different experience from traditional Carnatic music. At the same time, there’s a level of playfulness with Carnatic music too, as when you’re playing on stage you don’t practice with the other artist beforehand, and what happens there is often unexpected and exciting, and I’m reminded of that when I see jazz music too. To me says a lot about the inherent commonalities in what makes music so rewarding to make and experience.

[shoutyourporpoise]

Actually WAIT something else just clicked for me I was like. SOUNDLY scolded for gaining the freshman 25 in undergrad and I’m not gonna claim I was eating super healthy bc I was not but it was treated as though it was due to a singular lack of self control on my part when like. I had JUST finished my arangetram in senior year when the only requirement was for me not to tank my grades???

I had just spent a whole year doing intense physical exercise practically every day and eating like an athlete only to go to undergrad where I was definitely not doing classical dance? And the veg options were VERY largely carb and cheese based and I was still trying to be veg so it was either eat unhealthy or hit the bottom of my checking account every month (also scolded).

Like I was doing taekwondo and yoga and swimming but of COURSE I was gonna gain a certain amount of weight bc the size I was for the year prior was like. The size a person would be at peak physical activity, not the size they’d be living the fairly sedentary life of a student.

[mossmustdie]

going to my best friend's bharatanatyam arangetram today and im so so excited and happy for her and so honored that she invited me i love her i love my friends

[corntort]

ahhhhh.... <3 indra's arangetram <3

[cosmicrhetoric]

i wasn't expecting patel to bring up ahalya 😬😬😬 literally number one folk story that made me go hey are you fucking serious? when i was like 13

[rahuratna]

Just wanted to say your fic Arangetram made me feel so hopeful. I love seeing other people of color infuse the rich world of JJK with their culture and enriching the universe as a whole. Gorgeous prose!

@thehikmatcut Thank you so much! I do think that this is such an important part of POC being in fandom; not being afraid to make yourself seen and taking pride in your identity. Whether it's fanfic, fanart or some headcanons, the more we actively enmesh ourselves with the things we love, the more we come to enjoy and experience them fully.

I thoroughly enjoyed creating this piece because I took so much from my personal experience and culture, and found ways to weave it into JJK lore. The end product is a labour of love, and I'm so glad that I get to share it with all of you!

[karuppuezhutthu-blog]

13 வயதில் பரதநாட்டிய அரங்கேற்றம்: சீன சிறுமி சாதனை | Bharatanatyam arangetram at 13 year Chinese girl

பீஜிங்: சீனாவில் 13 வயதான லீ முசி என்ற சிறுமி பரதநாட்டிய கலையில் அரங்கேற்றம் புரிந்து சாதனை படைத்துள்ளார். தென்னிந்தியாவின் பாரம்பரிய நடனக் கலையான பரதநாட்டியத்தை சீனாவில் அந்த நாட்டின் குருவிடம் பயின்று, அங்கேயே அரங்கேற்றம் செய்த முதல் நபர் என அவர் அறியப்படுகிறார். அண்மையில் நடந்த இந்த அரங்கேற்ற நிகழ்வில் பிரபல பரதநாட்டிய நடன கலைஞர் லீலா சாம்சன் மற்றும் இந்திய பிரதிநிதிகள் சிலர் பங்கேற்றனர். இந்த…