With Oasis just round the corner, the coordinator of Ragamalika, Nishtha Bhutani, sat down to have a chat with the Oasis English Press (OEP) about the club’s preparation for the fest.

Ragamalika organises two major events annually, namely, Nrityanjali and Sangamam. Nrityanjali involves dancers giving the audience a taste of Kathak, Bharatnatyam, Kuchipudi, and Satriya, among other dance forms. Sangamam is an event for musicians and instrumentalists to shine, as the club members give the audience a symphony of various Indian classical instruments.

For this year’s Oasis, Ragamalika will be organising three events—Swaranjali, Tandav, and a classical professional show. While Swaranjali and Tandav are music and dance competitions respectively, the professional show will be graced by Carnatic vocalist Ramakrishnan and his group. Ramakrishnan is an A-grade artist for All India Radio and Doordarshan and a regular performer in the music circuit in Chennai. Preparations for the events began as early as June with the work involving contacting artists, managing logistics, and deciding the event structure. With only four people on the team, all of whom have never witnessed Oasis before, the alumni have been of great help. ‘They constantly stay in touch with us and guide us in every way possible,’ said Nishtha.

‘The participation has increased exponentially this year,’ said Nishtha. Even though the club wanted to host as many participants as possible, owing to a fixed number of spots available, the registrations had to be limited to a first-come-first-serve basis. Both Swaranjali and Tandav will have separate segments for solo and group performances with different judges so as to bring novelty to the events and serve to the best interests of the competitors.