Confident little steps win hearts

Young classical dancers and singers impressed the audience with their performances at the Chinna Kalanadam festival, organised by Narthan Academy of Dance and Music (Nadam), at the ADA Rangamandira recently.

The aim of this festival was to showcase and nurture budding talents in classical dance and music. Chinna Kalanadam is an annual classical dance festival for children below 13 years. The event featured more than 150 dancers from all the South Indian states. It showcased the rich, resplendent dance forms of India like bharatanatyam, kathak, kuchipudi, odissi, kathakali, mohiniyattam, yakshagana and sattriya. There were solo performances as well those in groups.

Day one began with an invocation, praising goddess Saraswathi, which was followed by a bharatanatyam recital by two young artistes. Later, 20 students of Samskruthi, a dance academy, performed a bharatanatyam dance. It was a treat for the eyes to see the little artistes, dressed in traditional attire, dancing like professional classical dancers.

The audience kept on encouraging the dancers. Anjali, who had come to watch the  festival said, “These children look cute in the bharatanatyam attire. I’m delighted to see such young kids performing Indian classical dances.”

The festival also had kuchipudi performance by nine students of Nadam. This was followed by a vibrant kathak performance by the students of Mudrra Dance School. They performed Teen Taal followed by a Tarana, a composition of pandit Ravi Shankar.

The programme came to a close with a colourful, graceful odissi performance by students of Nrityantar Academy of Performing Arts. They performed a Shivashtakam in praise of Lord Shiva followed by Tolagi, which described the relationship between Radha and Krishna.

On the next two days, the festival had much more to offer the classical art afficionados.
It witnessed myriad performances like Hindustani vocal, odissi, bharatanatyam and kuchipudi recitals by various classical art schools. This three-day festival attracted a good crowd. It was indeed a visual treat for all of them.