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Music Season
SRI KRISHNA GANA SABHA
Picture of exuberance
RUPA SRIKANTH
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Rhadha, who danced for continuous two hours, was as agile as a young aspirant.
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Photo: R.Shivaji Rao
Enjoyable nritta: Rhadha
The best thing about Rhadha as a dancer is not her expressive talent or her energy, but her relaxed manner on stage. One can feel her relish every moment in the spotlight, the dance and the trappings that go with it. Such is the enthusiasm that she f
orgets to be tired. She can go on for hours keeping up a scorching pace. Every part of her body dances, but her twinkling eyes and her twinkle-toes vie for the most attention.
This year she has been in the spotlight for many reasons. She celebrated the Silver Jubilee of her dance school ‘Pushpanjali,’ won the Acharya Choodamani Award from Sri Krishna Gana Sabha and has been featured in December as one of the lead editorials in Sruti, a magazine for the performing arts.
Perhaps buoyed by the recognition or just happy to be on stage, Rhadha was a picture of exuberance and danced for two hours continuously with only one costume-change break in between.
The auditorium was full of her students and their families who applauded her with affection at every juncture. Their energy surely made a difference to the Guru.
She commenced with a beautiful Hanuman Stuthi ‘Anjile Onru Petran’ (ragamalika), that plays on the number five-it suits either theory of Hanuman’s birth, His crossing the ocean to Lanka, His setting Lanka on fire (one of panchabhootham), etc.
‘Mahalinga Kauthuvam’ and the ‘Ye Maayaladira’ swarajathi (Husseini, Rupaka, Melattur Venkatrama Sastri) followed. The footwork in the theermanams was crystal clear and her ‘muzhu mandis’ were as agile as those of a young aspirant.
The nritta sequences themselves were simple and enjoyable and gave enough time for the dancer to take each adavu to its completion. She was guided by Adit Narayan (nattuvangam) who has over the years matured in his timekeeping and now it is child’s play. Dhananjay (mridangam) kept him good company. Rhadha’s abhinaya was given a fillip by the most melodious Nandini Anand, Kalaiarasan (violin) and Vijay Venkatesh (flute).
Most enjoyable of the evening was ‘Thaye Yashoda’ (Thodi, Adi, Oothukkadu Venkatasubbier) that vividly brought out the bhavas of the trickster and the tricked, the glee and the annoyance that turns to vaatsalyam and later devotion.
One moment Rhadha is the prankster Krishna hoodwinking the gopi and at another moment, she is a gopi complaining to Yashodha. The dancer painted a wide canvas with bold and colourful brush strokes using the well-timed and well-mimed characterisations.
Her tillana (Sankarabharanam, Adi, Moolaiveetu) brought the curtains down on a memorable performance by the veteran.
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Music Season
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