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 Graceful dance by Aparna Sarma- Parvathy Lakshmie-mail: parvathylakshmi39@gmail.com November 27, 2025 The monthly concert on November 16, 2025 presented by Aparna Sarma EG at the Kalankuram Festival held at Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai, featured the Ganesha kriti in the raga Chakravakam, "Gajananayutam," a composition by Muthuswami Dikshitar. This kriti is widely performed and features the "Gajananayutam ganeshwaram" pallavi and describes the lord as the "elephant-faced” one, followed by Ranjanimala Keerthanam in praise of the Goddess, which was delightful. Ranjanimala (Ragamalika, adi) is a beautiful composition by Thanjavur Shankara Iyer. This song is four line versed, describing the Goddess and is interspersed with swaras. And the charming fact of this song is that each verse is set to music with ragas having same names as the Goddess has in the verse such as Ranjani, Sriranjani, Megharanjani and Janaranjani. The korvais performed to the swaras were handled with grace and crispness.  The Varnam "Angayarkanni anandam kondale" in Navaragamalika, adi talam, is one of the masterpieces of the violin maestro Lalgudi Jayaraman. The Varnam is a significant piece in Bharatanatyam, showcasing both the technical and expressive aspects of the dance form. This central piece is in praise of Goddess Meenakshi, narrating the episodes of her Digvijayam, her marriage with the Lord, the story of Markandeya etc. The Digvijayam performed in the second part was a feast to watch. Aparna's prowess and mastery over nritta, nritya and natya came to the fore. In this varnam dominated by navarasams, Aparna as the warrior goddess shone brilliantly as she strutted around the stage in a chariot with a powerful stride in the Digvijayam scene. Aparna's range of abhinaya for even the smallest expressions were remarkable, the various characterisations of each emotion were striking, and had a wonderful impact on the audience. Aparna's dance was full of grace and her anga shuddham and adavu shuddham were richly transparent. This was ample evidence of the choreography of V Balagurunathan. The final item, a vibrant Thillana in the raga Kadanakuthukulam, composed by Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna, provided a fitting conclusion to the program and culminated in a Mangalam. The diverse footwork in the Thillana ended with a variety of poses and charis. It was a pleasure to watch Aparna's exuberant nritta throughout the item. She was captivating with her clean and complete diamond shaped aramandis, beautiful hand movements, and strong footwork with perfect finishes. Aparna Sarma is a talented upcoming artiste with immense promise for a bright future. With more opportunities coming her way, she will go places. Parvathy Lakshmi is a writer and critic. |
