JOIN USPrabhavathi 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.
The institution conducts a dance festival called ‘Nrithya Utsava’ every year and presents award to a senior dancer.
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.
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.
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.
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.