Steps of courage and confidence

Poignant moves

It was a performance of a different kind as six visually challenged students presented their Rangapravesha at the ADA Rangamandira, in the City recently.

The girls motivated the youngsters, through their performance and literally moved the audience to tears with the perfection with which they danced.

 The dancers — Gulab Shah, Latha Mani, Rashmi, Soumya, Suma and Pallavi — were seen enjoying themselves on stage as the audience applauded their effort.

“These girls have been learning dance for the last five years. Some of them are in class ten and others are studying in the college.

They belong to the rural parts of the State and come from very humble background,” said Suparna Venkatesh, who trained these girls.

They opened the performance with a malari, offering their tribute to Lord Dakshinamurthy, and went on to perform a swarguchha, quite similar to jatiswaram.

“They also performed ‘Shiva Swarakshari Stotra’ by Adi Shankaracharya and it was choreographed by G Pawan Kumar.

As a teacher, I was extremely proud to see my students on stage,  performing with such confidence and the best part was that I could see them smiling at each other and enjoying themselves during the performance,” added Suparna.

She pointed out that they received a good response from the audience and the feedback was very encouraging.

“We had kept a feedback book for the audience and many youngsters, who had come to watch the show, had written that the girls motivated them to keep the faith and give everything their best shot.

Many senior citizens who had come to see the show also said that they were moved by the performance of the girls,” she added.

Though challenging, Suparna said that the girls were determined and were very promising on the stage.

The steps were synchronised and the hand movements were perfect and it was clear that the audience was enjoying the show.

“There were many children who had come along with their parents to watch the show and they sat through the entire show. Later, they even came to ask if they could meet the girls.

It was very touching to see how the audience supported us with their presence,” noted Suparna.

During the second half of the show, the girls performed a Daru Varnam and a Shatchakra Prabhandha, a thematic dance on the six chakras of the body and concluded the show with a tillana, paying obeisance to all the musical instruments, which were used during the bharatanatyam recital.