The vasanta mandapam at Sri Kapaleeswarar temple, Mylapore, reverberated with rhythmic footsteps and euphonious music. It was the turn of Anusha Venkatramani, disciple of Prof. Sudharani Raghupathy, to present a recital at the Vasant Utsav, the V Cultural Festival, of Saraswathi Trust, that evening. Anusha commenced with a pushpanjali, a ragamalika, in which slokas of Adi Sankara in praise of Vinayaka, Muruga and Saraswathi were strung together. The dancer was sprightly while executing the theermanams in the navasandhi stuthis or kavuthuvam extolling the Lord of Eight Directions with Brahma at the centre. The stuthis commended Eshanya in ragam Malahari (kanda talam). In the line ‘Eshana Dik Pathi Trishula Vahana Rishabama,’ she depicted him as the one with trishula as the weapon, rishabam as the vahanam and Parvathi as his consort.

In the varnam, ‘Mayee Mayan Sodariyae’ (Thodi), the usually impressive part in a concert — the footwork and abhinaya — were well-balanced. In this piece the devotee addresses the Devi as Mayee and goes on to project her ‘roopam’ and ‘aroopam’ form. Anusha delivered the difficult, slow-paced movements with ease.

With Roshini’s rendering of the line ‘Neeyae Maheswari Thayee’ in a voice brimming with bhakti, Anusha’s abhinaya clearly showed how the bhakta sees the Goddess in everything all aspects of life from the smallest of the insects to the largest creatures.She added a little bit of sanchari to the line ‘Paramanin Paadamalar…’ Swift transitions through the nine rasas made the charanam enjoyable. The various poses in the segment had been inspired by the temples in Belur and Halebedu. The precision with which they were shown drew applause from the audience.

Vijayaraghavan’s bowing matched Anusha’s miming of instruments such as flute violin, tanpura, veena and mridangam, and Dhananjeyan did not fail to keep pace with her neat adavus here.

Verses from ‘Thiruvachagam,’ — ‘Kilipathu’ — was her next item. The dancer has a trained parrot. She tells the bird that Shiva must be praised as much as Vishnu and Brahma. Adbhuta bhava came out clearly at the point when the ‘parrot’ uttered the word, ‘Uthrakosamangai.’

The concluding tillana, a composition of late Madurai N. Krishnan, was in Simhendra Madhyamam. . Her footwork was commendable but her bhava lacked depth. Probably she could set it right with practice.

Priya Murale’s nattuvanguvam was precise. She was ably guided by M. Dhananjeyan on the mridangam. What was most enjoyable was Kandadevi S. Vijayaraghavan’s harmonious bowing on the violin. . Roshini Ganesh’s gentle voice, though out of sync at times, made the orchestra complete.

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