Return to the stage
Captivating Steps
A bharatanatyam recital by Radhika Ramanujam, organised as part of ‘Dr M D Parthasarathy and Mrs Susheela Parthasarathy Memorable Endowment Programme’, was presented at the Indian Institute of World Culture recently.
Radhika is the disciple of Kiran Subramanyan and Sandhya Kiran, the director of Rasika Academy of Performing Arts.
She performed the traditional margam, which is a sequence of items in this art form. It includes pushpanjali, slokam, krithi or paadham, varnam, paadham or javali and thillana followed by mangalam.
Shrivatsa D S, who is a renowned singer in Bangalore, kicked off the programme by singing Pari pari nee padhame and enthralled the audience.
Wearing a combination of red and green, Radhika then started the programme by performing Pushpanjali in khadhyodkanthi raag and adi talam.
She sought the blessings of the audience and the almighty. This was followed by Krithi, where she performed a Devi Stuthi of the goddess Madhurai Meenakshi.
For varnam, which is the central part and also the longest sequence in margam, she performed to virohakhandita rasa, in charukeshi raga and adi talam.
She chose padham for the next part, which was an abhinaya in khandita nayika bhava rasa.
In this part, Radhika played the character of Khanditanayike and criticised Lord Subramanya as he runs away with some one else.
After this she performed Devarnama. Next, Radhika performed an Ashtapadhi, to the strains of Radhika Taparvihe.
The last part of the programme was thillana, where she performed to simhendra madhyama raag. She ended the performance with mangalam.
This bharatanatyam recital was supported by a live orchestra, where renowned singers such as Shrivatsa D S and Harini Srikanth lent their voices .This orchestra also featured a mridangam player – Harsha Samaga and a violinist — Madhusudhan.
Shrivatsa D S has been singing for bharatanatyam programmes for 26 years and for Radhika Ramanujam for the past 17 years.
“She is a very dedicated and hardworking lady. Even though she is a married woman and has a lovely daughter, she is very passionate about her dancing. In fact, she took a break and this is her comeback performance after a gap of 3 years. This July, she will be touring Russia to give some dance performances,” he said.
All her friends had come to watch this programme to support and encourage her comeback performance.
Radhika also runs her own dance school — ‘KalaRanga School of Dance’ in Malleswaram and has trained wonderful dancers.
“We are trained very rigorously when we are young. Also I have a very lovely and a supportive family, who has knowledge and understanding of this art,” said Radhika.
