Boston based master Bharatanatyam performer, choreographer and teacher Smt. Jothi Raghavan commemorated the 40^th anniversary of her school of dance, Nrityanjali in a dance-drama festival held on three consecutive evenings, July 28, July 29 and July 30 at the Littleton High School Performing Arts Centre in Littleton, Mass. Born in July 1977 out of a request from friends who urged Smt. Jothi Raghavan to teach dance to their children, Nrityanjali dance academy has successfully trained scores of students in the art of Bharatanatyam dance.

On the opening evening of the dance festival, Friday, July 28, the Bhagvad Geetha chapter of the Hindu epic Mahabharata was staged by over 30 dancers in a production titled “The Vision of Vyasa”. An intellectual exploration of Indian philosophy, the theme was to show how dharma (righteousness) prevails over adharma (unrighteousness) in the war between Kauravas and Pandavas. Jothi likened the fight between evil and good with the constant battle that happens in our minds everyday with Lord Krishna in the form of super consciousness within each of us guiding us by separating the “right” from “wrong”.  Simple stage backdrops illuminated through creative lighting , crisp poetic narration, elegant costumes and accessories, graceful dancing to melodious musical compositions in classical ragas set to a wide variety of rhythmic cycles by the well-known local musician Smt. Tara Anand made for an immersive experience. Guru Tara Anand’s disciples, vocalist duo Aditya Ravikanth and Srivatsan Raghavan accompanied on the violin by Rasika Murali (daughter of the renowned vocalist, the late Smt. Geetha Murali) who shared stage with Chennai based stalwart artists, flautist Sri H.S. Venugopal, Mridangam artist Sri.N. NarayanaSwami and Nattuvanar Sri. Thiruchelwam Pillai impressed the audience with their phenomenal musical delivery.

On Saturday, July 29, at 3pm, over 50 Nrityanjali students staged “Margam” showing it as a path to understanding Bharatanatyam in its many facets: “Nritta” or pure dance with intricate footwork, “Nritya” or dance through bodily movements, and “Natya” or the interpretative enactment through facial expressions. Traditional dance items such as Pushpanjali, Mayura Alarippu, Muralidhara Kauthvam, Jathiswaram, Navarasa Varnam, three Padams and a thillana composed by the legendary Dr. Balamurali Krishna were wrapped up with a crisp Mangalam. Local performers and teachers, Smt. Bhuvana Ganesh provided vocal music while Smt. Durga Krishnan played the Veena. The flautist, Mridangam and Nattuvangam were provided by the same team from Chennai that had performed the earlier day. Senior disciple Manasa Jayanthi, in a moving vote of thanks speech said that “Smt. Jothi Raghavan, a very humble, wise and nurturing teacher is a great mentor in developing character and personality in all her students.”

In the second segment of the July 29 presentation, Shri Narayana Sathiyamurthy gave an excellent preview of what the audience could expect to see in the Srimad Bhagavatham production at 7pm. The story of Bhagavatham was narrated magnificiently through mime and dance aided by an imaginative musical score by Bengaluru based Varijashree Venugopal and masterful stage lighting by Sri Venkatesh. Smt. Jothi Raghavan as Kubja, Krithi Nathan as Rukmini, Manasa as Rukmi, the dancers who played the roles of the elephant, two wrestlers, cowherd Krishna and Lord Krishna were particularly impressive.

The finale was held on Sunday, July 30 at 4pm with the staging of the production “Krishna Trishna” depicting the love of a devotee towards Lord Krishna, who is the epitome of the devotee’s desire. Smt. Jothi Raghavan recited several Azhwar verses in Tamil, explained their meaning in English and played the role of Parankusa naayika with great bhava. Powerful and pleasing live music by Atlanta based vocalist Sri. Prasanna Venkatesh, Veena by Smt. Revathy Ramaswamy, Mridangam by Hari Shanmugham along with stalwart artists from Chennai, Sri Narayanaswami, Sri Venugopal and Sri. Thiruchelwam Pillai brought great joy to the audience. Shadow play aided by artistic stage lighting, excellent use of the space on the stage, fluid dancing and striking group formations were the highlights of the finale.

The Nrityanjali40 team consisted of the executive committee led by Gita Iyer and Preethi Pratap, publicity committee led by Vidya Shankar, Sumati Ram-Mohan, Sowmya Varada, fund-raising and ticket sales committee, pre-event and event management committees consisting of several dedicated volunteers. The talented choreographer, dancer and teacher Sri. Thiruchelwam Pillai from India spent the last six weeks training Nrityanjali students. 37 current students participated in the event along with 21 senior students who graduated but kept in touch. There were full-time professionals, homemakers, mothers and daughters who participated in the event along with young school aged children.

In a post on Facebook, founder and artistic director Smt. Jothi Raghavan “Anything I say of the three day event will not be adequate to describe the magic that happened on stage and off-stage. This was like the magic of Krishna’s flute music that we hear poets and seers describe. It had to be experienced to comprehend. The collective energy was amazing. There was no distinction between the performer and the audience – we journeyed together with one event flowing into another.”

Being a performing artist requires great discipline and full-time dedication but training students requires even more – patience, generosity and a sincere desire to impart knowledge to those who are interested in learning the classical arts.  Kudos to the dedicated founder of Nrityanjali, Smt. Jothi Raghavan who has done an exemplary job of cultivating a love for classical dance in aspiring dancers and for demonstrating how Bharatanatyam can be used as an effective medium for telling epic stories which are an integral part of our rich Indian heritage.

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