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| Arangetram: Ranjani Bachalli |
Suryaa Ramaswamy
11/03/2022
As summer was slowly giving way for festive fall, Lasya School of Dance staged their last arangetram for the season on August 20th. Needless to say, the arangetram performance of Ranjani Bachalli at the Littleton high school auditorium was a perfect finale to the school’s splendid summer season. The school not just staged 9 debutantes this year but also launched their massive dance drama production, ‘Rudram’, – Rudram staging 130 dancers. It was evident that Guru Sapna Krishnan, a New England visionary in the performing arts arena, did not spare any effort to make this summer truly refreshing and entertaining for all music and dance loving rasikas. Ranjani began her recital with a pushpanjali worshipping Lord Ganesha. True to the spirit of the raagam, Gambheera Naatai, Ranjani’s performance was energetic and vibrant. A Thyagaraja Keertanam ‘ Sri Ganapathim Sevimparare’, in rare Sourashtram, followed next, where Ranjani worshipped the dancing form of Ganesha and built the mood and momentum for the rest of her performance. True to her name, Ranjani then danced to a ‘Ranjanimala’, a song with four Ranjani ragams woven together beautifully to praise the divine feminine form. Switching effortlessly between abhinaya and faster rhythmic movements for the verses and swarams that quickly followed one after the other, her agility in movements were noteworthy. ‘Indu enage Govinda’, a unique and intricate composition of Shri Raghavendra Swami came in next and was one of my personal favorite dance performances from Ranjani’s arangetram. Dancing to a song that discusses the profound philosophy of life isn’t something that is easy for even a seasoned dancer. With a dhoti clad around her beautiful white costume and a thiruman in her forehead, Ranjani was a perfect vision in white when she came to stage. A 16 year old performing to a song that requires deep interpretation of life and existence, on her arangetram day, was quite a commendable effort. For the central piece of her performance, varnam, Ranjani danced to a challenging ‘Sriramachandra nannubrova’, a Telugu composition of Sri Poochi Sreenivas Iyengar in Thodi raagam. Right from the trikaala jathi up until the chittaswaram, it was impressive to see Guru Sapna’s effort in making the adavu korvais in this varnam truly unique. It was rooted in tradition yet steeped in innovation. Ranjani’s nritham responded well with equal measures of grace and power. Her facial expressions, body language and gait, enacting the various suitors attempting to break Lord Shiva’s bow in Mithila, remains fresh in my memory even after 2 months of watching her performance. By introducing candor and humor, Guru Sapna yet again reminded the audience that Bharatanatyam is not always about serious storytelling! When Ranjani commenced after the break, she started her performance with ‘Mahadeva Shiva Shambo’, a popular dance Kriti on Lord Shiva. Ranjani’s abhinaya to the stories in this dance piece was notably brilliant - be it the segment where she portrayed Ravana’s devotion to Lord Shiva or River Ganga’s roar as she cascaded down to the earth or Shiva’s anger as he locked the mighty river in his long, matted tresses. The recital then proceeded with a Keertanam by Annamacharya,’ Deva Devam Bhaje’ set to Kanda chapu thalam, enacting the noble deeds of Lord Rama. It was finally Ranjani’s turn to dance to every dancer’s favorite song in recent times – ‘Devi Stuti’ praising the all-in-one divine mother, who is the creator, protector, nourisher and yet is also the warrior and destroyer. Guru Sapna’s choreographic brilliance needs no mention here and was fully brought to life by Ranjani with a power packed performance. Aadinaro Ranga, a purandara dasa devaranama praising Lord Krishna was performed followed by the concluding piece for the evening, a Swati thirunal thillana in Bhoopalam. Ranjani’s movements pulsating to the rhythm of the music in this thillana gave an ecstatic finish to what has been a memorable year for the dance school. Sravya and Mahima, cousins of Ranjani, were the delightful master(s) of the ceremony for the evening. It was interesting to note that Mahima, an accomplished singer and dancer herself, completed her Bharatanatyam arangetram exactly 10 years ago, under the tutelage of Guru Sapna Krishnan. A befitting end to the event came in the form of Lasya dance school felicitating the highly revered vocalist, Sri Sudev Warrier for all his contributions to the dance school since 2009. It is to be highlighted that Sudev ji, along with the esteemed panel of accompanying artists, Sri Nagarajan, Sri Shivakumar and Sri Ananda Nadayogi made this year’s arangetrams truly memorable and enjoyable for all of us almost after a long gap of 3 years. Ranjani’s dad could not have summed this up better with his heartfelt vote of thanks. As the curtains were drawn at the Littleton high school, symbolically marking the end of a glittery arangetram season, the timer in my head had already begun the countdown to next summer. Waiting in anticipation, until then.
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