Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada   

Youth fest a treat for art aficionados

PHOTO: CH. VIJAYA BHASKAR

Dancing feet: Youngsters showing their prowess in music, dance and other cultural forms at the youth festival in Vijayawada on Sunday. —

VIJAYAWADA: It was poetry in motion. Bestowing grace and use of expressive hand gestures as a way of communication, the participants uplifted the beholder to a higher level of spiritual consciousness.

An embodiment of beauty, charm and gracefulness, Pranavi from Khammam amply demonstrated that the traditional Bharatanatyam dance is deeply grounded in bhakti.

The platform was the two-day State Youth Festival of the Department of Youth Services, which began at Ghantasala Venkateswara Rao Government College of Music & Dance on Sunday. Joint Collector S. Suresh Kumar inaugurated the festival.

One of the 18 participants who vied with one another to exhibit their agility, steadiness, elegance, balance in pirouettes and the direction of their glance not to speak of their presence of mind and devotion, Pranavi laid bare her style with panache.

Draped in splendid costumes, the participants made the best of their large eyes to communicate in sync with their abhinaya mudras. Feasting their eyes on their pleasing disposition, the audience, which mostly comprised aficionados of classical dance forms, drowned themselves in the rare shower of ecstasy.

Manasa Bhanu of Nalgonda district was fortunate not to have a contestant against her. She was the sole performer of Odissi dance form. So was the case with Manipuri dance.

In Kathak, five performers vied for top honours while for an event like mimicry, the rush for accolades was more with as many as 10 persons eager to prove their mettle in the skill.

The auditorium reverberated with the rhythmic sound of ankle bells fastened around the ankles of classical dancers.

Besides Bharatanatyam, competitions are being held in other classical dance forms like Kuchipudi, Kathak, Manipuri and Odissi. Mimicry, magic show, eela pata (whistle song) and dappu dance are other events lined up for the festival.

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