They were artistically showcasing every child’s ideal fantasy – a luxury hardly indulged in these days. Their wide grins complemented the choreography of the theme.
The next performance called ‘Govinda’ was an ode to the God whose childhood was famous for his mischievous pranks. This beautiful ballet was set to the popular number ‘Govind Hare Hare Gopal Hara Hara….’
Then there was a fable from the Panchatantra portrayed by these little dancing nymphets – Ritika Shetty, Aishwarya, Ritika Srivatsa, Hansini, Shreya and Pooja. They were thoroughly enjoying themselves dancing like deer, prancing about like a monkey, swaying in the royal gait of an elephant and hopping about like a rabbit.
They are the members of the Kids Wing of the ICCR empanelled organization called Nritarutya, practicing in one of the studios. These children have been learning with this group from the past 4 years and are adept enough to put up shows.
The 5 directors of Nritarutya – Mayuri and Madhuri Upadhya, Satya B.G., Geeta Ballal and Umesh Naidu (who trains children), choreograph these aesthetically beautiful dances.
They are inspired by traditional classical forms of dance, yoga asanas, acrobatic movements, folk dance forms and some steps of the modern and cinematic dance school to create this unique contemporary style of art with a distinct Indian essence. The children confess that it is an enjoyable way of expressing themselves, staying fit and having completely flexible and agile bodies. No wonder their facial expressions and ‘Mudras’ of the hand are perfectly synchronized even while doing gymnastic splits and cartwheels. Learning all this is no sweat as it is done only once a week in order not to hinder their daily school routine and more often in the weekends and holidays. They do find the time to catch up on their reading, drawing and painting.
All these girls also learn and even go on picnics together. Besides Indian Contemporary Dance, they learn Bharatnatyam and Western Dance too.
Shreya enjoys writing poetry and Aishwarya was the youngest child in Karnataka to complete the 12th level of Abacus.
For more details visit their website
www. nritarutya.com or call Mayuri on
98450 93992 or Umesh on 98862 55748
RADHIKA D. SHYAM