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
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
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