NATYANJALI25, Natya Nostalgia - DESTINY'S GUIDANCE TO DEDICATED ACHIEVEMENT

Natyanjali School of Dance, based in Westford, MA celebrated the delighted occasion of a quarter of a century in the service of the ancient Indian classical dance – Bharatanatyam on 1st September, 2019 at the NESSP Shirdi Baba temple in Groton, MA. It is a privileged pleasure to have a passage through the glorious annels of the institution to have a first look at the coveted accomplishments.

Indeed the Founder, Jeyanthi Ghatraju, hailing from a remote town in South India, availed the opportunity of giving an enthusiastic performance at the age of 4. From then on, the urge to move further in learning never ceased. Her first solo performance was at the age of 16 again at another temple in an interior village. This had a special significance, in as much, she was exposed to the intriguing concept that dance could be a means, not just to entertain, but also to serve the community and the under-privileged. Later on this concept became the ruling motto of Natyanjali. Jeyanthi pursued her learning at the Shivanjali Temple of Fine Arts, Coimbatore, India until she moved to Canada for higher studies in Plant Biology.

Here sheer fortune laughed at Jeyanthi. It was quite interesting that when she assembled her belongings she failed to collect one - the anklets! Indeed it was reminded by one of her professors - her mentor, who also saw her off at Chennai airport. Little did Jeyanthi realize that she is being nurtured by destiny in her dance career! Indeed she did perform at various occasions, and teach a small group of dance students in 1994 in Calgary, Canada. The greatest turning point was her meeting with Dr Vasanthi Srinivasan, Founder of Natyanjali Ottawa, who upon just a casual talk for 5 minutes would hand over her 26 students along with 3 students preparing for arangetrams! Jeyanthi worked on the assignments earnestly, commuting from Boston to Ottawa. These interesting moments were good omens for the greater things to come. Keeping up her philosophy inherited from her younger days there was no looking back. That soon the small group of students in New England area grew and Natyanjali became an esteemed institution truly serving the community, is history.

With unassailable dedication, Jeyanthi's philosophy towards dance has never changed as she cherishes the quote 'Bhaaram thariyathi Bharatham - Bharatham (natyam) reduces one's burden. Incidentally this is what her personal and school mission focus on.

With this background structure and texture the school ventured into the celebration of the Silver Jubilee. Jeyanthi was clear about formatting the agenda inculcating the cardinal aspects of her mission, to make it a day of dance for all, beyond physical and mental abilities, a true sign of diversity and inclusion. Termed "Natya Nostalgia", to bring the happy memories on the art, the story behind the art, the thoughts that go into the art, and the glimpses to its inevitable evolution, 6 panel workshops namely glimpses of Natyashastra, Forms and Synergies, Rhythm in real life, storytelling for seniors, teaching dance to people with special needs,  aharyam, were largely attended by renowned dance teachers and eminent persons from the New England community. Notable among them were Massachusetts House Representative Jim Ariciero, Bernie Zubrowski from the Littleton Cultural Council, Rus and Deb from Groton and Margaret Smith from Westford. As Jeyanthi mentioned in her welcome address, “it was a day of grand blessing, supported by a core team of 12 members and many volunteers, as they jumped in and helped out with critical tasks in a timely manner”.

Following the auspicious lamp lighting ceremony, renowned Carnatic musician, Smt. Tara Anand, released the Natyanjali 25 souvenir, and the first copy was received by Smt. Rani Anbu, from Canada, who is Jeyanthi’s friend from her first dance class and prep school.

Smt Suman Adisesh who addressed on the rhythm insisted that even a pulsation that haunts and drives when handled with care, aid reverberations with the aesthetic delight.

Smt Sailaja Chaudhury and Smt Dristi Neog explored in depth the idea of symbiosis in the different forms of classical dance, Kuchipudi and Saatriya, respectively. They had a large class of 27 participants and engaged them actively with the dasavatharam/ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu.

Smt. Neena Gulati, a renowned and widely acclaimed senior classical dance Guru, had a unique task of training seniors and she stunned the audience teaching 10 seniors, while demonstrating joy, either feeling or spreading has no age bounds.

A special and a must component was the virulent panel discussion on teaching students with special needs, headed by Smt Meena Subramaniam. This was an important aspect as that brought to the fore many myths of teaching the art form to this special category of students. Smt Manasa Jayanthi dealt with the much-needed aspect of dance, the aesthetics of the aharyam/the physical adornments and walked the audience through a carefully planned process.

At the conclusion of the purposeful panel sessions, participants of different ages and proficiencies combined to present a dance to exhibit their prowess.  As fitting finale, students of Natyanjali presented a short segment titled, “Beyond Borders”, accompanied by a New England Carnatic music youth ensemble. While Jeyanthi played nattuvangam, Hamsa Shanmugam lent her voice, Hari Shanmugam was on the mridangam, Naresh Vytheswaran accompanied with flute and Srinidhi played the keyboard. The items were embellished with crisp choreography which bore the stamp of Jeyanthi's unstinted mastery. The outcome was worth the name 'Beyond Borders ' since it is generally uncustomary employ a new trend in dance event. 

The other aspect was a costume and jewelry donation/exchange to reuse precious costumes and raised $500 to support the efforts of Temple of Fine Arts, Jeyanthi’s Alma Matter!

Overall, it was a blissful program, addressing the varying needs of dance enthusiasts, and the conduct of the marvel celebration point to greater accord for Natyanjali to carry on its cherished concepts in its missionary path with renewed vigor. Amen!

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