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A high octane treat

Kalasagaram has been doing yeomen service to the cause of fine arts in Secunderabad. Its annual youth festivals encourage budding local artistes by providing them a platform to showcase their talent. Three such young artistes presented Bharatanatyam at Keyes High School recently.

Friday featured Anita Hariharan, a disciple of guru Rajeshwari Sainath. Endowed with a tall and slender personality, Anita started off with Ganesha Nrityanjali which was interwoven with beautiful jathis in different nadais. She followed it up with the Jathiswaram in Rasali in which her statue-like postures were pleasing. The main piece was Aadum Mayilmel the Sudhadanyasi Padavarnam of Madurai Sethuraman in Adi talam which was performed quickly.

After the break came the Huseni padam of Ganam Krishnaiyer, Netrandhinerathile which Anita performed with a great deal of feeling. Bhakti rasa in the popular Annamayya kriti, Okkapari in Karaharapriya could be felt in the way she delineated it.

The concluding piece was the Valaji tillana of Madurai Krishnan in Misra Chapu which was executed briskly. Sangeethakala on vocal, Nagai Narayanan on mridangam, Chander Rao on violin and Srikanth on special effects accompanied the inspiring nattuvangam by guru Rajeshwari Sainath in making the evening quite enjoyable.

Saturday featured Sushmita Murthy, disciple of guru Geetha Ganesan. Young Sushmita, only a ninth standard student gave a very disciplined and competent performance. Her talent and her guru’s efforts, both were quite apparent throughout.

She began with Ganesha Kauthvam and followed it up with the traditional Alarippu.

She quickly moved on to the Lalgudi varnam Devar munivar thozhum in Shanmukhapriya and Adi talam. The varnam with beautiful and fast jatis, was performed to its full length where the lithe Sushmita showed excellent agility. She delineated Ahalya Shaapavimochanam, Kuchelopakhyanam and Vamanaavatharam in the sancharis very well. Many practice sessions, multiple repetitions and high octave renderings place undue strain on the vocal chords of the singer of a dance troupe. When this is coupled with nattuvangam and directing the troupe, the strain is compounded and will begin to show.

Though guru Geetha Ganesan handles all this beautifully, the addition of a full fledged vocalist would provide relief and protect her voice.

Bho Shambho, the composition of Swami Dayananda Saraswathi in Revathi and Adi talam, was striking for the elegant postures of Lord Shiva.

Notable was the manner in which Sushmita depicted the power and flow of the Ganga during her enactment of Gangaavataranam. Little Sushmita performed the aptly chosen padam of Sarangapani, Mogudochi Pilichenu in Sahana, enacting the plight of a young girl. Her performance ended with the Mayamalavagowla Tillana of Madurai Krishnan.

The ever-precise Rajagopalachari on mirdangam, Saikumar on violin and Srikanth on the special effects enhanced the performance.

Sunday saw Nikhila Reddy, disciple of gurus Ramamurthy and Manjula Ramaswamy engage the audience with her adroit performance.

Starting with Pushpanjali, she moved on to the ragamalika Padavarnam of Hyderabad flautist Jayaprada in Shanmukhapriya and Kalyani.

The varnam gave ample scope to depict various episodes like Gajendramoksham which was beautifully used by Nikhila.

Nikhila’s depiction of Shankara Srigiri in Hamsanandhi was rich and vigorous.

Giridharagopala, in which she skillfully enacted the episode of Govardhanagiridhari, was highlighted by Surabhi’s special effects. The Paras tillana of Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar was quick and full of crisp jathis.

The curtains were brought down with a sublime Ksheerabdi in Kurunji. Nikhila showed excellent skill in occupying the complete stage throughout her performance.

The melody of the flute on that day made its absence in the earlier two days very apparent. Guru Manjula did the nattuvangam in her modulation filled style. Vocalist Swetha Prasad and Dattatreya on flute joined Rajagopalachari, Saikumar and Srikanth to enrich the evening.

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