Dancers came and went in quick succession, keeping the audience delighted with varied forms of dance, at the two-day Sree Yasodha Mahotsav dance festival in Thiruvananthapuram. The festival featured some young talents from the country and a few from abroad. Among the solos, duets, trios and quartets that were presented, – some of them excelled, though their performances were limited by the constraints of recorded music.
Dhwani Ensemble
Dhwani Ensemble – Vaanmadhi Jagan, Sahana Sridhar and Rashmi Udupa – kicked off the festival. The group seemed to be fond of Lord Shiva as all their items were linked to him, starting with ‘Sankara Srigiri...’, ‘Gale Bhujang...’ and ‘Shiva Panchakshari Stotra...’ . The three were confident on stage, precise in their movements, and succeeded in making their Bharatanatyam recital profound with their involved stage presence.
Vidhya Sharma
Vidhya Sharma, coming all the way from Indonesia, made best use of the opportunity to showcase her talents in Kathak. She had an impressive start with graceful footwork ending on 'sam' and made those chakkars look so effortless. By presenting the heroine's love towards Krishna in the thumri, Vidhya proved her skills in abhinaya as well.
Maya Ensemble
Team Maya – Shekar Rajendran, Neethu Anand, Sushanva Prakash and Anjali Srikant – were keen to keep the audience entertained rather than making it a Bharatanatyam recital adhering to classicism. The two items they chose to perform – ‘Nadanamanohara Nagabharana...’ and Ganesh sthuti, were laced with some interesting footwork sequences and animated postures, making their recital more of a visual treat.
Hemanta Kumar Kalita
Hemanta Kumar Kalita, a disciple of Pt. Birju Maharaj and Guru Munna Shukla, made his Kathak recital stand out with his crisp but clear style of presentation. ‘Shankar Girijapati Mahadev...’ was the opening item. He also presented a composition in praise of Lord Krishna. The dancer proved himself quite effective in presenting the nuances of the dance form – be it in nritta, nritya or abhinaya.
Madhulita Mohapatra
Madhulita Mohapatra packaged her Odissi recital with two ashtapadis from Jayadeva's ‘Gita Govinda’ - ‘Ramate Yamuna Pulina...’ and ‘Yahi Madhava Yahi Kesava...’. The lack of pallavi was compensated with dance segments between the stanzas. It was a treat to watch the dancer’s fluid movements, crisp footwork and correct postures. Her innate ability in handling abhinaya was noteworthy.
Astha Dixit
Astha Dixit looked gorgeous on stage in her off-white Anarkali costume. But it was not just about the appearance, Astha also succeeded in making her Sufi Kathak recital an absorbing experience. Starting slowly by executing those delicate footwork sequences, she reached a crescendo in Baba Bulleh Shah's ‘Tere Ishq Nachaiyaan...’
Guru Raju (Kuchipudi), Roopa Kiran (Bharatanatyam), Debanjana Roy and June Banerjee (Manipuri), Leena Malakar and Hridev Ray (Kathak), Nimit Gandhi (Contemporary dance), Raghu Nandan and team (Bharatanatyam) and Pramod (Kerala Natanam) were the other dancers who performed at the festival.
The fete was organised by Samudra Arts International in association with ICCR and Vyloppilly Samskriti Bhavan, Thiruvananthapuram.
