2016 Jul - Keerthika Ravikumar Bharathanrithyam Arangetram

Keerthika Ravikumar (Keerthi) successfully completed her Bharathanrithyam Arangetram on Jul 23, 2016 at the beautiful Rose and Alfred Miniaci Performing Arts Center in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

Let me start with a small episode that took place a few years ago.  Ravi and Usha brought Keerthi to our house for a function.  During dinner as usual I was serving water to everyone.  Keerthi said “Uncle, I should be serving water to you!”.  How thoughtful?  I said “There will be a time you will return the favor”.  Performing her Arangetram Keerthi has gone beyond returning that favor!  Thank you, Keerthi!

Overall, Keerthi’s strength is her bhavam or the display of emotions.  Sangeetha Sridhar, the teacher, turned out another one of her gems.  Keerthi has very strong posture, forms and strength because of her training in Martial Arts.  All the same she can act out a scene with grace.  Sangeetha played it to Keerthi’s strength.  It was like watching a colorful bundle of joy moving through the stage painting a beautiful picture for the audience.  Keerthi had a permanent and genuine smile on her face through the entire program.  Keerthi, with the able guidance of Sangeetha, managed to blend the subtle moves of Bharathanrithyam with high kicks of mixed martial art.  It was a joy for the entire audience.

Let us go to song-by-song:

Thodayamangalam – traditional invocatory song seeking the blessings of the greatest dancer and dance master of all, Lord Shiva.

Pushpanjali in Gambeera Nattai/Adi – Salutations and floral offering to mother earth, guru, god, musicians and the audience.

Sri Ganesha Charanam in Thilang/Adi – worship of Lord Ganesha the remover of obstacles.  The song had a few opportunities for Keerthi to show her skills in abhinaya (acting).  Nicely done

Iruvinai Irul Agatrum in Hamsadhwani/Adi – the song was written by a South Florida resident, Dr. Venkataraman Balu on the Lord Surya.  The song depicted the devotees praying to Sun God for good health, success and prosperity. 

Varnam in Simhendra Madhyamam/Adi – this is the main piece depicting various stories of Goddess Meenakshi.  Varnam in any traditional margham (sequence of dances) is the most difficult piece testing the endurance and all aspects of dance.  Keerthi beautifully enacted the stories of Goddess Meenakshi in the song.  Meenakshi was born to a king in Madurai in South India after a penance.  She comes to life from a sacred fire (homam) as a three-year old child and the king brings her up as a son teaching her the warfare etc.  She kills the evil king who was trying to conquer her kingdom and finally vanquishes the demon Mahishasur.  These are difficult pieces requiring Keerthi to show anger in her face.  Story telling is an important of successfully completing the Varnam.  Keerthi is passing the test in flying colors – literally and figuratively.

Aarupadai Veedamarnda in Ragamalika/Adi – Keerthi takes us on a tour of Tamil Nadu showing the six main temples of Lord Muruga.  Each temple has its own unique characteristics.  Very nicely depicted.

Theruvil Varana in Khamas/Rupakam – in this song the heroine is waiting for her Lord.  You can imagine the scope for abhinaya and bhavam in this song.  Keerthi does full justice to situation – nice work.

Thillana in Nalinakanthi/Adi – fast paced number that suited very well for Keerthi’s personality.  Thillana has several combinations of steps and tastefully placed pauses.  During these pauses the dancer will stop to give a pose.  It is very enjoyable to watch.  Nice choreography which is always an expectation in a dance arranged by Sangeetha.

The performance ended with a Thiruppugazh song in Shanmugapriya/Misra Chapu and Mangalam

Jayanthi aunty joins me in blessing Keerthi for a successful college experience at Mercer and get everything her heart desires.  Lots of love.

2016 Aug - Dikshitha Shankar - Bharathanatyam Arangetram

Congratulations to Dikshitha Shankar on the successful completion of her Bharathanatyam Arangetram on Aug 14, 2016 at the Sunrise Civic Center in Sunrise, FL.

