It was her first performance in the city, but the Bharatanatyam performance by Uma Namboodiripad Sathyanarayanan did not fail to dazzle the audience.
Uma, one of the young Bharatanatyam dancers of repute, was performing at the Rasavikalpam dance festival organised by the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi.
She could regale a rapt audience, which included students of dance who are attending a lecture-demonstration series being held along with the festival.
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Uma began her performance with an invocation of Ganga, in Raga Puriya Dhanashree, followed by the main piece for the night — the ‘varnam’ “Nathanai azhaithu vaa sakhiye…” In this composition in Raga Kamboji, the heroine asks her companion to bring to her, her lord Murugan.
She bettered herself in the next piece, based on the popular Purandara Dasa composition, “Jagadoddharana…,” in Raga Kapi. Yasoda is singing a lullaby to little Krishna, but she realises that he is also the universal lord.
The audience much appreciated the way she asked them to stop the applause, because Krishna was sleeping.
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The dancer concluded the show with a ‘thillana’ in Raga Hindolam.
Uma is a disciple of Chithra Visweswaran.