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Murali Nritya
Madhuri in Dallas
The dancers for the evening were Gowri Ramaswamy (Artistic Director, Sampradaya Performing Arts), Lakshmi Chandrasekar, Roopa Guha and Sharmada Srikant and the budding students of Sampradaya. Following the
Natyanjali, an offering of prayers, the young artists of Sampradaya performed
Ganesha Sthuti set in Hamsadhwani. The children enacted the well known
story of Ganesha and Muruga fighting for the sacred fruit. The dance was
well choreographed with formations allowing the dancers to spread and span
the stage.
The centerpiece of the day was the famous Varnam of Dr. Balamurali Krishna in Gambheera Nattai, "Amma anandha dhayini." This was performed by Gowri, Lakshmi and Roopa. Their bhava and sancharis were self explanatory and their abhinaya for the sahitya made it easier to follow. The jathis in the varnam were well choreographed and the theermanams were crisp. In the varnam, the story of Abhirama Bhattar was beautifully depicted and in the second half, different forms of Goddess as creator, protector and destroyer of evils were enacted. The footwork of the dancers was impressive. Eight young artistes performed Saraswathi krithi in Mohanam. The highlight of this performance was the final frame that depicted Saraswathi surrounded by white lotuses. This was followed by a Javali in Senjurruti performed by Gowri Ramaswamy. Gowri's impressive abhinaya brought out the love between the nayika and nayaka. The program continued with two keerthanams, one for lord Muruga in Kunthavarali and on Isai (music) in Anandabhairavi. The concluding
item for the performance was the famous Kadanakuthuhulam thillana of Balamurali
Krishna, and Moksha in Lavangi where all the performers were together on
the stage. On the whole the performance was well choreographed and the
nattuvangam by Shobana Balachandra was commendable. The talented orchestra
included vocals by Dr.Venkatraman and Hari Ramakrishnan, mridangam by Harish
Narayan, veena by Gayathri Seshadri and violin by Saipriya Krishnan. The
thoughtful costumes were color coordinated. In all, it was a well produced
and well executed performance, bringing back memories of the good shows
I had watched in Chennai.
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