The current Margazhi has been packed with youngsters spilling their talent across various sabha -s with a plethora of performances. Navia Natarajan was much-admired as an upcoming star in the last few years.
With able training under gurus like Padmini Ramachandran and, later, A. Lakshmanan and Bragha Bassell in Chennai, she has matured to become one of the finest dancers on the scene today. Opening the evening of performances on Wednesday at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan under the banner of Kartik Fine Arts, Navia managed to gather more fans with her brief presentation.
After a quick
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In places, Nandakumar seemed to mumble through the
Those ultra-long jati -s put even the neighbourhood Kapalishwara of Mylapore to sleep, forget beckoning Brihadeeshwara sitting far away in Tanjavur. Keeping the traditional jati -s of the varnam might have done just as well, considering Navia’s abhinayam was superb. While Prasanna is an excellent nattuvanaar , it would be good if he stuck to rendering the traditional time-tested jati -s before he can attempt composing his own.
From there to a verse from the famous
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Too many actions crammed the subtlety of the performance. Mahesh Swamy’s mellifluous flute blew life into the act once again. With some reworking on her choreography, Navia could design this into an excellent piece for her repertoire.
After this slow piece, she regained her heartiness in the Swati Tirunal tillana in Bhoopalam, proving she was undoubtedly one of the most talented and promising youngsters we have around.
( Veejay Sai is a writer, editor and a culture critic. )