A Bharatanatyam performance by Deepthi T. and Anju M.R. underscored the fact that there are indeed youngsters today who take up the art seriously and that too, while pursuing other professional courses. Their recital at Vylloppilli Samskriti Bhavan, Thiruvananthapuram, was proof of their dedication.
Deepthi is currently working at her post graduation in Actuarial Science and Anju is a student of engineering. Both of them having been learning Bharatanatyam from V. Mythili for the last 15 years.
The recital, which began with the Ganesha sthuthi, moved on to a piece on Ardhanareeswara in raga Kumudakriya. The varnam in Shanmukhapriya, performed by both Deepthi and Anju, was a composition of Madurai Muralidharan and elaborated on the qualities of Lord Muruga or Shanmukha as he is known.
The second part of the recital had a few appealing items performed individually by the dancers.
‘Aadum Chidambaram,' a piece from Nandanar Charitham, performed by Anju, emulated the graceful movements of the dance of Lord Shiva of Chidambaram.
Motherly love
Deepthi portrayed the Pandya queen in ‘Meenakshi talattu' (lullaby), wherein the queen, with motherly love, perceives the goddess Meenakshi as a little girl, though, to the world, she is the wife of none other than Lord Shiva and the mother of Lord Muruga and Ganesha.
A Narayana Sthuthi, a keerthanam on Sri Rama and yet another piece on Devi Meenakshi were also part of the repertoire. The performance ended with a thillana in Rageshri composed by Lalgudi Jayaraman. All the items featured in the recital were choreographed by Mythili.
