Rudratandav

Rudra= anger; Tandav= the celestial dance.

rudra or roudram is actually an intense form of anger. People express anger in different ways, expressing anger in the form of dance is the rudratandav of lord shiva.

Dakshayini the daughter of Daksha married shiva against her father's will. To teach both of them a lesson, Daksha organizes the magnum opus Daksha yagnyam by inviting the whole world sans this couple. When Dakshayini, a form of parvathi/ sati realizes this, she goes to her father questioning as to why he had done this injustice to her. she goes dancing in immense anger of being humiliated by her own parents. When she reaches there, she is again humiliated for arriving at a place where she was not invited. She is shown the door. Unable to bear the insult, she jumps into the fire.

Shiva knew this conspiracy of his father-in-law. But he could not further convince her. When he saw Dakshayini jumping into the fire, he arrives dancing in fierce rage of anger, kills Daksha and dances by the corpse of his beloved.

This was the theme I selected to dance in my college. It worked out amazingly well. I could not cover the whole of the continued story, in that short time; i could not show what happens to dakshayini.
Mahavishnu, chops her body into pieces and throws them in different places in India(ver.1.0) (which is practically impossible for me to undergo this on stage)
ver.2.0: shiva dances in extreme rage that he carries her and dances, where parts of her body fall in different parts of India.
Ver.3.0: (which I could actually imply in my nritya nataka) dakshayini a.k.a sati is a formless version of the goddess herself. So she rises and re unites with shiva.

Although, i could also fit in the story of neelakant- another episode in the Lord's life in the given time before the rudratandav. I presented this as a tribute to the Lord dancing two episodes of his life. From then on, i am known as Parvathi in my college.

OM NAMAH SHIVAYA

Where is HE :P

this was one of the best compliments i got for my composition of the shivtandav.
after we made a big success of it in the yuvamahotsav, we were made to do it again.
so i changed the steps a little bit, so that it does not look like a full repeat.
i had to cut short it because of the time given was lesser. we were made to dance this time amidst and elite crowd. i added a few more steps between me and samyuktha, and refined it even more. the same story was said in a little different manner.
to attend the function, my mother was given an invitation. so i called shruti over to share that happy moment of my life in college. shalini could not make it because of her internals.

CHOCOLATE-COFFEE MOUSSE

ingredients:
3 oz cream.
2 oz unsweetened chocolate
1 oz powdered sugar
1 tsp coffee concoction

method:
Take one part out of the three parts in a pan, and heat it in low flame.
Whip the other two parts till it reaches soft peaks
Finely chop the chocolates and add in the powdered sugar and coffee.
Now add the hot cream on it and fold it.
Now add the whipped cream on it and fold it further.
Cool, serve/ eat

note: this is a french dessert. It is traditionally served in this type of cup.