---

Visesha Kala Poshakam Utsav February 14, 2014 The “Mylapore Trio” of Sri Sumukhi Rajasekharan Memorial Foundation conducted its 8th edition of Visesha Kala Poshakam Utsav, festival for dance from 20th to 26th January 2014 at Narada Gana Sabha mini hall, Chennai. Artists from across India gave impressive performances through the week. As the Trio felt the need to expose the talents of artistes from outside Chennai, there was a confluence of various dance forms of India like Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Odissi, Kuchipudi, Mohiniattam and Vilasini Natyam. Saranya Srivatsan, the guest of honour, applauded the earnest efforts of the Trio in promoting Indian culture. Incidentally, she is the niece of Late Sumukhi in whose name the foundation is established. Slide show The inaugural day kicked off with a vibrant Bharatanatyam performance by Chinmaya Hegde from Mysore. This was followed by an energetic Kuchipudi performance by Anupama Bhushan from Bangalore. The second day of the utsav featured a subtle and expressive Odissi performance by Ajay Shendge from Aurangabad. Next, Ipshita Rajesh from Mumbai presented a solo thematic Ramayanam with multi-lingual verses and dialogues. The third day of the festival started with a Mohiniattam performance by Rekha Raju from Bangalore, soothing with the graceful and gentle movements and a brilliant live orchestration. This was followed by a vibrant recital by Nitin Shirale from Aurangabad, with the exciting footwork and movements of Kathak. He presented the repertoire in traditional and modern method of costuming. The fourth day of the festival started with a multi lingual soul stirring Carnatic vocal concert by Shashank from Bangalore. This was followed by a lively and pulsating Mohiniattam recital demonstrating lasya genre and an effervescent Bharatanatyam performance representing tandava genre by Sugathan Mohandass - a rare performance of two dance styles by a male dancer. Next was a vivacious Bharatanatyam recital by Divya Ravi from Bangalore. Her selection of items was brilliant and received a big applause from the audience. The fifth day started with a Mohiniattam repertoire by Akhila Krishnan from Kerala, imbued with the distinct swaying movements of the art form. Vilasini Natyam by Poojita Krishna Jyoti from Secunderabad was graceful and had excellent nritta pieces. Her padam was unusual, as she sat on the floor and emoted. She is one of the very few artists who perform Vilasini Natyam in India. It was indeed a good opportunity to watch this distinct dance, which is being revived of late. The sixth day started with an Odissi performance by Sonali Mishra from USA, graceful in abhinaya with delicate movements. The Kuchipudi performance by Sree Veena Mani from New Delhi was energetic and included a tharangam item. On the final day of the festival, Gauri Swakul from Pune presented a neat Kathak performance followed by an enthralling Bharatanatyam performance by Uma Govind from Kerala. The weeklong utsav was a spiritual journey visiting all the holy places, worshipping deities like Padmanabha, Panduranga, Meenakshi, Jagannath, Rama, Krishna and Shiva through the keerthanams, javalis, padams, varnams and thillanas. The Trio emphasized the importance of spirituality and bakthi through these art forms and at the same time stressed the need to promote cultural history. On this occasion, 300 children from kids to teens, who participated in 16 competitions based on the theme ‘Mylapore Mahatmiyam’ under three categories of Performing Arts, Fine Arts, Academic Arts in the 12th Year ‘Marghazhi Bala Utsavam’ received their prizes, medals, certificates and special prizes from the seasoned performers on all these seven days.