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 Nalanda Festival and Awards ceremony - Vijay Shanker e-mail: vijaydance@gmail.com Photos: Suresh Muraleedharan March 15, 2025 Nalanda Dance Research Centre presented the Nalanda Nrityotsava and the distribution of the Nalanda awards that commenced on 10th January and concluded on 13th January at Kanaka Sabha in Juhu, Mumbai. It was amazing to watch fifteen young classical dancers in varied styles, performing on the same platform. At the inaugural address, Dr Uma Rele, director of Nalanda Dance Research Centre and principal of Nalanda Nritya Kala Mahavidyalaya said, "Nalanda Nrityotsava is an extremely popular festival as young dancers in different styles from various parts of the country are very anxious to participate in this unique festival. Every year we receive a lot of applications, but it is difficult to invite too many dancers. We present fifteen in different styles which is quite exciting. This festival is also a tribute to our beloved founder director Dr Kanak Rele, who took the initiative of this festival mainly to encourage young talent".  Kavya Pujara  Simran Cherayil  Anushkaa Ramanatan As usual Bharatanatyam and Kathak dominated the festival with some performances of Mohiniattam, Odissi and Kuchipudi. Bharatanatyam was performed by Anjali Hariharan from Chennai, Kavya Pujara from Ahmedabad, Shravani Sai Ram from Bangalore, Simran Cherayil from Mumbai, Kartik Manikandan from Kerala, Varun Shivakumar from Chennai, Mehak Chawla from New Delhi and Anushkaa Ramanatan from Mumbai. Kathak was performed by Rutuja Nadkarni from Mumbai, Nayanika Gangani from Haryana, S Vaidegi and Ananya Mohan Iyer, both from Bangalore. Mohiniattam was performed by Thomas Vo Van Tao from France, Kuchipudi by Washim Raja from New Delhi and Odissi was performed by Tamal Das. It's amazing that eleven dancers from the fifteen dancers were bestowed with the Nalanda Nritya Nipuna award for their outstanding performances. Mohiniattam by Thomas and Odissi by Tamal Das proved the point that lasya oriented styles can be performed by male dancers quite well.  Asamatvam Ayogam Nalanda's latest dance drama 'Asamatvam Ayogam' exposed the beauty and technique of four distinct classical dance styles of Bharatanatyam, Mohiniattam, Kathak and Odissi. This production weaves the stories from the Mahabharata with the wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita. At its heart, it explores the theme of imbalance, Asamatvam, the disharmony within the chakras and how this turmoil is ultimately transformed into a state of harmony and spiritual balance with the complete surrender to the Almighty. Conceptualised and choreographed by Dr Uma Rele, the participating artists were Dr Uma Rele, Dr Vaidehi Rele Lal, Tomohar Biswas, Prathana Patil, Radhika Nair, Shruti Varier, Gautam Joshi, Kimaya More, Avantika Pawar, Preshit Mehar, Maitryi Ingle, Gauri Jathe, Mohan Acharya, Jainami Gada, Gauri Ajith, Kavya Varma, Meera Wagh, Urvashi Gupta, Devanshi Shinde, Nadar Venkateswari, Shivalinagam Nadar, Karthika Murugan, Amanda Chetty, Santa Amane, Devika Sakhare, Soumya Chaudhary, Chitvan Majethia, Shreya Malvankar and Amit Munge.  Nalanda Bharata Muni and Kanaka Nartana Puraskar winners The Nalanda Bharata Muni award was bestowed on renowned singer Dr Suresh Wadkar, and veteran Kathak dancer Sunayana Hazarilal and Nalanda's Kanaka Nartana Puraskar was bestowed on Kathak dancer Gauri Sharma Tripathi, Bharatanatyam exponent Gayatri Sriram, Manipuri exponent Latasana Devi, Odissi exponent Guru Rabindra Atibudhi, Sai Venkatesh (President of Karnataka Nritya Kala Parishath) and yours truly. DREAM COMES TRUE FOR LAKSHMI RAJ For every classical dancer, it is a dream to perform at the Nataraja temple in Chidambaram, the most auspicious occasion being the Shivaratri. Mumbai based Bharatanatyam dancer Lakshmi Raj's dream was fulfilled when she performed for the 44th Natyanjali festival on Shivaratri on 26th February at the premises of the famous Chidambaram temple, organised by the Natyanjali Trust.  Lakshmi Raj Lakshmi Raj performed the composition of Guru Dandayudapani Pillai, the varnam "Karunai ni seiyya vendume" in Nattai Kuranji. The dancer commenced with the sanchari that explores the devotion of the teenaged devotee Markandeya as he is about to be snatched away by Lord Yama Deva but his devotion pays off as he clutches the Shivalinga tightly. Lord Shiva intervenes and the young Markandeya is saved and protected by the Lord. Lakshmi also portrayed the Amruta Manthan and the last sanchari throws light on the panchabhutas which is essential for living and well-being. Lakshmi's powerful abhinaya, complete involvement and the clarity of movements was well appreciated by the audience. Lakshmi Raj has established her own dance academy in Mumbai. She has been the disciple of Gurus Nandini Krishna and Lata Raman and under the guidance of Guru Dr Suparna Venkatesh, completed her Masters in Bharatanatyam.  Vijay Shankar is a Kuchipudi and Kathakali exponent, teacher, bilingual journalist, arts critic and actor. |
