South Indian Cultural Association (SICA) presented a Bharatanatyam recital by Mumbai-based Revathi Srinivasa Raghavan as part of their dance fest, Nrityotsav. It was an unusual presentation projecting the percussion artiste Satish Krishnamurthy as an all-in-one nattuvanar — a chollukattu artiste, mridangam and kanjira player. The other main support was that of vocalist Swetha Prasad, accompanied by violinist Kolanka Sai Kumar.The very structure of event was different from the usual. This sounded more experimental and off beat. Here, the mridangam player Satish got to corner as much glory as the principal Bharatanatyam artiste did. The dance appeared a bit abstract, in the sense that her approach was thought-provoking. The themes were more sloka-based and credit goes to the dancer Revathi for impressively and meaningfully interpreting the themes in her abhinaya. She had a great support in vocalist Swetha Prasad. The items she presented were pallavi with Siva ‘Stotram’, the theme bringing in Thandava and Lasya presentation styles. There was ‘Ganapathi Vandanam’, then Endaro Mahanubhavulu ending with Arunachala Kavirayar’s Panchakshri and extended into a duet between dancer and the percussionist. Violinist Saikumar was at his best in playing ragas and support to sloka bits.
