Bangara Dance Festival:
A Report.
by Ms.Lakshmi Sivakumar and Mr.P.Sivakumar

Silver Jubilee Celebrations of Nritya Kalamandiram, Bangalore speaks about a journey of the art so far so good, an initiative of a special day 25 years ago, Nritya Kalamandiram have ventured through all the ravages of times and tide, and today we have the " Bangara Festival" as a most coveted event in the annals of Classical Dance.

One evening amongst a series of presentation for the Silver Jubilee Celebrations was January 6, 2007. JSS auditorium, Jayanagar, Bangalore was the venue for the event.

The Evening commenced with "Ganesha Stuti" by dancing duo Radhika Chaitanya and Vandana Bharadwaj, disciples of the well-known Guru Smt.Bhanumathi With "Ganesha Stuti" the Artist begin to offer prayers to the almighty seeking his blessings for a successful performance. No doubt the prayers were answered in totality as the danseuse performed beautifully, indeed a good beginning for the evening's proceedings.

Ganesha Stuti was followed by a " Kriti" - " Jai Janaki Ramana" set to "Raag Malika" and "Khanda Chapu Tala". The duet artists presented very well choreographed episodes on " Vishnu Avatar". They had a good stage presence, as they were able to keep the rasikas attention on the stage.

Radhika Chaitanya performed a solo Padam titled " Aduyum Sholluval " Radhika as a "Swadhena Patika Nayika" was a wonderful presentation; she definitely showed a class of her stage experience with apt expressions. A Javali followed this Padam, as Vandana Bharadwaj presented a solo " Edeney Sakhi" set to Behaag Raag. As a " Vasaka Sajja" Nayika Vandana made very good attempt in portraying the Character. A high point of Vandana's performance was the transition from a " Vasaka Sajja" to a " Virohit Kantika" This choreography of the legendary Venkatalakshamma, the maestro of Mysore style of Bharatanatyam was well attempted in execution by Vandana. Tillana was the concluding item of the duet artist. It was based on the composition of Vidushi Smt.Dwarki Krishnaswamy, Set to Adi tala based on "Valachi Raaga".

The Guru's Choreographic brilliance was livened by the artists, with unusual combination of Adavus, they synchronized well performing Tillana. Both Radhika and Vandana showed good amount of fineness in their duet performances, lot of hardwork goes into such presentation and at the end of their performance, they surely might be delighted. Radhika Chaitanya drew home a point about having a lot of stage experience, while Vandana Bharadawaj too had a good performance, Vandana surely can rise to another high level in her dance, a control on breathing and some more expressive with her abhinaya, Vandana will be a much better dancer.

"Varnam by Couple dancers Anu Shridhar" They are a twosome, but their art shows, it is one heart of the Art with two wonderful artists. Love and Commitment towards dance, they have made it their Life. Anu - Shridhar can be easily remarked as the ones who live on the stage, and liven it up with their sheer presence, made for the Each Other can be said about Dance and Wonder Couple Anu - Shridhar. Highly commendable is the fact that though they are just a twosome, but they bring to life so many characters and situations. This is the Sheer Brilliance of the Artists. Anu - Shridhar performed Varnam, a composition of Shri Lalgudi Jayaraman in Raag Shanmukha Priya. This Varnam was based on Tirupati Venkatarmana, they danced to beautifully explicit the lord. Beginning with the tale of "Ahilya" Anu and Shridhar performed as an unfolding story that captured the audience attention.

Deen Dayalu followed bringing forth the compassionate Venkataramana, they danced the episode of Draupadi from Mahabharata, this episode was a bench mark of sorts, though the scene performed involved only Draupadi and Dushashana, you would feel the Lord Krishna's presence. Effective with such a high consistency the story of Vamana, Venkatagirisha followed. Chittey Swara and Charana - Word and dance about Venkataramana, were as wonderful as any moment during their brilliant performance. They concluded with the saying " Hae Rama, hae Padmanabha you are the one who showers happiness for all". The time Lapsed with the moving images of the twosome deeply engraved on the hearts of the rasikas. They reach our hearts through the eyes of the rasika, they reach into our hearts and we all cherish to keep the moving images with us all through life.

Their highest level of synchronization during their performance makes us believe, each bell of their ankle was striking simultaneously. The joy of dance, which the duo has, transmits to all; it becomes an attachment between the eyes of the rasikas with the wonderful artists. If one is a learner, he takes away lot from their presentation. Their Anga shuddhi, use of the available dance space, ability to reach the rasikas and be able to communicate with them. Abhinaya of Anu Shridhar, lot has been said and written about it, you need to live the art to be able to present the abhinaya of such high order. Their Jatis, the brisk footwork, Anu- Shridhar's energies of Jatis culminating into a stillness of beautiful postures was a hallmark of their presentation. Tandava and Lasya aspects in their performance emphasize hardwork and dedication by the artist that they have been able to maintain. Great Performances are about a cohesive effort and Anu - Shridhars performance this evening was woven around by support in the form of: Vocal - Bharati Venugopal, Nattuvangam - Master Kartik Datar, Violin - Dr.Nataraj Murthy, Flute - Sarwootham and Mridangam - Harsha Samoya.

The Concluding Performance for the evening was by dancing duo Josephine Savitha and Nagabrinda Srinivas, disciples of the well-known Guru Smt.Bhanumathi. The duo began with Shabdam, which was a combination of " Shollu Kattu" and " Sahitya". Based on the lord Shiva. The dancers were able to generate a mirror like flow of dance, such minutely worked on their synchronized moments. An energetic performance by the two some. Through the opening piece the young dancers seemed to have hit the best, complementing each other. One would just think, was it an after effect of Anu - Shridhars performance, the energies seemed to be there very much. Savitha and Nagabrinda then moved on to present showcased the plight of the devotees of Ranganatha Swami at Sreerangam, the dancers immaculately performed all the aspects from this mythological epic with, each portion from the story about lord Vishnu was very well performed, from his incarnations like Parshurama, their dance consisted a lot of adaptations about lord Krishna. They performed this piece beautifully. Josephine Savitha presented a Kriti in Poorvi Kalyani Raag, Adi Tala. She danced solo " Ananda Tandav" which was based on the song " Ananda Natamaduva Tillai." Savitha's performance as a soloist was a highlight of this performance, she was at ease in portraying the story about the beauty of dance of Lord Shiva, an item about Shiva and his Dance, his Characters truly seems to be the inspiration which led this young danseuse to perform with applauses for her neat presentation, she was flexible with poses in this item. Her dance was beautiful with confidence. Savitha was able to draw the attention of the audience with her flawless dance. Nagabrinda performed a solo Padam set to Raag Saveri and Roopak Tala. She portrayed a " Khandita Nayika" waiting for Lord Subramanya. The Padam was a dialogue between the Nayika who is outraged with the Nayaka for his behaviour, and not responding to her. Nayika proves to the lord how he was at other women's place by showing him the proofs, in the form of hair, kaajal, marks, and finally she asks the lord to leave. Nagabrinda's performance of this Padam was good, but it can come up many levels too, as an enraged Nayika her portrayal was slightly off mark, the abhinaya needs some push too. But once again with the concluding item for the evening " Tillana" it was yet again a crowning glory of the wonderful evening, the duo presented some very intricate footwork, and Mangalam was to end the evening. Their performance had it all the angasudhi and abhinaya, they are very good future for the art, with a little bit of fine-tuning in her expression Nagabrinda would do herself wonders.

The Audience in the full capacity applauded each and every performance whole-heartedly, a good performance needs to be applauded and encouraged as the audience rightly did.