It’s the Poetry With Prakriti Festival time of the year again. The sixth edition will see poets Tishani Doshi, Manasi Subramaniam, Indran and Umadevi reading their poems. This will be followed by the performance LOL (lots of love) by the UK-based dance theatre Protein. This performance is presented in collaboration with the British Council. Protein takes everyday issues and subjects them to a deep, witty analysis through idiosyncratic and distinctive dance theatre. LOL combines video animation with performers who sing, dance and talk at the same time. A unique approach to the era of social networking and real-time relationships, LOL is about love and wanting in the Internet age.
With a distinctive blend of original choreography, text, humour and music to produce socially relevant and entertaining high quality dance theatre, Protein’s ingredients conjure a razor-sharp commentary on our Facebook society, and an affecting rendering of human need. Luca Silvestrini’s award winning Protein has struck dance gold with this timely, critically acclaimed production.
Donor passes, priced at Rs. 300, Rs. 200 and Rs. 100, and students passes at Rs.50, are available on www.indianstage.in and www.bookmyshow.com. The event will be held at 6.30 p.m. on December 4 at Sir Mutha Venkata Subba Rao Hall, Lady Andal School, Harrington Road, Chetpet.
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The finale of Sing The Season, a competition for carol singing presented by Aachis is here. It is a platform for choirs from schools, colleges, churches and corporates to present the best of their Christmas carolling to the masses. As many as 25 choirs (finalists) across the four categories will perform at the grand finale to be held at 5 p.m. on December 8 at the Centenary Auditorium, University of Madras. A total amount of Rs. 5,00,000 is waiting to be won. There would be three places — first, second and third — for each category, with a first prize of Rs. 50,000. There are also prizes for best music conductor, best new composition, best new entrant and best Tamil carol under each category. The finalists would sing carols in Tamil and English — ranging from popular numbers to new compositions — to the accompaniment of a variety of instruments.
The qualifying level for the event was spread across three days. This saw the participation of 140 choirs. The leaders of the choirs ranged from accomplished musicians to the fairly new on the scene. Of these, 25 choirs made it to the finals. The judges panel comprised music directors, composers, arrangers and singers — Augustine Paul, Arun Ebenezer, Grace Karunas, Megha and Renuka David.
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Raintree, the Chettinad restaurant, presents the flavours of Southern Coastal cuisine in its festival Coastal Secrets.
The soups include nandu saaru and elaneer rasam while the appetisers are kane bezule and karuvapillai yer. The non-vegetarian options for main course are nandu melagu perattal, Nellore chappala pulusu, chemeen moile, kadamba porichathu, attukari thengai vathakkal, and korri gassi. For vegetarians, there is urulai vathakkal, karuvepillai poondu kozhambu, kadamba sambar, bendakkai pulusu, mirapakaya mokkajuna igguru and Malabar avial. Also choose from steamed rice, pulusu chithrannam, curd rice with pappad / vadams / more milagai, idiappam, dosa or Malabar parotta. Desserts include rosappu gulkandu, paruppu paadaman, paal paniyaram, varutha arisi puttu, Mysore pak, cut fruits and ice Cream. The meal is priced at Rs. 1,250 (plus tax) for a person.
The festival is on till December 5 for lunch and dinner. Raintree is at Vivanta by Taj-Connemara. For details, and reservation, call 6600-0000.