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Geeta Sirisha charms with her performance - Shobha Sri e-mail: shobhasri9596@gmail.com January 23, 2017 Geeta Sirisha was the opening performer of the evening for Rasa Sanje on 8th January 2017 at ADA Rangamandira, Bangalore. She had everyone in her grip from the beginning with her grace and involved abhinaya. Sirisha started her performance with a Ganesha Stuti "Ananda Nartana Ganapati" (raga Nata, adi tala). It was simple, neat and energetic, followed by a varnam "Neela Megha Shyama Sundarana" (Ragamalika, adi tala) where the nayika is longing for Krishna's presence. She sends her friend, the parrot, to bring him to her. She pleads with the lotus to tell him that her heart is beating for him and asks it to bring her lord to her. In her beautiful depiction, she states that Krishna's play of his flute has such a power that it brings the entire world to a standstill - birds, animals, trees, people. Everyone, everything comes to a halt at the first note of his flute. Next came the Navarasas, which were wonderfully expressed, without any movement, any action, just expressions. Love, humor, sympathy, anger, courage, fear, disgust, wonder and peace - all these were shown in a few seconds. The fitting finale to the varnam was Satyabhama's story (episode of Thulabaram), which was clearly narrated and executed. She brought out each character beautifully, the content was short and neat for the audience to understand. Sirisha concluded her performance with a Telugu javali "Apaduruku" (raga Kamach, adi tala, choreographed by Bragha Bessell) where she is a young teenager and is infatuated with a guy. She tells her friend that everyone is gossiping about her that she is in close relationship with him and tries to convince her friend that it wasn't her fault. She promises her friend that she will never repeat her mistakes again, never repeat her silliness, but in the end when she sees him passing by, she runs to him and joins him on his way without a second thought. Sirisha's portrayal of the young smitten girl who just can't control herself at the sight of him was convincing and charming. The last scene where she says bye to her friend and runs behind him was truly cute. Music ensemble with Brunda Krishna Iyengar (nattuvangam), Deepthi Srinath (vocal), Srihari Rangaswamy (mridangam),and Vivek Krishna (flute) gave colossal support to Sirisha's performance which made the evening more memorable.