Birla Vidya Niketan celebrated its 26th cultural festival with fanfare at the Siri Fort auditorium recently. Stressing the importance of hosting such events, Dr. Karan Singh, MP and scholar, said, “With so much news of violence and negativity, it is important for children to take part in such cultural functions.” The evening began with “Prangeet”, the school song.
Fairy tale
The dance drama “Season of Love”, was a love story about a frog and a princess. “We tried to show how the power of love is beyond appearances and actually transforms the ugly frog into a handsome prince,” said Bharti Puri, one of the creative heads of the play. The story saw a powerful performance by Priyasha Bhattacharya as the little princess.
When the princess' ball falls into the pond and a frog returns it to her in return for a promise of companionship. The frog is teased by society with the song “No matter how much you try to woo her, you can never win her heart.”
The sequence where hired goons try to kidnap the ugly frog with a net was innovative. The kidnap attempt creates compassion in the princess for the ugly toad, who is transformed by her touch into a handsome prince.
This was followed by a dance drama “Amrapali”, a tale of the beautiful courtesan who turned to spirituality when she encountered the violent side of love. “Aastha ke Sthamb”and a rendering of devotional songs by Kabir, Meera, Jayadeva and Mansoo. The English musical “Annie” is about a spunky orphan girl.
