“Devi Neeyai Shakthi- Goddess you are strength”, was a Bharathanatyam dance performance by Bharathakalai School of Dance on September 24^th 2017 at Shri Dwarkamai Vidyapeeth, Billerica.

On the auspicious occasion of Sharad Navratri, Guru Smt. Jayshree Bala Rajamani and her students dedicated their dance to the Goddess. Each dance piece was designed as an offering to various forms of The Goddess, describing her power from fierce to compassionate, from knowing to all nurturing. The group came to Shri Dwarkamai temple to celebrate the festival through their dance.

Smt. Jayshree Bala Rajamani; the founder of Bharathakalai School of Dance,  along with her students Sandhya Vellayappan; Shelly Singhal; Shivangi Ranjan; Shivali Shrivastava; Mayari Bala Rajamani and Nithyani Anandakugan gave a splendid performance during the festival.

Smt. Jayshree Bala Rajamani is one of the leading practitioners and teachers of the ancient Indian dance form of Bharathanatyam in Massachusetts.  She resides in Lexington and teaches Bharathanatyam in Bedford MA. She was initiated into this art by her mother at a very early age; then came under the tutelage of eminent Guru, K.J. Govindarajan and specialized in Abhinaya with Guru Jamuna Krishnan. She founded Bharathakalai School of Dance in 1987 in New Delhi; she moved to the United States in 1995, where she still continues to teach and completes successful 30 years of teaching dance. Jayshree has been conferred the title “Natyamani – Jewel of Dance” by the Indian Cultural Society, New Delhi. In 2015, she started the “TriNethra: The Third Eye Festival of Dance” which aims at celebrating and promoting dance and dancers in the Greater Boston Area. She has Masters in Mass Communications from the Mass Communication Research Center, New Delhi, and currently is an independent documentary filmmaker.  Jayshree feels blessed to be able to pursue her passion for both filmmaking and spreading the love for dance.

The best friends group, Kumari Shelly Singhal; Kumari Shivangi Ranjan and Kumari Shivali Shrivastava are 10^th graders at the Westford high school. The group rocked the stage together and will also have a group arangetram next summer. We all wish them good luck for their group Arangetram. We all at Dwarkamai can’t wait for their Arangetram as we see them grow from little girls to beautiful and strong dancers.

Kumari Mayari Bala Rajamani; the Gurus daughter; is in the 6^th grade at Lexington Middle school and a beautiful dancer just like mom.

Kumari Nithyani Anandakugan is 11^th grader at the Acton/Boxborough high School. She just completed her Arangetam this summer. The auditorium echoed with praises and applause as Nithyani performed at her Arangetram.  Nithyani is true to her name; a beautiful, expressive and strong dancer. 

A range of dance pieces were performed by the Guru and Shishyas in a traditional format.

The program commenced with five stanzas of the famous Ganesha Pancharatnam describing the Lord Ganesha; penned by Shri Adi Shankaracharya, in Ragam Maalika was performed by Nithyani Anandakugan and Mayari Bala Rajamani.

Following the beautiful Ganesh Pancharatnam the dancers performed “Jatiswaram”; a traditional pure dance piece where the choreography is based on the melodic patterns.  A composition of Guru Shri K.J. Govindarajan in Ragam Mohanam, was performed by Shelly Singhal; Shivangi Ranjan and Shivali Shrivastava. A perfect synchronous energetic performance showing hard work and dedication to their dance.

Navratri dance cannot be complete without devoting a dance to the Goddess Shri Vara Lakshmi. During Shravana, on the Friday right after Poornima, women perform the special “Vara Lakshmi Vratam”, to earn the blessings of the Goddess Lakshmi in her role as Bestower of boons.  A beautiful dance piece describing the Vara Lakshmi Vratam was performed by Mayari Bala Rajamani, the music by Shri Muthuswamy Dikshithar in Shree Ragam. 

Dance offerings continued by a soulful Madhura Meenakshi dance performance by Nithyani. Madhura Meenakshi is a soulful dance piece celebrating Goddess Meenakshi - the one with a melodious voice and fish like eyes.  She is the most compassionate Goddess who gives boons to All Celestial and mortal beings. The dance depicted the story of Abhirami Bhatta who angered the king by mistakenly saying that the day was Poornima and not Amavasya.  The king ordered Abhirami to be beheaded by sun down.  Abhirami pleads to the Goddess to save him; the merciful and compassionate Goddess Meenakshi saved his life by tossing her nose ring into the darkened night sky. The lyrics of the song were written by Swami Dayanand Saraswathy, music by Shri Maharajapuram Santhanam in Ragam Bageshwari and soulful dance by Nithyani.

Where all the performance praised the goddess, Sandhya Vellayappan performed the Idathu Padam Thooki Aadum for the Supreme “Maha Dev –Lord Shiva”. A traditional dance piece that describes Lord Shiva's cosmic dance as he lifts one leg and dances.  Many characteristics poses of the Lord’s dance was displayed by the dancer. Sandhya danced with full devotion portraying the snakes adorning the Lords body as he sways, the crescent moon on His head shimmering, His tiger skin flowing with each moment, His ankle bells ringing out in rhythm to His foot movements. It is said that all this was witnessed by devotees in the temples at Chidambaram; surly a blissful moment that must have been.  The music composed by Shri Papanasam Sivan in Ragam Khamas was performed by Sandhya.

The show ended with a group dance performance. A proud moment for the guru as she danced with all her students on The Mangalam, offering thanks to the Gods and Goddesses.

The audience were full of praises for all the dancers while proud parents and guru thanked everyone. The artists expressed their gratitude for the opportunity to perform at Baba’s feet and amidst such an appreciative audience.

Following the tradition of Shri Dwarkamai Vidypeeth, Priest Pradeep Sharma thanked the artists and felicitated them with Baba’s shawl and prasad. This special day ended with Baba’s Madhyan Aarti and Maha-Prasad.

Shri Dwarkamai Vidyapeeth thanks Smt. Jayshree Bala Rajamani and her student for the gracing the stage with devotional dance offerings and celebrating the festival in their own special way.  

We wish Smt. Jayshree many more years of teaching dance and spreading her love for dance as she completes 30 years of proudly teaching dance. We wish her all the success as she works hard towards the third year of her dance festival “Tri Nethra- the third eye festival of dance”, Friday & Saturday, November 17^th & 18^th at Scottish Rite Museum in Lexington Ma. Tickets available at http://www.lokvani.com/lokvani/cal.php?stage=1&event_id=13514.

Pranam to Shri Dwarkamai Vidyapeeth for the platform, thanks to the artists for the musical treat; the Priest; all the Volunteers for their hard work and above all to Thanks to Baba for making this possible.

Shri Dwarkamai Vidyapeeth is a non-profit organization actively engaged in organizing health, social, spiritual workshops and events benefiting all. 

For further details visit: https://www.dwarkamai.com/vidyapeeth/events

|