The Dhananjayans at Nritya Yatri

July 8, 2013

Pune based Bharatanatyam dancer Meghana Sabade’s ‘Nritya Yatri’ is a concept of dance educational tours, where the young dancers get closer to their art by visiting places of interest connected to dance, to have awareness of their roots, the rich history of their dance form and traditional values with a hope that they pursue their passion for the art form a little longer.

Founded in Pune in 2011, Nritya Yatri has toured Chennai, Chidambaram and Tanjavur. The group visited institutes like Kalakshetra and Bharatakalanjali, Nataraja temple at Chidambaram and Brihadeeswara temple at Tanjavur where the beautiful sculptures of the Karanas are found. The students got an opportunity to perform in the golden hall of Chidambaram temple where Shiva performed his Ananda Tandavam.

The scope of Nritya Yatri has been expanded by organizing various dance related workshops and lec-dems.  A workshop was conducted on 31st May and 1st June in Pune by the Dhananjayans. While Shanta showed fabulous stamina that will match any young dancer, guru VP Dhananjayan’s expert guidance helped students to understand the meaning of Tamil verses better. Their senior disciple Gopu showed students the fast and rigorous steps in perfect aramandi.  


On 2nd June, the spectators of Pune witnessed a beautiful performance by the Bharatakalanjali troupe and the Dhananjayans. The character Manthara played by Shanta and that of Dasharatha played by Dhananjayan was a complete lesson in abhinaya. “There was nothing less or more than perfection, every scene brought tears to the eyes, sometimes of sorrow but mostly of joy that I am so fortunate to see and experience such a marvelous performance,” said one of the students. In spite of not knowing the language, everyone from kid to adult could understand the story through the expressive performance.


Artistes of Bharatakalanjali


Manthara - Kaikeyi

Dasharatha- Kaikeyi

In August, Nritya Yatri plans a workshop by taal yogi Suresh Talwalkar and a workshop by Bharatanatyam dancer Priyadarsini Govind in October. Nritya Yatri will also continue to offer its educational tours.