Anagha Deshpande a fourth grader at Basha elementary gave her Rangapravesha at Chandler Center of Performing Arts Chandler Arizona on September 16th, 2007.  Anagha is the first student to study the Vazhuvoor style of Bharatanatyam under the guidance of her Guru Mrs. Nita Mallya at Sampradaya Dance of India, Phoenix, AZ.

Bharatanatyam has been an important part of Anagha’s life from the tender age of five, when she began her training under the guidance of Mrs. Ranjani Saigal in Burlington, MA. Since coming to Phoenix she has continued making remarkable, even outstanding, progress, due to her hard work and commitment arising from the inspiration of her Guru Mrs. Nita Mallya. Today she continues to learn the art from her Guru who is a shining example, with total love and dedication.

The master's of ceremony for the evening was Malavika Mallya (a senior at Corona Del who recently did her arangetram on Aug 18th) and Chitra Shashikiran who happens to be Anagha's music teacher. The chief guest for the evening was Ms Nancy Genys who is the director and owner of "Class Act performing Arts academy" dance studio in Gilbert, AZ. The accompanist for the evening were Guru Smt. Nita Mallya on nattuvangam,  Smt Neela Ramanujan on vocal, Sri N.G.Ravi on mridangam, Sri Rajkamal on flute, Sri Pramad Kiran on rhythm pad and Smt Chitra Lingam on veena.
Anagha's uncle Dr. Gururaj Deshpande gave the welcome speech and Anagha started the evening with thodaya mangalam followed by Mishra jathi alaripu. Jathiswaram a pure nritta piece was in raga Vasantha.  The next piece was Mutjuswami Dikshitar's composition "Kanjadalayatakshi " in raga Kamalamanohari. This kriti was on Goddess Kamakshi at Kanchipuram.
Varnam for the evening was a composition of Papanasam Shivan in Raga Nattakurinji. The expressive versus of this varnam was the dancer's Devotion towards Lord Nataraja.

The second half started with devarnama, "Chandrachooda"  a Krithi on Shiva & Parvathi in  Ragamalika set to Adi thala. This is a popular Purandaradasa'a devarnama, shows how Shiva sitting on his vehicle Nandi happily travels all around the 3 world. This krithi also depicted different stories like story of Lord Shiva swallowing the Kalakoota poison to save world and the story of Markandeya.

The padam for the evening was about our beautiful prankster little Krishna ,who lives in the alleys of the temples of King Nanda, being a menace to neighbours  stealing butter, troubling women who are on their way to fetch water .

Anagha performed the snake dance Nadarmudi in raga Punnagavarali. This dance tests the dancer's flexibility, balance & as to how agile a dancer is in her movement, where her body is required to stretch & bend in various poses.

The grand finale for the evening was Balamuralikrishna's Thillana in raga kadanakuthuhala followed by Mangalam. Thillana was full of complicated movements, postures and Muktayas. This Thillana's abhinaya was in praise of Lord Krishna playing the flute beautifully & charming all those around him.

Comments about her Arangetram


Shubhada,
I am still in awe with little Anagha's dance performance!  Honestly, I was not expecting a 9year old to give such an wonderful performance! The audience was spellbound and she looked like a little "Devi" on the stage! She was so perfect from head to toe! You really are blessed to be her mom, a true gift from God! I have been to many arangetrams over the past 25yrs, but none as incredible as Anagha's! This is my sincere statement. I congratulate you and your husband and wish Anagha much success in her future pursuits. I would like to keep close tabs on all her achievements! I commend Nita Mallya for being such an awesome teacher as well.
-Rashmi


Hello Anagha,
Thank you for sharing your beautiful dance with our community.  I have never seen such incredible dancing before.  You are a talented and beautiful young lady and I know your parents must be so proud of you.
Keep up the wonderful work.  I was in awe of your dancing and flexibility as I had never seen that dance form before.  It was a moving performance.
 
Sincerely,
Laura Neel

Hi Nita Didi!
I did not get a chance to rave about Malvika's beautiful performance for her arengetrum. I was absolutely spell bound and the most wonderful part was to see her joy and passion for the art. It looked like she was dancing for her Guru, for herself, and for the love of dance! Thank you so much for inviting me, I was so happy to have shared in that moment. 
Thank you also for inviting me to your little one's arengetrum the week before – I truly regret missing it as I was in San Diego with family but I heard so many people say they were completely blown away. Sadhana, who learnt Bharatnatyam and completed her arengetrum from Dr. Geetha Upadya in England, said she had never seen such a performance in her life. 
Please do keep me in the loop for such stellar performances; it is such a joy to see such artists inspired by such a wonderful Guru ;) 

Rachna
Rachna Mathur


It was our privilege to attend your dance debut. It was an amazing performance.
You really are a Prodigy, keep it up.
Wish you all luck in getting your dreams fulfilled.
    
Kavita Tungal

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