More than a hundred musicians and dancers participated in a three-day festival of music and dance organized by the Academy of Indian Performing Arts to celebrate twenty-five years of Nrityanjali, a dance school that is run by Jothi Raghavan. The festival was held from July 3- 7 at MIT Kresgee Auditorium.

The festival had varied activities including dance concerts, music concerts and panel discussions. The festival was inaugurated by the legendary Bharatanatyam dancer duo Shanta and Dhananjayan. Lakshmi Vishwanathan, a leading Bharatanatyam dancer from India was the chief guest. "Bharatnatayam is a classical dance form which is as relevant today as it was two thousand years ago when it originated,” said Dhanajayan in his inaugural address. “We are truly indebted to people like Jothi who over the past twenty-five years has been teaching this art form to so many children and thus helping this art form flourish in the USA. She has also sponsored concerts of leading artists which helped this cause further”. Lakshmi Vishwanathan, a lady of many talents impressed the audience with her eloquent speech. She also presented a song that she had specially composed for the occasion.

Kanya was the first presentation of the event where Jothi presented a perspective on Sita, Draupadi, Shakti and the women depicted in the Kama Sutra. Saturday began with “Ganesha” a dance-drama depicting the life of Ganesha. This was performed by the students of Nrityanjali. Manasi Jayathi was adorable as “Ganesha”. “It was so exciting to dance with my daughter” said Gita Iyer who along with her daughter learn dance from Jothi. Many parents expressed their ideas on what they saw as value in dance. “ Children learn more by what you do than by what you say and I think Indian children get inspired by the dedication they see in their dance teachers for the art. They learn to see the value in the India culture” said Kannabiran whose daughter Divya is a bharatanatyam dancer. The afternoon began with a panel discussion moderated by Dr. Uma Parameswaran, Professor of English in Canada. The discussion revolved around “Indian Performing Arts being an invisible thread that binds immigrant Indians together”.

The highlight of the afternoon was a performance by Shanta and Dhananjayan. Dhananjayan’s presentation of some excerpts from Nandanar Charitram was spectacular. “The beauty of Indian dance is that you can dance at any age. I am sixty-five now and I continue to dance” said Dhananjayan. It is the prayer of this writer that they dance forever for watching them is an elevating experience. A presentation by the local music group “Nataraj” followed.

The eagerly awaited “Banyan Tree”, choreographed by Lakshmi Viswanathan was presented in the evening. This piece was a unique tribute to Rukmini Devi Arundale, a woman who along with Balasaraswathi and others was responsible for the revival of Bharatanatyam. Lakshmi took us through the history and evolution of Bharatanatyam with a focus on the special role played by Rukmini Devi Arundale.

The festival included demonstrations of Pilate and Kalari. Other dance presentations included an exquisite solo presentation by Krithika Rajagopalan, who is the daughter and student of Hema Rajagopalan of Chicago, USA, and Shristi, a collaborative effort between many Indian American dancers.

A special mention needs to be made of the musicians who accompanied the dancers. These include Aravindakshan (Vocal), Ramakrishanan (Mridangam), Tara Anand (Violin), Raman (Flute), Revathy Ramaswamy and Durga Krishnan (Veena). Each one of them was outstanding and they did a fabulous job. Many of them gave short solo concerts during the festival. The male dancers, L. Narendrakumar and T.K Therucheclvam from Chennai and Sudarshan Belsare from Boston did an outstanding job. The event was a treat for dance lovers and thanks to Jothi Raghavan for making this happen.

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