I have seen Soumya’s performance for more than a decade and will not miss it for anything. Soumya has been trained in the kalakshetra style and is a well-known teacher/performer in the Boston area. Blessed with both inner and external beauty and grace, she is the personification of delight when she dances. The space around her freezes and only Soumya and her dance matter. She is a beautiful dancer with excellent technique. She lives and breathes dance and one can see that in her performances.

On Thursday, September 25th at the Ashland temple, Soumya started with a Natyanjali in praise of Ganesha set to ragamalika and talamalika. The presentation was simply breathtaking. She executed the intricate nritta in the piece effortlessly. The music was adding to the visual execution by Soumya. Soumya tried to keep Devi as the subject of many of the items since this performance was for Navarathri celebration. The second item was Srichakraraja in ragamalika. This composition is in praise of Lalitha, Goddess of the Universe. The nritta and nrithya aspects of this piece was performed with elegance by Soumya. She followed this item by Simhasanathithe in ragamalika followed by a Devi Stuti. This was an old piece and Soumya executed this piece with finesse. She next performed a padam Mughathai kaatiye in Bhairavi. Soumya’s expressions were to the point and not exaggerated making one feel for the nayika. This abhinaya filled rendition was followed by tillana in Sankarabharanam. The tillana was one of the oldies from the kalakshetra items. It was packed with nritta which was performed with skill and flair by Soumya. It was the finale of her performance and made me want to stay for more and for Soumya not end her performance but keep going. She is able to elevate the audience’s feelings to the next level and brings complete bliss to ones mind. 

We are all lucky in the Boston area to have the opportunity of seeing wonderful dancers perform and Soumya is one of the best in that category. It was sad to see not many people show to see the performance since this was on a Thursday. It would be great if the temple gave opportunity for such caliber performance more often.