Nrithya bharath day3

Manasa rao: presented to us an item of nava rasa’s, she had a very pretty smile and maintained it troughout, she had good aramandi and jumps and the definitation was steps was clear. She had classic expressions. She mostly used the center of the stage and I could hardly watch her as the camera man blocked me.

Ajay kumar a kuchupudi dancer presented to us ashtavida shringara nayaki as soon as the MC mr srinivas said this my mind raised in thoughts a guy Presenting to us a girl item? Ashta nayaki is about the 8 different nayaki’s who they wait for their beloved. This guy  was amazing , he looked so pretty and graceful. Not a sign showed it’s a guy dancing. It looked like a girl is dancing. The transition from one nayaika to other was seperated by a jatiand this concept was nice. His chain broke and the pearls spread all over the stage still there was no expression on his face he continued like nothing had happened. This is an aspect of professionality that we aall growing dancers have to learn.

 

 

The most awaited performance of the day which I was looking for. Til today I had only heard about him the eagerness ggrew to watch him dance. And fially the day came im talking none other than the splendid charles ma. I must say I learnt a lot form him and his thoughts and views about dance, art, culture and treditoin. He presented to us bharathnaatyam of 3 pieces and I fell in love with his dancing I have no words to discribe hiim and his dancing but all I would say is he was very expressive, energetic and was flying on stage.

For every dancer energy is high in the benning and get low towards the end but in case of charlie it was totally the opposite his energy was high in the begenning and grew more n more towards the end. He gave in his mind, body heart and soul to dance. I must say we all must be proud to have such dancers and such dancers are the one’s who uphold the tredition. He quotes “there is no better dance form than classical dance and no dance can beat classical dance” this was according to the MC srinivas. I do respect these words of charls. Hats off to such a man. I will proudly say “he is the best male dancer I have ever seen.”

Madeva by the tiny tots of natyanthranga. I had a jaw drop as soon as I heard the MC say this “tiny tot’s and Mahadeva are you kidding me?” Mahadeva is an item presented by the seniors and not the tiny little kids. Firstly very bad audio, no sinchronisation at all, people were looking at each other and dancing, expression less zero smile where ever it was required. The power and energy of Shiva was not felt at all.  

The second piece I expected something to their level but for my shock it was Shrungarapura I had my hands on my head. But this wasn’t that bad as I expected. There were smiles found here and therer, expression less and again no sinchronisation at all.

As soon as this item got over a dancer next to me and myself stated talking as to there are so many krishna items which suit the kids y not one of those items for our surprise the next item happened to be krishna’s 

Taye yashoda from the Morning raaga. The song is so beautiful and impactful but the dance was nt matching the song. The concept of getting one person as krishna made the item watchable.

The dancer next to me says “I pity those little kids, what else will happen if the senior items are given to tiny kids who wont even know how to feel and involve into the song.”

Seeing this the words of the greatest dance critic Mysore v subramanium striked my mind when he came to the same series of program the previous day as a chief guest he said “now a days dance is no more an art everybody wants to dance and gain fame. The day they admit their children to a class the parents will have a question when will my daughters photo come in paper? When will she do her rangapravesha? In olden days if girls danced it was great and now if girls don’t dance they don’t want to get married to such girls. If you want to learn the art for fame please don’t do it learn it for what it is and to continue the culture and tredition.” He added.

When he said those on 6^th november I swear I laughed over it but I just realised that he was absolutely true. He’s such a gem of a person thank you sir. I do apprectite that she gives chances to the tiny little growing artists which is not at all a easy job but I think there are certain things to keep in mind before giving them a chance.

Prabal gupta:presented to us the purapaat- commencement of the program, it was set to 4 taala’s the highlight of this item was the circular, semi circular and swaying movements. In raaga ragamalika set to taala malika. Very graceful swaying movements which made me aslo sway to it. The central theme Poothana mooksha taken from an episode of mahabaratha. Where kamsa get aware of the borth of krishna and wants to kill krishna to save his own life. He sends a demon called poothini to breast feed krishna with her poisioned milk which she fails to and gets killed by the lord krishna. The portrayal of this was outstanding, never moved my eyes from him. I always used to say that his expressions strike the audience stiiting in the last and I did experience this today. I was sitting littreally in the last and had the same feel of sitiing in the front. Minute of minutest thing he highlights it so well that I will want o watch him more n more. The hair prop he took out on stage was just brilliant and the same hair he uses as a beard I just loved this part of the choreography.

A person in the audience said “the more I watch him, the more I fall in love with his dancing.” And I so agree with this.

Had a wonderful experience and journey in these three days. Learnt a lot of things. For a dancer its always an advantage to watch others dance because there will be a lot to learn and you would have learnt without ur knowledge, which will be of use some or the other day.

Congratulating Shubha Dhananjaya on her successful 25^th year celebration, it was a great idea of her to celebrate it spread over four days where I unfortunately missed attending the fourth day. The best part of this celebration was to get in different forms, different people from differernt places to encourage classical art. Doing this is just not an easy task. Finally all her hard work came into a success. Wishing her all the very best and looking forward for the 50^th year celebration.