For someone who has been actively dancing from a young age, returning to perform after a hiatus would be a cherished moment. Niveditha Sankaranarayanan, a disciple of Srekala Bharath, performed a solo Bharatanatyam recital after a gap of two and a half years, under the auspices of Karthik Fine Arts at Narada Gana Sabha mini hall in Chennai.
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Niveditha comes with a list of achievements, including reaching the semi-finals of ‘Konjum Salangai’, participating in Natyanjali festival in Chidambaram, winning second prize in the Thirumala Thirupathi Devasthanam dance competition (2013), performing at the Guruvayoor Temple, and at the CID-UNESCO’s World Dance Congress in Athens (2017). She is a graded artiste of Doordarshan Chennai.
Niveditha commenced her performance with an Anjali in Valaji raga, followed by Oothukadu Venkatakavi’s Nattai raga kriti, ‘Ananda narthana ganapathim bhavaye’. This piece showed how Ganesha used a serpent as a belt to keep the modaks.
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Niveditha Sankaranarayanan. | Photo Credit: SRINATH M
The centerpiece of the evening was the Navaragamalika varnam, a composition by K.N. Dandayudhapani Pillai, ‘Swamiyai Azhaithodi va”. This piece describes the beauty of Shiva, with the nayika expressing her longing for Shiva, and attempting to persuade her friend to bring him to her. In the piece, the nayika extols Shiva’s magnificence. Niveditha brought alive the nayika’s emotions through her abhinaya.
Next came a javali, a composition of Swati Tirunal in raga Viha (Rupaka tala). Here, the nayika tells Padmanabha, “Who else do I have but you, my lord?”.
One of Niveditha’s concluding pieces featured the timeless ‘Chinnan chiru pen pole’, composed by Ulundurpettai Shanmuga Sundaram in Sindhu Bhairavi and set in Tisra Nadai. This composition is an ode to the goddess. On the shores of Sivagangai, adorned in stunning attire, Durga manifests herself as a youthful maiden.
The performance ended with a Lalgudi Jayaraman tillana in Sindhu Bhairavi (Adi tala).
The orchestra comprised Chitrambari Krishna Kumar on vocals, Muthukrishnan Dhananjayan on the mridangam and N. Chintamani on the violin. Costume, nattuvangam, and choreography were by Srekala Bharath.