A four-day festival of Indian classical dances, titled Vysakhi Nrityotsav was organised under the auspices of Natraj Music and Dance Academy. The event, conceptualised by Bathina Vikram Goud and supported by Jeevan Lal Lavidia, IRS and industrialist Rekhala Krishna Goud, was held at Kalabharati, Visakhapatnam.
Presentation of the ballet Navarasa Natabhamini by Padma Shri K. Sobhanaidu along with her students, marked the beginning of the utsav. Enchanting actuation of navarasas, bheebhatsa, karuna, hasya, sringara, bhayanaka, adbhutha, veera, roudra and santha in that order was achieved depicting epical episodes like a few aspects of Dakshayagna, Rati-Manmadha, Parvathi parinayam, Gaja and Mahishasura Samharams.
Delightful Kuchipudi
The Kuchipudi maestro set delightful choreography, and directed and produced the ballet as an ingeniously derived mix of traditional Kuchipudi and attributes of Bhagavatha Mela incorporating both the Natya and Lokadharmi techniques judiciously. Exhibiting astounding grasp of rhythmic intricacies of footwork and body movements along with empathetic abhinaya, young Nitya Subha Prada lived different roles on stages.
Satriya, an emerging classical style of Assam, an epitome of an amalgam of apt nritta, nritya and natya (drama), was presented first on the next evening. Anita Sarma, Babirani, Sruthimala, Sangeetha and Kantihi, disciples of Gurus Jatin Goswami and late Roseswari Saikia presented Krishna and Ramvandana besides chali nritya.
Mohiniattam, next by cine artistes Evapavitran (daughter of Guru Kalaimandalam Kshemavathi) along with Usha, Suresh, Balaji and Sujatha, keeping nritta to the minimum in conformity with the tradition, took everybody in the auditorium into realms of elated tranquillity. Presenting Ganesh Vandana, Krishna’s childhood pranks, tillana and mangalam, they appeared to have personified lithe grace and empathetic abhinaya. Krishna Nartan, solo by Sovanabratha Sircar, disciple of Gurus Bipin Singh and Kalavathi Devi, Mandila Nartan in group by Nuthan, Sovan, Tanya and Nikhitha, Pung cholam solo (vibrant body movements, intricate footwork along with playing on the Manipuri drum called pung) and Dasavathara again in group gave the real taste of Manipuri dance.
Odissi, presented by students of Rudraksha Foundation, Bhubaneswar, of Guru Bichitrananda Swain (Lingaraj, Rashmiranjan, Bikaskumar, Sudhamsuranjan, Mamta, Amulya, Rashmi, Sanjuktha and Debasree) marked an engrossingl beginning of the third evening. They presented pure nritta-oriented Mangalacharan, nritta, nritya and natya-oriented pallavi besides Dasavatar before concluding with Talmadhurya. Creating an impression as if the dance figures in ancient sculpture came alive on stage, they made it the most memorable event of the festival like the team from Manipuri.
Then followed a ballet Surasamharam cinematically presented in super fast tempo in Bharatanatyam style by students of all age groups of Sridevi Nrityalaya of Guru Sheela Unnikrishnan, Chennai. Ultimately, it could not be made out whether the Guru followed the Tanjore, Vijhavoor, Pandanallur or the Kalakshetra traditions of Bharatanatyam.
Leena Malakar, disciple of Guru Nandini Singh, along with Poonam, Hari Deb and Anil presented Anjali, Hari Hara Sankara and a Tarana fulfilling all technicalities of Kathak. Executing amad, tukda and teehais with effervescent ebullience, they provided an electrifying finish for the day.
Solo presentation of Kamakshi of Dikshitar (Ragamalika) by Satya Sai Jyothi in the expert company her guru Hari Rama Murty (Principal, Kuchipudi Kalakshetra, an offshoot of Kuchipudi Art Academy of Vempati China Satyam at Chennai) with cymbals, Kanthilal on mridangam and Satyavishal on violin marked the beginning of the final day. Then followed Kiraathaarjuneeyam ballet presented by Guru Kalamandalam Murali and his troupe from Uma Memorial Kathakali Kalaalayam, Kolkata. Only these two presentations had live music and nattuvangam on stage.
