One of the highlights of the Calicut University inter-zone arts festival was a Bharatanatyam recital by M. Sreelakshmi. Blessed with a pleasing stage presence and an expressive face, she was a delight to watch.
Her performance drew loud cheers at the main venue on Thursday. Not surprisingly, she won the prize too.
Sreelakshmi, a B.A. (Malayalam) second-year student at Vimala College, Thrissur, has emerged as one of the stars of the festival, winning three prizes in dance competitions. On Friday, she ended her memorable campaign by clinching the first prize in Folk Dance. Earlier, she had come second in Kuchipudi.
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She was particularly happy that she could win the first prize in Bharatanatyam. “I had come here winning an appeal against the result at the zonal festival, where I was placed fourth,” she said. “The competition was particularly strong in Bharatanatyam.”
The girl from Manjeri said the quality was generally higher in the dance events, compared to last year. “Though only 10 students compete in each event, most of them are quite good,” she said. “So it is gratifying to have emerged as the highest scorer among all the dancers.”
She finished with 13 points, but that wasn’t good enough for the Kalathilakam title, which went to Anunanda of Farook College; the singer scored 18 points.
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Sreelakshmi, who has been learning dance from the age of seven, had done well at the much more gruelling State School Arts Festival. She had won the third prize in Folk Dance twice.