Music and dance reviews

Nitya Nritya

Nupura, a dance school in Bangalore, held its annual dance festival, “Nitya Nritya”, last week. As its custom is, academic session in the mornings were followed by dance recitals in the evenings, with a few artistes from the State and others from outside as participants.

Uma Sathyanarayana, (nee Nambudaripad), who performed on last Monday in the festival, took  her dance lessons from Sreemathi and received higher training from veteran artiste Chitra Visweswaran. A dancer, choreographer, teacher and vocalist, Uma is also a recipient of several honours, conferred by Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, Bharat Kalachar, Narada Gana Sabha and Tehkovsky Russian Centre.

It was a pleasure to see varna blossoming gradually and beautifully. Without overdoing anything she rose to the occasion and did full justice to the composition. She did Abhinaya pieces – Jagadoddarana and Adharam Madhuram – with restrained Abhinaya, worthy of a seasoned artiste, leaving an indelible impact. Artistes who supported her well from the wings are: Shashirekha Ram Mohan (Natuvanga), Srikanth (vocal), Venkat Subramanyam (Mridanga) and Karthik (Flute).

Impactful Bharatanatya

Curtains came down on this year’s edition of ‘Nitya Nritya’ with Bharathanatya by Geetha Chandran. A senior dancer from Delhi, Geetha is a celebrated performer, an able teacher, choreographer, vocalist, organiser, writer and a recipient of ‘Padmashri’ award.

The “Chokkanada Kautvam” gave Geetha a bright start and helped to create a serene atmosphere. With captivating movements, her varna (Saami Enna Nee – Suruti Raga) was remarkable for its exuberance in the Nritta, making it a high standard varna and impactful performance.

With restrained but impressive Abhinaya, Meera Bhajan (More Mukuta Peethambara) was pleasing with graceful expressions. The musicians from the wings also shared the honours with the dancer: Vocal – Venkateswaran, Natuvanga – Shanar, Mridanga – Lalgudi Sri Ganesh and Violin – Dayakar.

Saralaya sisters

The Bangalore Lalithakala Parishat presented a vocal duet by Kavitha Saralaya and Triveni, known as ‘Saralaya Sisters’, on Friday. They were well supported by B Raghuram on violin, H S Sudhindra on Mridanga and S Srishyla on Ghata.

Saralaya sisters chose a number of compositions in well known ragas. But, instead of presenting many krithis of a particular composer, they could have presented compositions of different composers, to bring variety and colour to the recital. “Govardhana Gireesham” is reputed as a divine composition.

They faithfully rendered “Kamalambam Bhajare” with alapana and swara. Earlier a sought-after Keerthane of saint Tyagaraja “Jnanamosagarada” was briefly elaborated with Nerval (Paramatmudu Jeevathmudu) and swara prasthara.

Sisters delighted the audience with two well known Haridasa padas, “Chandrachuda Shiva” in ragamalike and “Dasana Maadiko Enna” with a prelude of Ugabhoga (Daasanaguvage). They concluded their concert with a thillana in the raga ‘Jinjoti’ and the song “Maitreem Bhajatha”.