The spirit of the city
LASYA VEMPARALA
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Deepika Reddy and her troupe brought alive the spirit of Secunderabad with their performance.
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PHOTO:K. GAJENDRAN
ODE TO SECUNDERABAD Deepika Reddy and her troupe.
Coinciding with the 200th birthday celebrations of Secunderabad, organised by the Department of Tourism and Culture, the carnival showcased a plethora of events. On the evening of June 5, the 200th year of celebrations began on a delayed yet histrionic start. One of the people to take centre stage was none other than Deepika Reddy, the proud disciple of the legendary Guru Vempati Chinna Satyam.
Deepika and her talented troupe commenced the recital with Ananda Nartana Ganapati in raagam Natai and taalam Adi. Deepikachose this joyous cosmic dance or Ananda Tandava of Ganesa as an invocation. The performance went into full force when she and her troupe began their salutation, and Nartana Ganapati (the more popular god in this part of the world) was seen in all his exuberant aspects.
The troupe delighted the audience with their well-rehearsed presentation. The positioning of the dancers could have been a little more precise, but given the constraints of the stage dimensions, the troupe executed the performance with neat arithmetic precision in terms of diagonal shifts. The Hastaabhinaya and synchronised rhythmic footwork of the dancing Ganesas drew good response from the audiences.
Deepika Reddy then chose to present an excerpt from a tarangam, quite unique to the Kuchipudi tradition. Deepika's movements with her sinuous eyes and feelings in the piece of dance on the rim of the brass plate executing an intricate and rhythmic sequence of steps was elegant.
The percussive support enhanced the show and bore the mark of Kishore Mosalikanti and D.S.V Sastry. Mridangam by Rajagopalachary and flute by Ravi Kiran was indeed a compliment to the captivating evening.
Deepika Reddy has a charismatic stage presence and it was her expressive eyes that did all the dancing that evening. The fluidity and the subtle swinging grace could have been better exploited to the hilt. With her natural ease and cool stage presence, Deepika could have easily doled out the performance in a more scintillating manner with intrusions of drama, surprise, freedom and less rigid postures that are so characteristic of Kuchipudi tradition.Deepika has stolen many hearts with some enthralling performances at historic festivals but this was more than a historic festival. The hostess announcement of her recital as `poetry in motion' was left unfulfilled. Among the audiences were seen groups of Anglo-Indians, Gujarathis and Chinese who chose to sit throughout the show and that suggests the spirit of Secunderabad. Way to go!
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