For the love of dance
P. SURYA RAO
|
Last week saw different cultural events entertaining the Vijayawada crowd.
|
PHOTO: CH. VIJAYA BHASKAR
NO BARRIERS FOR CULTURE Justin McCarthy and his disciple on stage in Vijayawada..
The Sidhardha Kalapeetham of Vijayawada recently arranged a Bharatanatyam programme at Sidhardha auditorium by Justin and his students. What's special is the fact that Justin McCarthy is an American who fell in love with Bharatanatyam, who took preliminary lesson in that dance form in the USA and received advanced training from reputed Natyacharyas in Chennai. He came to India to learn and teach this tradition and settled in Delhi, where he is running a Bharathanaytam institute and gives training to several students dedicatedly.
Justin's changing facial expressions and his blithe body movements wove a magic spell while performing the Padam, a difficult item in the Bharathanatyam repertoire. Justin's troupe members Suneeta Menon, Kavya Mahadevan, Lokesh and Bharadwaj performed the group numbers `Pushpanjali', `Sabdam', `Varnam' and Thillana with fine rhythmic synchronisation and precise footwork. The secretary of the Sidhardha Kala Peetham, Nagella Guruprasada Rao, introduced the artistes to the audience.
The Kannadigas whole-heartedly patronise their traditional Yakshaganas, even in these days of pop culture. The Yakshaganas still draw large crowds in Karnataka. The Kannada Seva Sangha of Vijayawada arranged a griping Yakshagana titled Tripura Mardanam at the V.H.Grandhalayam Hall in Vijayawada. The Yakshagana was staged by Mahaganapathi Yakshagana Mandali of Dharmasthali. The strikingly colourful costumes donned by the characters and the purely traditional and distinct music made the Yakshagana highly impressive and the response of the crowd was overwhelming. The secretary of the Kannada Seva Sangha,M. Rajaram introduced the artistes.
Gripping play
Another attractive programme was the play titled Minister presented by Ritwik Nataka Mandali of Hyderabad, under the banner of Sumadhura Kala Niketan at Kshetrayya Kala Kshetram. The story of the drama conveys the message that if the people at the political helm are honest and are people of integrity and conscience, then how society would flourish. The script was excellently written by D. Vijayabhasker and brilliantly directed by P. Krishna Chaitanya. The subject was pertinent to the present times and the teamwork shown by all concerned was of top class.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
