Dance and music reviews

Nrityantara festival

The Shivapriya School of Dance conducted the annual Nrityantara for three days with not only Bharathanatya, but also Kuchipudi, Odissi and Kathak. The school trains young aspirants in dance and conducts the dance festival every year under the direction of Dr. Sanjay Shantharam, popular artiste.

The festival opened with a dance drama by the Shivapriya ensemble. Sanjay Shantharam along with his students performed the “Aadum Daiva,” the Kalyani piece of Kameswar which had several episodes including of Bedara Kannappa. Sanjay straight away made a meat of it exemplifying the Shiva Purana though he seemed to draw more on the “Sancharis,” but easily carried conviction. With him 15 young artistes performed with ease and assurance.

Priyadarshini Govind, celebrated dancer, opened her Bharatanatya recital with Alaripu (Misra chapu), with full of grace. She moved to a varna “Saamininnukori” of Tanjore Quartet in Ragamalika. She invested it with attractive jathis and captivating movements.
With her sparkling eyes, the abhinaya compositions were also impactful. Two popular pieces – “Indendu Vachitira” and “Appudu Manasu” (Kamatch) – both were performed with restrained abhinaya, but effective and well received. It was a class by itself. Jayashri Ramanathan (Natuvanga),  Krithika Aravind (vocal), Vedam Krishna Rao (mridanga) and  Sri Lakshmi (violin) – supported the dancer from the wings.

Curtains came down on this year’s Nrityantara with a Kathak recital by the members of the Nadam, under the direction of Nandini Mehta and Murali Mohan. The opening piece was a ‘Shiva Stuthi’ in the raga Bairagi Bhairav. Then ‘Prathama Sumeera Sri Ganesha’in obeisance of the elephant faced God. In the “Krishna Nee Begane Baro” feelings of Krishna’s mother and father were portrayed, which can be improved for better result. But the “Teen Thal” with That, Amad, Thukda, Paran, Thihay – were performed by the students neatly.

Pleasing vocal

Ashwini Satish, who gave a vocal concert on Saturday under the aegis of the Malleswaram Sangeetha Sabha, hails from Bangalore and now settled in Singapore.
She started her music training from Shringeri Nagaraj and received advance coaching from Dr T S Satyavathi. She has passed post graduation in Music with distinction (gold medal) and has performed in few Sabha and Sammelans also.

Ashwini chose the evergreen raga Kharaharapriya for a detailed elaboration. It was absorbing with good sangathis. Then “Chakkani Raja” with Nerval (Kantaki Sundara Taramagu) and swara. As it is a common raga and well known composition, it was not easy to please the audience.

But she impressed with lively presentation. Earlier her alap for the Saveri was soulful and the krithi “Shankari Shankuru” was reposeful with crisp nerval (Shyama Krishna Sodari) and swara. In between she also sang – Telasi Rama, Rama Rama Enniro (Purandaradasa), Alli Nodalu Rama and Marava Kave – and concluded with a thillana of Ponnaiah Pillai. In total Ashwini Satish’s concert was wholesome and proof of her hard practice and steady progress. Vittal Rangan on violin, Anoor Dathatreya Sharma on mridanga, and Bhargava Halambi on Khanjari – gave good support.