Steps of excellence
SEASONED PERFORMER Prathiba Prahlad demonstrated an enviable hold over nritta and nritya
Versatile dancer Sathyanarayana Raju deserves all praise for his dance promotional activities. He has been holding a two-day Samskrithi dance festival every year featuring dancers from different parts of the country and sometimes outside the country too. This year's dance festival was held at ADA Rangamandira. In a fine gesture, NRI dancers like Latha Paada, Malathi Iyengar, Chitra Bolar, Sujatha, Asha and Revathi who have been actively rendering a yeoman service abroad, were felicitated.
An internationally reputed dancer Prathibha Prahlad in her scintillating Bharatanatya covered the entire stage in artistic geometrical patterns and demonstrated her enviable hold over nritta, nrithya and abhinaya. Usefully supported by Pulikeshi (nattuvanga), Ramaa (vocal), Jayaram (flute) and Prasannakumar (khanjari) Prathibha's artistry flowered in the rendering of an Anamacharya krithi "Vande Vasudevam" (Sri). A varna in Khamach raga addressed to Karthikeya was expounded in the sketching of a virahothkhantita nayaki. The way in which Prathibha showed the transformation from a mugdhaa into a proudha nayaki was simply elegant. She was fully engrossed in the enactment of a Jayadeva Ashtapadi "Kuru Yadunandana".
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Young danseuse Priya Ganesh mastered Bharatanatya and Kathak dances. Now being trained by guru B.K. Vasanthalakshmi, she exhibited the rising graph of her learning and training at a Bharatanatya performance at Ravindra Kalakshetra. Her sthanakas, execution of adavus and mukthayis vouched for her laya skill. Aptly supported by an unflagging D.S. Srivatsa (vocal), Vasanthalakshmi (nattuvanga), Natarajamurthy (violin) and Srihari (mridanga), Priya endeared herself in her eka-vyakthi and eka-aharya disposition with the exploration of the popular Krishna-tale on the basis of the compositions of various Haridasas. The programme entitled "Krishna Kowsthubha" also glorified the Marga of the Bharatanatya.
She started her recital with a Pushpanjali followed by Jagannathadasa's "Amba tanaya" (Charukeshi). The jathiswara in Kadanakutoohala accounted for the dancer's nritta felicity. Purandaradasa's "Deenabandhu Deva" brimmed with bhakti-bhava.
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Veteran vocalists Vidwan S. Shankar and Pandit Vinayak Torvi regaled the audience at Mangala Mantapa, Jayangar, with their well-planned jugalbandhi. The programme was arranged under the aegis of Bhakti Bharathi Pratishthana during its 10th Purandarotsava.
Both of them being seasoned singers, the jugalbandi not only captured the essence but also the kept intact the greatness of Carnatic and Hindustani music. The selected similar ragas to render a couple of Haridasa krithis, which was a good choice.
Thus they were admired for the presentation of "Vandipenu ninage Gananatha" (Kalyani, Yaman, Sripadaraja), "Mangala mooruthi Rangavithalana paada", "Kande naa Govindana" (Saveri, Jog, Purandara Dasa), and "Tamboori meetidava" (Sindhubhairavi, Bhairavi). The swaraprastaras were complemented by sargams. B. Raghu Ram (violin) and N. Vasudev (mridanga) and Ravindra Katoti (harmonim) and Rajendra Nakod (tabla) were the successful accompanists.
M. SURYA PRASAD
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