Emerged in all its sternly sculpted elegance

The most scientific dance form Bharatanatya emerged in all its sternly sculpted elegance when young and skilled dancer Sindhu Hegde performed at the JSS auditorium on Saturday. Her talents are honed well by a seasoned Guru Ashokkumar of Nrithyanjali which is in its silver jubilee year. With such Guru to guide she was sensitive to the time honoured paradigms of the style and she has painstakingly imparted the same concern for her perfect dance structures. She acquitted herself in the opening numbers successfully. The Vasantha jatiswara was neatly rendered. A rare Meera bhajan (Jai Vaikuntha Mukunda, Tillang) popularised by Dr Padma Subramaniam was rendered by Sindhu vouched for her interpretative artistry. It had an episodic treatment of Sri Krishna tale.Competently accompanied by her Guru Ashokkumar (nattuvanga), Srivatsa (vocal), Madhusudan (violin), Venugopal (flute), Gurumurthy (mridanga) and Prasannakumar (effects) Sindhu dazzled in the elaboration of a Kannada varna composed by Mahesh in Ramapriya raga and adi tala (Baarai Radhuvamsha Chandrane baa). A few episodes drawn from the Ramayana were beautifully ornamented with nimble nritta and nrithya. The Shoorpanakhi incident in particular was applauded by the rasikas. Structurally very neat in the danced dimension the popular krithi Bho Shambho (Revathi) aspects like the nadai, mandi adavus, attami, paichal and tattamettu were executed with perfection.Excellently executed dances.The three day Sai national dance festival at Seva Sadana under the aegis of well known dance activist Sai Venkatesh’s Sai Arts International exposed the avid lovers of dance to different types of excellently executed classical dances.  On the concluding day  the disciples of seasoned Kathak dancer Mysore Nagaraj Nishant, Nidhag, Karthik, Pavan, Shweta Venkatesh, Shamika, Kavyashree, Anusha, Kavita, Aishwarya, Srividhya, Mallika performed Guru vandana. Lord Krishna was eulogized on the basis of Krishnashtaka crowned with interesting freezes. The medium of Kathak was subtly explored in the portrayal of Tulasidas’ Sri Ramachandra and Chand-kavith with gat nikas and kavith.Rendering of Sufiana kathak was the highlight. Clad in Islamic costumes the dancers never papered over postural correctness. How smoothly the dancers synchronised their movements! Whether it was an exhibition of Islamic prayers or the subtleties of the artistry of Kathak the dancers showed involvement along with correctness of technique.Shibani Patnaik of  USA was at home in the delineation of Pancha Bhoota (explanation of the five elements in nature integrated with Yoga and Pranayama)  and Hamsadhwani Pallavi (saddled with exquisite pure dance repertoire of Odissi dance).   Rajalakshmi Suresh and Roopa Guha trained by Guru  Chitra Chandrasekar Dasarthy presented Purandara Dasa’s composition Innu daya barade (Kalyanavasantha)  and Moguduchi (Shahana, Kshethragna) respectively. Their abhinaya was almost profound. The concluded with Kapi tillana.Madhulia Mahopatra led her Odissi show with her disciples which glowed with their histrionic talent. Thus unfolding of Dhyaye suvarna varna (on Durgadevi), Manini (the Radha-Krishna story) and Bajuchhi sahi bajare (the eternal love of Radha).VivaciousVilasini Natyam.Dr Yasoda Thakore of Hyderabad has been propagating Vilasini Natyam or otherwise called Devadasi Nrithyam. It is a comprehensive and authentic representation of the temple, court and theatrical dance traditions of Andhra Pradesh. Backed up with her researched inputs she acquainted the rasikas with the niceties of the form. Ganesha stuti was followed by an abhinaya act (Ye reethi bonkevu ra, Chakravaka, khanditha nayika). Yashodhara’s portrayal of a rustic eroticism was mature and meticulous. Parijatam was like Bhama Kalapam adorned with fluid footwork.