It was not just turning another leaf in the annals of Natyanjali School of Dance after the celebration of the school's year-end Program on June 18, 2016.  Indeed it was an occasion of 'stock taking' of learning, progress and eliciting areas of rejoice, replenishment and recuperation.  In a nut shell, it was an elegant exuberance comforting the hearts of the audience on a mid-summer afternoon.

At the outset, Guru Jeyanthi Ghatraju referred to the ethics of this school in all humility - performing for the needy and bringing dance to those who cannot reach it. Her students, wide ranging composite aspirants of Bharathanatyam, 5- 30 plus years of age, show-cased their rich learning to the delight of the viewers. The program was well formatted on the margam style, from Pushpanjali to Thillana. Jeyanthi chose to present alarippus in different tempos (thisram/khandam/misram), alarippu being a deliberate casualty nowadays. It was a novelty and was quite educational in demonstrating the concept of layam or tempo. The audience enjoyed it every bit.          

The brisk pushpanjali in ragam Vijayavasantham by Pooja Kumaravel and Rishika Makkena set a very good pace for the proceedings. Beginners, (Advika Swamy, Charvi Veeramachaneni, Ishika Pandi and Megha Veeramachaneni), evinced astute adherence to the basics of this sacred art, presenting invocatory slokams, and Maha Ganapathim. Sri Muthuswamy Dikshitar’s Shakthi sahitha Ganapathim, performed by Deepthika Vedavinayagam, Shreya Manikandan, Priya Soundar, Reya Kannan and Yuktha Jonnalagadda, was another novel piece. Synchronization among the students was great and everyone appreciated the choreography.

Alarippu in thisram was presented by Deepthika Vedavinayagam, Shreya Manikandan, Reya Kannan and Yuktha Jonnalagadda, Khanda nadai by Keerthana Dutta and Lasya Dutta and Misra nadai by Gauri Narayan. If the learners played laudable items, with effortless ease, the 'arangetram' students (Gauri Narayan, Keerthana Dutta and Lasya Dutta) stamped their eagerness to go on stage for the coveted occasion arriving shortly.

The highlight of the entire proceedings was the excellent exhibition by the “motherly” and mature aspirants (Archana Selvaraj, Aruna Patibundla, Sobha Makkena and Vijaya Swamy) - who are prompted by sheer dedication and involvement. In fact almost all of them are pursuing this art after a long lapse due to various reasons.  They presented the timeless piece Namaste astu bhagavan by Swami Shanthananda Saraswathi.

Padma Loganathan, another passionate dancer and come-back mom, energetically presented a ragamalika/talamalika jathiswaram which kept up the momentum of the program.

Hamsika Vedavinayagam and Divyashri Prasath presented Subrahmanya kavuthuvam, Shankara Shrigiri and Devi Stuthi. Their enthusiasm and energy amazed us all – the latter two pieces had difficult jugal bandhis and the interwoven twin-paced movements in a lengthy padham.  It was their cherished will to perform that kept everyone bless them whole-heartedly.  Hats off to them!

Behind their stellar outfits, the onlookers could realize and appreciate the dancers' keenness and dedication to do their best and they were richly rewarded through great ovation with resounding applause after each item. Thus was the participants' authoritative awareness!

Is that all? No - the EmCee of the event - Jeyanthi Ghatraju merits all compliments for her innovative, illustrative and imaginative insight in structuring each item, preparing her students and making each item an interestingly enjoyable visual to cherish!

A special feature of the event is the dress-code introduced to the kids. The reality in this code highlighted the simplicity with which Jeyanthi’s Alma Matter, Temple of Fine Arts teaches art (“Art for just the love of it”). In this age of fancy costumes and pomp, it was a true replica of the spirit of oneness among Natyanjali family members.

During her event elaboration Jeyanthi pointed out that a full-fledged dance program simulates a journey to a temple. When we come out of the temple after darshan, our feeling is one of divine bliss; it was quite the same feeling after the culmination of the program - our hearts were full of contentment after witnessing enthralling performances from the dancers, done with simplicity and sincerity.  So, Jeyanthi proved it right.

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