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Enticing presentation
The 29th anniversarycelebration of Guru Tanjavur Rajalakshmi’s dance and music school, Gurulaya, was a real treat for therasikas. The participants included tiny tots and the not so young ones. The three-hour extravaganza commenced with agroup singing by the music students of Gurulaya. The formal commencement of thedance programme was with a Tisra Alarippu followed by the Ganeshanjali ‘Appappa’, a effective song. Padam ‘Adiyavan Pudalvan’ inRagamalika by some senior students, ‘Natanamaadinar’ in Vasanta set to Khandajati Ata tala and ‘O Madhava’ by some juniors were delightful. Thesuper-seniors performed a short alluring thematic presentation ‘SenthilKuravanji’. The evergreen melody ‘Kattrinile Varum Geetam’ in the classical dance format was enticingly presented. Hats off tothe vocalist Indumati for the neat rendering of that piece. A rare compositionof Harikesanallur Muthaiah Bhagavatar ‘Vaalai Manonmani' in raga Jonpuri hadits place in the day’s agenda. The song was in praise of the Goddess Mahakaliof Mavur and the dancers did full justice to the piece. Neat following by M SKannan (Violin), and Saravanan (Flute) without any overlap was commendable.Tillana in raga Kanada set to Roopaka tala gave ample scope for the seniorsand the super-seniors to bring out their skills together with the experiencedhands of Guru Tanjavur Rajalakshmi (Nattuvangam) and Adyar Balu (Mridangam).Kudos to the Guru for her brilliant training and organising ability.
ViswaRoopa Darshan!
Kalapradarsini celebrated its third AnnualDay in a very grand fashion. Young dancers participated in the show with theyoung guru, Parvati Ravi Ghantasala. The Shanmukha Kauthuvam by little starletswas splendid. The ballet, Ramayanam, was delightful. The popular number‘Bhavayami Raghuramam’ took the form of a mini-dance ballet. The dancers didnot use any props or special costumes or stage setting, yet conveyed themessage. Each character came out live on stage taking the rasikas back to theage of Rama. The young dancers in the form of the monkeys and particularlyHemamalini playing the role of Hanuman was worth watching. Scenes like Ramabreaking the Siva Dhanush, the journey of Hanuman to Lankapuri, the ViswaRoopa Darshanam by Hanuman to Devi Seeta, the Agni Pravesham ofSeeta where the fireturned into flowers on the entry of Seeta, the Sethu bandhanam and so on lucidlymirrored the experience of Guru Parvathi Ravi Ghantasala in groupchoreography, particularly under her able Guru Krishnakumari Narendran. She was supported by ablemusicians like Indu (Vocal), Padmanabhan (Mridangam),Durairaj (Tabla), Kannan (Violin), Srinivasan (Flute) and Subbu (Keyboard). Natyacharya Narasimhachari graced the occasion and blessed the youngartistes.
Lakshmi V N
Posted on 5th July 2001
