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Dual energy - Anna Rao Gangavalli e-mail:gvannarao@gmail.com  January 19, 2015 SICA program for the month of January featured a Bharatanatyam performance by the mother and son duo at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Auditorium, Hyderabad. Ramya Ramnarayan and Rangaraj Tirumalai gave a crisp presentation which held the audience’s attention and elicited their appreciation. Residing in the USA, Ramya is the student of Guru Rajaratnam Pillai. Her skills in abhinaya were fine tuned by Kalanidhi Narayan. Learning from such legends it was no surprise that Ramya gave a marvelous performance. The opening item consisting of verses from the Nalayira Divya Prabhandham was in Ragamalika and Talamalika. The authors of these stanzas were Thondarippodi Alwar, Periyalwar and Andal. Presented by both the artistes with finely etched abhinaya, it was steeped in devotion; bhakthi bhavam radiated from the poems of these saints. Alarippu focusing on rhythm and consisting of intricate adavus was briskly presented by Rangaraj. Annamayya’s famous song on Goddess Padmavati, Alarulu Kuriyaga was well chosen by Ramya and depicted Alamelumanga, the consort of Lord Venkateshwara as dancing gracefully while flowers are showered on her. Her gem studded anklets were tinkling in rhythm as she danced behind a semi-transparent curtain for the enjoyment of Hari.   The main piece of the program, a lengthy and demanding varnam, was done by both artists. This was a Navaragamalika on Devi Parvathi. Based on nine moods of the goddess it was first presented for Lalgudi Jayaraman’s 80th birthday. It featured the goddess in various rasas as Meenakshi, Dakshayani, Mahakali etc., highlighting the emotions connected to each manifestation. The fear of the goddess when Shiva swallowed the halahala poison to save the world from it was especially well depicted by Ramya as Parvathi and Rangaraj as Shiva. Ramya next presented a Kshetrayya padam Chudare in Sahana raga followed by a javali in Khamas by Pattabhiramayya. These abhinaya and nayika oriented pieces brought out the best in her. The final thillana was in Sindhu Bhairavi. Mangalam of Annamayya was on Dasavatharam and presented by both Ramya and Rangaraj. All in all it was a memorable program.