(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Local dance enthusiast Sudhakshina Shivkumar is set to showcase her talent at the upcoming dance production of Vishwatmaa.
With three films to her credit - including Persiakkaran a film entirely shot in Dubai - Shivkumar is marking her dance debut on April 4 at Emirates International School Dubai. The show free to the public has been choreographed by renowned Bharatanatyam exponent Lakshmi Venkatesh.
Dance is not a recent passion for Sudhakshina who has been a student of classical dance from the age of three. She has been planning for the event a graceful tribute to the life of Krishna for over a year with Vishwatmaa . The dance drama is strung together in a performance of eight dance renditions with Sudhakshina playing Krishna.
Sudhakshina says she chose to do her maiden performance with Vishwatmaa to offer something different as a tribute to classical dance.
“To me classical dance is divine and I don’t think one must pay to watch it” she says. “People are not as keen in our traditional art forms and with the performance we want to highlight the depth and aesthetics in classical dance.”
While Bharatanatyam is widely followed in south India Vishwatmaa is designed to have a wider audience appeal with songs in Tamil Telugu Hindi Malayalam and Sanskrit.
Sudhakshina says the idea for the performance came from her mother Shyamala Shivkumar and is choreographed by Lakshmi Venkatesh.
A professional classical Bharatanatyam dancer teacher and choreographer Lakshmi’s Narthaki Dance Academy in Dubai has trained students to perform in various cultural events. She has performed at all prestigious sabhas in Chennai during the Margazhi season and has won accolades and critics of the press.
Sudhakshina has earlier performed with Salman Khan in Dubai and won the Boogie Woogie dance competition on Sony TV.
Following Persiakkaran she went on to do two Tamil movies; the first Idhu Enna Maayam directed by AL Vijay of Kireedam Madrasapattinam and Saivam fame and the other by award-winning director Janaki Vishwanathan. Idhu Enna Maayam also starring Vikram Prabhu is a breezy rom-com that will appeal to youth says Sudhakshina.
She says tremendous effort has gone in from the entire team for Vishwatmaa with rehearsals starting many months ago. She will perform in five of the eight dances and has just a three-minute break for costume change before each successive act.
Vishwatmaa will also feature 35 other dancers with Lakshmi Venkatesh performing as Rukmini. The team expects to take the dance form to Abu Dhabi Bahrain and India shortly.
Catch the free show on April 4 at 7pm at Emirates Theatre Emirates International School Dubai. Gates open at 6pm.