JOIN USDifferent facets of Indian mythological tales were brought alive through traditional Indian dance forms when young dancers from across the country participated at the Bal Kala Utsav, a part of the five-day long ‘Indradhanush Dilli 2014’, festival of performing arts.
Organised by Sunaina, an NGO dedicated to the propagation of art forms, the festival commenced last week at the Vishwa Yuva Kendra. The event was inaugurated by
educationist Padma Bhushan Dr M V Athraya who was also conferred the Guru Sammaan Award.
The seventh edition of the festival was more vibrant and unique as it covered dancers in age groups from five to 35. Young dancers from 16 states presented their act in classical and semi-classical dance forms. Even children afflicted by physical disabilities participated along with their normal counterparts in all the junior and senior categories
of solo, duet and group events. The utsav was inaugurated by Dr Satyamurthy, a Kuchipudi exponent and dance therapist from Bangalore.
City-based Kanika Bhatt performed a Bharatanatyam dance on Shiv Tandav. Avjit Das, performed the Dasavatara with excellent abhinaya and nritya in Kuchipudi style. He concluded his act with Thillana in raga Dhanshree. Shruthi KP performed Mohiniattam with complete grace and poise.
Sudip Kumar Ghosh from Guwahati along with his troupe of budding dancers performed the Pung cholom raasleela and the dashavatar. Debabruta Barua from Odisha did an abhinaya piece depicting the plight of the bhakta who got the darshana and the blessings of Maha Vishnu of Jagannath Puri. Samanta group consisting of extremely energetic and graceful dancers Amit and Shubi and others received appreciation from the audience for their Kathak recital.
Aparajita Sarma’s Bharatanatyam dance performance left the audience spellbound. She presented Daru Varnam, a dance presentation on Navagraha--how planets, sun and moon are placed accordingly and how zodiacs are dependent upon them.
Other dance performances were by Lakshita, Medha, Smrithi and Sathvikaa (Bharatanatyam), Anwesa Mahanta (Sattriya), Vipanchi Rao (Vilasini Natyam),
Ayan Mukherjee, Rachel Agnes, Parmita Banerjee, Ranjima Chatterjee and Sudeshna Majumdar (Gaudiya Nritya), Pasumarthi Srinivasa Sarma and Troupe (Kuchipudi Yakshagana).
A seminar, ‘Energizing the body and mind with traditional dance forms’ was
organised and was attended by Bharatanatyam exponents Kanaka Sudhakar, Rama Vaidyanathan and Jyotsna Shourie. Dr Neeradha Chandramohan (director,
Institute for empowerment of persons with multiple disabilities) and Shangun Bhutani, Odissi, Chhau and yoga exponent were also present.