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A dance-drama treat for Mysoreans from Sunday

Special Correspondent

Balamuralikrishna to inaugurate `Natyanjali 2005' on August 7

MYSORE: The doyen of Carnatic music M. Balamuralikrishna will inaugurate the Rukminidevi Memorial national-level dance-drama festival "Natyanjali 2005" on August 7 here.

This year's festival is also dedicated to Bharat Ratna M.S. Subbulakshmi and the citizens of Mysore will be treated to classical dance-drama — Choodamani and Mahapattabisheka — drawn from Valmiki Ramayana and choreographed by the late Rukminidevi and set to the music of Mysore Vasudevacharya.

Organised by Sri Lalithakala Academy Foundation, this will be the 29th edition of Natyanjali and is being organised in collaboration with the Department of Kannada and Culture, Bangalore, South Zone Cultural Centre, Thanjavur, and the International Society for Krishna Consciousness Mysore, said B.S.S. Rao, Organising Secretary of the Foundation.

Production of dance-drama with mythological episodes is not new to Bharatnatyam but very few artistes have ventured into this project that involves a lot of research, besides the huge budget required for such productions.

But the late Rukminidevi, founder of Kalakshetra, took pains to produce several such dance-drama features each of which is reckoned to be a landmark in the annals of dance-drama productions.

However, the series from Valmiki Ramayana, which will be staged in Mysore, is reckoned to be among the best apart from the Buddhavataram, Meenakshi Kalyana, all of which draw full houses whenever they are staged. Mr. Rao said that each episode of Valmiki Ramayana is divided into six parts of two-and-a-half hours duration and a unique feature of them is the exceptional music tuned by "Abhinava Thyagaraja" Sri Mysore Vasudevacharya.

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