First, enjoy the write-up of Manusri Viswanathan who is also a student of the same art.  The write-up shows Manusri’s depth of understanding of the art and will soon be performing her own Arangetram.  We are truly blessed in South Florida to have such talented teachers and eager students.

“Dikshitha Shankar performed and completed her bharatanatyam arangetram tonight. During this graduation, she showed a variety of nrittha (beat), abhinaya (expressions), and mudras (hand gestures). Dikshitha performed with precise footwork that coordinated well with the mridangam and nattuvangam. Through the varnam and padams, she conveyed various emotions in devotional pieces. She demonstrated Parvati's love for Shiva in her varnam combined with complicated nrittha portions. Dikshitha's dedication and the excellence of her instruction was evident in her crisp footwork and good technique. She was a great debut performer for Nrityalaya School of Dance USA under her guru Shilpa Krishnan - Manusri”

Congratulations to two key individuals are in order.  First to the teacher Shilpa Krishnan, as Manusri said this is the first Arangatram from Shilpa’s school, Nrityalaya.  Second, of course, to Dikshitha Shankar.  The dance style, choreography and the arrangement of song sequences were very different from what South Florida audience was accustomed.  For example, Alarippu had included in it a brief scene enactment and then came right back to the pure nritta aspect of the dance.  Thillana was beautifully punctuated with a lot of sculptured poses.  Varnam was clearly the highlight of the performance with a unique Ragamalika song with the names of Ragams cleverly disguised as part of the lyrics – made us all listen intently.  There were many firsts in this Arangetram and the credit goes to guru-sishya (teacher-student) the dynamic duo.

Dikshitha’s arangetram will be one of the memorable performances from South Florida students. For Dikshitha the dance came out from a place very deep inside her.  The dancer felt it, the musicians felt it, dance teacher felt it and the audience felt it.  We could all see it as well that Dikshitha thoroughly enjoyed the dance.  The other thing with the performance was that it kept getting better as the evening wore on.  One noteworthy feature of the entire performance was Dikshitha’s arai mandi posture or half sitting posture – this made the dance very pleasing to watch.  Having brought up a dancer in our household I know how difficult this is – kudos to both Shilpa and Dikshitha.  When it was time to end the performance Dikshitha could have started all over and give another performance – such was the energy.

Dikshitha, you mentioned that you had to overcome a lot of obstacles to reach this stage.  But whatever they are or whomever they may be – be thankful.  Without them you may not have given such a stunning performance.  You made your parents and your teacher very proud and in fact you made the entire community proud with your achievement.  Jayanthi aunty joins me in showering our blessings.  I am very happy that you have decided to take on dance as a minor in college.  Wish you the very best.

The singer Madhu Chandrasekar gave a superb performance especially in the varnam ably accompanied by Sri Venupuri Srinivas on the mridangam and Sri Guruprasad Kathavate on the flute.  Nattuvangam was of course by the teacher, Shilpa Krishnan

Song sequence, for the record –

Thodaya Mangalam followed by a Kauthuvam on Lord Ganesha

Alarippu – pure dance item showing that the dancer has mastered the fundamentals.

Jathiswaram in Hamsanadam/Rupakam – beautiful choreography

Sabdam in Ragamalika/Misra Chapu – dancer shows lot more abhinaya (acting out) in combination with pure dance

Varnam in Ragamalika/Adi – great piece with a lot of beautiful ragams including Todi, Mohanam, Shankarabharanam etc. 

Appan Avatharitha in Karaharapriya/Adi – story of Ayyappa

Karunai Pozhiyum in Hamsanandhi/Adi – song was written by one of South Florida’s beloved Mrs. Kamu Ayyar.  A song on the sage of Kanchi

Aduvum Solluval a Padam in Sourashtram/Adi – a social scene of trivial gossip

Thillana in Rageshri/Adi – excellent choreography

Finally Kurathi in Ragamalika/Adi – a gypsy dance excerpted from Kuttrala Kuravanji