<p>Prabhavathi Sastry was a senior dancer, teacher and choreographer. She taught a number of young aspirants in her school, ‘Naatya Kalakshetra.’ Her son Prashanth Shastry opened branches of the school in both Chennai and Bengaluru. <br /><br /></p>.<p>The institution conducts a dance festival called ‘Nrithya Utsava’ every year and presents award to a senior dancer.<br /><br />This year's Nrithya Prabha Award was conferred on Guru Padmini Ravi, a senior dancer and choreographer. In her brief performance, Padmini Ravi presented few selected pieces. <br /><br />Her delineation for the celebrated ‘Parulanna Maata,’ stood out for her impactful Abhinaya. With her graceful facial expression, portrayal of “Saamanya Nayika” made us to forget the absence of a varna or Nritha-oriented pieces. Earlier, Padmini began the programme (Guru and Shishya) with the invocatory piece “Gam Ganapathe”. Her students Kiran Subramanya and Sandhya Kiran also performed few items. They concluded with a fine thillana in the raga Desh. <br /><br />Prashant G Sastry is active both in television and films and has been trained by his mother Prabhavathi Sastry. He is continuing his Bharathanatya practice under Dr Lalitha Srinivasan. He chose a Ashta ragamalika varna of Tanjore Quartet, in the current programme. Right from the beginning, Prashanth revealed a comfortable stage presence, speaking for solid grounding. He displayed admirable concentration on Laya and can improve his Abhinaya, with more experience.<br /><br />Curtains came down on this year’s Nrithya Utsava, with a Kathak recital by six students of Sunatya Academy of Performing Arts, under the direction of Shalini Garg. The performance opened with a devo-tional song on Durga, continued with a composition on Shiva, a tarana and a piece in Astamangal thal. With more higher training and stage experience, they have a bright future.</p>
<p>Prabhavathi Sastry was a senior dancer, teacher and choreographer. She taught a number of young aspirants in her school, ‘Naatya Kalakshetra.’ Her son Prashanth Shastry opened branches of the school in both Chennai and Bengaluru. <br /><br /></p>.<p>The institution conducts a dance festival called ‘Nrithya Utsava’ every year and presents award to a senior dancer.<br /><br />This year's Nrithya Prabha Award was conferred on Guru Padmini Ravi, a senior dancer and choreographer. In her brief performance, Padmini Ravi presented few selected pieces. <br /><br />Her delineation for the celebrated ‘Parulanna Maata,’ stood out for her impactful Abhinaya. With her graceful facial expression, portrayal of “Saamanya Nayika” made us to forget the absence of a varna or Nritha-oriented pieces. Earlier, Padmini began the programme (Guru and Shishya) with the invocatory piece “Gam Ganapathe”. Her students Kiran Subramanya and Sandhya Kiran also performed few items. They concluded with a fine thillana in the raga Desh. <br /><br />Prashant G Sastry is active both in television and films and has been trained by his mother Prabhavathi Sastry. He is continuing his Bharathanatya practice under Dr Lalitha Srinivasan. He chose a Ashta ragamalika varna of Tanjore Quartet, in the current programme. Right from the beginning, Prashanth revealed a comfortable stage presence, speaking for solid grounding. He displayed admirable concentration on Laya and can improve his Abhinaya, with more experience.<br /><br />Curtains came down on this year’s Nrithya Utsava, with a Kathak recital by six students of Sunatya Academy of Performing Arts, under the direction of Shalini Garg. The performance opened with a devo-tional song on Durga, continued with a composition on Shiva, a tarana and a piece in Astamangal thal. With more higher training and stage experience, they have a bright future.</p>
