On June 10, 2018, on a beautiful New England day, Sumana Rao brought the exquisite 2000 year-old art form of Bharatanatyam to life through her Rangabhivandanam, in Scottish Rite Masonic Museum in Lexington, MA.

Before every dance program, there are those mildly anxious moments that inhabits every member of the audience – just as the auditorium goes dark, the curtain raises, and the chatter dies down to a whisper and then quiet – how will the dancer look – tall? Short? Slim? Beautiful eyes? Is she nervous? How will the makeup be? What kind of dress? Sari type? Chudidhar type? Color combination? Contrast? What kind of jewelry? Because we are all ready to like her, ready to embark on this journey with the dancer, the beauty, the rasa, the moods, the music, and savor all images that she evokes and invokes. This evening was no exception. But there were two additional aspects – Sumana is the mother of a 25-year old and a college graduate, and not the standard teenager delivering a debut performance. Second, every one of the 366 members of audience, without a single exception, loved her. Unconditionally. Adored her.

So here was the audience, ready to love Sumana’s performance, no matter how she looked or dressed or danced. But we did not need to be concerned at all - within a few seconds, as the stage lights turned on, after Sneha introduced the first piece, Sumana put us all at tremendous ease. For, what we saw in front of us was not our dear friend who has been around the block a few times, but a superb dancer, confident, comfortable, with a dazzling smile, and ready to entertain us. And that is exactly what she proceeded to do. Over next 120 minutes, with nine items arranged in Margam style, she filled our eyes, our ears, our hearts, our souls, and our entire beings, and simply wowed us!

And she was just getting warmed up. For, the next two pieces were transcendental!

Sadaa Madim, a Krithi on Lord Shiva, composed by Saint Thyagaraja in Raagam Gambheeravani, is a  devotee’s plea to Shiva for protection.  Shiva is the embodiment of a number of things – bliss, compassion, happiness, power, grace, energy - the list is endless. And we witnessed everyone of these through Sumana’s exposition of this beautiful piece. My personal favorite is the taming of Ganga, who tumultuously flows down to earth following Bhagiratha’s penance to bring her from the heavens to gain Moksha for all of his ancestors who were cursed by a sage to wander the Paataala. Shiva tames Ganga’s turbulence by trapping her in his matted locks and letting her flow in small streams. We saw the entire story unfold in front of us – we saw Bhagiratha praying to Brahma, Ganga’s turbulent descent, and then comes Shiva, we could see and almost feel the matted locks, expertly trapping Ganga, and gently releasing her. En masse, I think the entire audience had goose bumps!

The biggest testimony to Sumana’s abhinaya skills occurred in this piece through Shabari. We saw the old, frail, and hunchbacked lady in front of us, overwhelmed with joy that she will finally see her long-awaited  beloved Rama, making sure that she assembles the sweetest of the sweet fruits for her Lord by actually taking small sample-bites, and experiences this boundless happiness when she finally gets the darshan. Fantastic. Superb. Mesmerizing. Bravo!

After a brief intermission, Sumana continued to take us on a Navarasa of emotions in the second half. The first piece was a Ragamalika on Devi and her multitudinous forms, as a Universal Mother, as a daughter, as Shiva’s consort Parvathi, as the Creative power of Shiva, as the Ferocious Kali, and the graceful and benevolent Lakshmi. As Sumana effortlessly evoked every one of these diverse, dramatic, and compelling forms of the feminine, she empowered every one of the audience, especially the female members, with vim and vigor and a resolve to take on the world!

On to the NC-17 portion of the evening, Netrandhi Nerathile, a padam in Ragam Husseini. This item is about a nayaki who is in love with Muruga, and takes Him to task for flirting with another woman by the river as the sun was setting. She’s especially enraged because she was right there and not long before, He was romancing her, showering her with love and kisses. She beseeches Him to return to her, as she has been constantly thinking of Him, forgoing food and worried to no end. We were so rooting for this Nayaki, as Sumana weaved the story in front of us, enraged as to how dare He do this to her, thrilled when she reminded Him of his love and kisses, and happy for her as she got her Muruga back!

From sringara, Sumana took us in the next piece to the ultimate love, between mother and child – Yashoda and Krishna. This unconditional love, whether he was a butter-thief or not, whether he ate mud or not, and ultimately whether he was the Lord of the universe are not, was effortlessly portrayed by our dear friend! And here was yet another wonderful moment of the evening. For many in the audience, the story of Krishna (and all other Hindu gods, for that matter) is not new. We have heard the story thousands of times. We have told the story hundreds of times. We have heard the songs hundreds of times. We have even seen the story unfold as a dance and as a drama countless times. So as Krishna goes on his jaunt to the river to play with his friends, with him looking for whatever mischief he can get into, as he sees the mud, we know exactly what’s going to happen. We smile and shake our heads when he savors and relishes that taste, goes for another handful, we inwardly rub our hands together as Yashoda gets wind of this and takes Krishna to task, and we wait, wait for that moment, that glorious moment when Krishna opens his mouth and shows heaven and earth and lightning and thunder and the entire universe to His divine mother Yashoda. And this extraordinary thing happens where this glorious electric bliss starts from our hearts, traverses our face and mind, arms and legs, travels all over our body, mind, and soul and fills our entire being! Thank you Sumana for providing us with this fantastic moment through your exquisite portrayal of this divine love.

Sumana ended the evening with a Thillana in Ragam Kadanakuthuhalam, a joyful rhythmic rendition, and embodies alluring poses and exquisite patterns of movement. Sumana did full justice to this celebratory conclusion of a beautiful performance.