Dance lovers gather for tribute to veteran artiste

Art and culture lovers from all over the city flocked to Seva Sadan auditorium in Malleswaram last Saturday to witness a dance recital organised by Prasiddha Foundation as a tribute to Padma Bhushan Kalanidhi Narayanan. The event was called ‘Ashta Nayikas and Chaturvidha Nayakas’ and featured senior artistes from all over the country who were directly taught by the legendary Kalanidhi Narayanan.

The coordinator of the event, Padmini Jagadeesh, said that they were overwhelmed by the audience turnout.

“This is a tribute to Guru Kalanidhi by her students. Prathibha Prahlad, the curator of the event, was one of her closest disciples. We are taken aback by the kind of support art is receiving even today,” she said.

Reputed artists like B Bhanumathi, Padma Ravi, Padmaja Suresh, Susheela Mehta, Sheela Chandrashekar, Kiran Subramanyam, Deepak Mazumdar, Praveen Kumar and Lakshman Swamy performed at the event.

Sudhakar Rao, Chief Secretary, Govt of Karnataka; Chiranjeevi Singh, former Secretary, Govt of Karnataka, and I M Vittal Murthy, former Secretary, Govt of Karnataka were the chief guests.

When Metrolife got in touch with Prathibha Prahlad a few minutes before her performance, she spoke about the inspiration behind putting together an event like this. “My guru Kalanidhi was one of the greatest bharathanatyam dancers I have come across. Following her demise two years ago, we decided to dedicate an event to her, celebrating art,” she said.

When asked about the challenges, she said, “Surprisingly nothing. I just made one phone call, and all of them agreed to perform. This shows the love the artistes have towards their guru and the art.”

Addressing the audience during the event chief, guest Chiranjeevi Singh said that the event highlighted art in its purest form.

“The art we see today is not pure. Experimentation in music is resulting in a mixed artform. One should experiment, but it should not take away the originality of the art,” he said.

Audience comprised all age groups

Ten-year-old Aakash, who was accompanied by his parents, was eagerly waiting to meet the artists.

“Our son is interested in bharathanatyam and hence we take him to all dance events in the city. This one is special as we get to see dancers from all over the city perform on the same stage,” says Roopa, Aakash’s mother.

Raman, an 80-year-old present at the programme, told Metrolife that he had been following Kalanidhi’s work and that he is happy to see her students remembering her and paying a tribute to her.