Young talent to the fore
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Her performance at such a tender age is an indication that Shruti is cut out for a prodigious future.
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MATURE SHOW Shruti's Bharatanatyam performance was a visual treat. Photo: MOHD. YOUSUF
Twelve-year-old Shruti, a talented Bharatnatyam dancer from the U.S. floored dancer lovers with her magnificent show. The way she went through with her entire repertoire at the Thyagaraya Gana Sabha on Tuesday evening, is a remarkable tribute to her talent at such a young age. It also reflected the standard of her guru Vishal Ramani, who lives in the U.S.
The girl who was here to give a show with her excellent rehearsals puzzled nattuvanar Renuka Prasad and vocalist Swetha Ravindranath. The duo is surprised at Shruti's acumen, as they could never remember having seen any youngster doing all the jaties so well. She has all the potentials of a prodigy — excellent memory, reasoning and rhythm that a Bharatanatyam artiste needs.
Brilliant in academics too
Even in her academics , she had received the U.S. Presidential certificates for two consecutive years for "Outstanding Academic Achievement'.
Shruti knows well even the narttuvangam part, which is generally difficult for a child even to follow.
The performance was titled as Namah Sumanjali. This was obviously intended to pay obeisance to her guru and parents and dedicated to her grandfather, the late Jagan Mohan Roy, who encouraged her to go for this art.
Shruti began with pushpanjali in Megharanjani and showed some flowing movements with a good gait in offering flowers to the Lord and the audience for an auspicious beginning.
The Ganesha Sthuti — Mahaganapathim in Nata of Deekshitar also went well, before the Jatiswaram in Thodi started revealing her expressive postures and Mudraas marked by her intricate foot movements matching the set patterns of the .
The varnam that came next was 45-minutes long but was worth watching as it gave glimpses of her achievements in Bharatnatyam. She is undoubtedly a prodigious talent with a bright future. The varnam was quite long even after the jati numbers were reduced to six from nine.
This appears to be an ancient varnam, based on Lord Krishna's birth and his various exploits. They were all well choreographed by her guru as an expressional format of conveying in detail the various episodes of Bhagavata centred on Lord Krishna .
She tried to strike a few difficult postures as part of her adavus and karanas. Each number ended with a statuesque posture beautifully struck by the little girl. The number tested the ability, stamina and mental agility.
Good finish and time sense
The abhinaya had brought out the themes of the various episodes in a series of sancharies. The jaties choreographed in variegated rhythmic patterns had excellent finish with good time sense, matching with the rhythmic syllables from nattuvanar and mridangist in the wings.
Credit also goes to Renuka Prasad and Swetha Ravindranath, who provided excellent support to Shruti at the concert. The post-interval was abhinaya oriented and the Pancharatna kirtana of Thyagaraja — Sadhinchene in Arabhi rightly set the pace and mood of the latter part of the show marked by abhinaya-oriented numbers.
The chiita swaras was set in imaginative choreography. The lyrical line — Samayaniki Thagu Maatalaadi found different expressions in her sancharies.
Nagumomu Ganaleni, again of Thyagaraja, was another great number of the concert in which there were again thematic bits that needed good interpretation. And also the concluding tillana of Balamurali set in Kadanakutuhalam, was quite a vivacious piece.
V. Bhanuprasad on mridangam, Uma Venkateswarlu on flute, Pawan on violin and Vijaynarayana on veena were in the orchestral support. Little Shruti made the evening quite a delightful experience.
GUDIPOODI SRIHARI
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