Nritta, nitya and naatya
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Recitals at the Visakha Utsav ended on a tepid note.
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CULTURE CLIP A song in progress. Photo: K.R. Deepak
The cultural shows marking the Visakha Utsav on the main stage on the Ramakrishna Beach got off to a grand start with the evocative rendering of Visakhotsava Vijayageethika by Padmapriya, Sirisha, Swathi, Dwram Thyagaraju and Chaitanya brothers. It was specially scripted for the occasion by octogenarian, kavisekhara Kondepudi Subba Rao and was set to exquisite music by All India Radio music composer, K.S. Chandrasekhar. This was followed by a dance which was a fine combine of various styles, western and Kuchipudi in particular.
Titled Visakha Vaibhavam, scripted by B.V.S.S. Lakshmi and thoughtfully choreographed and conducted by the Kuchipudi virtuoso A.B. Bala Kondala Rao, it was intended to trace the history of the growth of Visakhapatnam from the level of a small township to that of a Municipal Coporation and now Greater Visakhaptnam. Irrespective of the veracity of the narration of some of the events, replete with dazzling costume and captivating mix of nritta, nritya and naatya on one hand and excellent vocal support by Dwaram V.K.G. Thyagaraju who also set a major party of the music, it literally cast a spell on the thousands of people who thronged at the venue.
From then onwards, the problem started with the taking over of the mike by one VUDA functionary, Prabhakara Reddy who was kept in charge of the scheduling of the entire programme of five days of cultural shows at all the five venues from Perala Bala Murali Krishna, who was excellently compering and expertly handling the proceedings.
The show of traditional dances like Maharashtra Lavani, Bharatanatyam, Odissi and so on ended up in a big fiasco when Reddy not only started asking the artistes to finish each item in less than five minutes against the allotted 15-20 minutes each but also went to the extent of humiliating the contingent leaders (mostly women) who felt insulted and left the venue. The situation on the second day at the venue and on the two days at Gurazada Kalakshetram was none too different with many a senior artiste, especially women leaving the venues with tears of humiliation in their eyes.
A.R.S.
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