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 Bandra Cultural Utsav and Ayyappa Sharanam- Vijay Shankere-mail: vijaydance@gmail.com March 16, 2026 BANDRA CULTURAL UTSAV - Celebrating Arts through Education and Inclusion Bandra Cultural Utsav celebrates Arts through education and inclusion. BCU is a performing arts festival organised by Shree Paavitra Arts Academy (Bandra) in partnership with The Dani Performance Project, conceptualized under the leadership of Dr Nandhini Ashok. The festival combines education with community engagement, India's classical arts on a shared platform with the exposition of Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Odissi, Mohiniattam and folk dances, held at the Carter Road promenade, open air auditorium in Bandra, Mumbai on 31st January 2026. It was a programme of youngsters, students of Municipal schools and some established performers too.  Keka Sinha  Devika Rajgor The programme commenced with the brief but brilliant performance by Kathak exponent Keka Sinha. She commenced with the beautiful 'Ganga Stuti', a composition of Adi Shankaracharya that portrays the advent and the significance of the Ganga, as to how the flow was controlled and ultimately placed on the hairlocks of Lord Shiva. She followed it with the precise footwork execution in teen taal.  Disciples of Dr Nandini Ashok Dr Nandini Ashok is the founder director of Shree Paavitra Arts Academy. Some senior students of the academy performed solo and group performances in the Bharatanatyam style. Devika Rajgor blessed with sharp features and a striking stage presence, performed the popular Dayanand Saraswati composition "Bho Shambho, Shiva Shambho" in praise of the lord as Nataraja, the cosmic dancer of creation, preservation and destruction with vibrant movements and poses. Kiarah Sanghvi led the group in portraying the eight manifestations of the goddess in Ashta Lakshmi, followed with another number by Anshita Kagalwala in praise of Lord Vitthala in the Marathi abhang. The grand finale in the Bharatanatyam performance was by Kyra Shetty in the intricate thillana. The dancers are quite talented and can shine with continued commitment.  Disciples of Jayashree Nair Mohiniattam dancers created quite a fine spectacle with the symmetry of movements, harmonious coordination and dramatic quality that created a lasting impression. Dancers from Upasana Academy, disciples of Guru Jayashree Nair interpreted an interesting number portraying the complete story of Lord Krishna with the dramatic exposition of episodes like Kaliya Mardana, Gajendra Moksham, Govardhana etc. The Municipal school children performed the popular folk dance of Rajasthan, Ghoomar with lot of enthusiasm.  Municipal school children perform Ghoomar The pleasing Odissi performance was rendered by the disciples of Guru Niveditha Mukherjee - Ramaa Bhave, Archita Tripathi, Ashrika Panda and Aahana Sahoo, who performed Vasant Pallavi in Ek taal, choreography by Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra and music by Pt Bhubaneshwar Mishra, showcasing typical body movements, intricate footwork that starts with sculpturesque poses and movements that gradually builds into a crescendo to fast tempo. They also performed Naba Durga, the eight manifestations of the goddess like Ban Durga, Maha Durga, Giri Durga, Jaya Durga, Shuli Durga, Durga Mahishasura, Shakti Durga, Ghor Durga and Chanda Durga that incorporated the varied facets of the goddess, being benevolent to the virile aspect and much more.  Disciples of Niveditha Mukherjee Established in 1997, Shree Paavitra Arts Academy is devoted to the preservation and advancement of Indian classical arts, while aligning with the contemporary education. The academy's long term vision focuses on integrating structured arts based on skill development into school curriculum, beginning in India and expanding globally, enabling students to emerge into cultural education at an early age. The programme was organised in association with the Brihanmumbai Mahanagar Palika (BMC) Education Department and also as part of the Mumbai dance season of the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA). Chief guest was the cultural minister, Advocate Ashish Shelar who praised the efforts of Shree Paavitra Arts Academy and said that it is essential for children to learn classical arts from institutes like Paavitra in order to get rid of addiction to the cell phone and other stress related issues. AYYAPPA SHARANAM Abhinayaa Institute of Research and Fine Arts (Vasai) presented Ayyappa Sharanam dance drama based on the life of Lord Ayyappa at the NCPA Godrej Academy dance theatre auditorium on 26th December 2025. The dance drama portrayed the complete life sketch of Lord Ayyappa, commencing with his unusual birth, his celibate life and ultimately being worshipped as the warrior god at the Sabarigiri temple, on the banks of the river Pamba in Kerala.  Choreographed and directed by accomplished Bharatanatyam exponent and mentor Dr Chitra Viswanathan with the team of her talented disciples, Ayyappa Sharanam showcased the ideal god of devotion and righteousness, highlighting the virtues of self control, humility and spiritual awakening, enacted in the story telling format with fine characterizations and melodious music. King Rajashekara Pandian and queen Koperundevi were a childless couple. While moving around in the forest, they were surprised to see a baby boy being abandoned. They looked around but could not find anyone. At the advice of the ascetic, the King was advised to adopt the baby boy and he was named Manikanda as there was a bell hanging from his neck. Manikanda grew up in the royal atmosphere but was quite idealistic and righteous in his actions and deeds, While Manikanda was 12-year-old, the queen gave birth to her biological son, and she wanted to get rid of Manikanda as she did not want him to ascend the throne. The queen feigned an illness and demanded that Manikanda be sent to the forest to fetch the milk of the tigress to be taken as medicine to cure the illness of the queen. Without any hesitation he left for the forest where Manikanda met the demoness Mahishi who proposed marriage to him. Being celibate he refused and killed her. Manikanda returned to the palace, seated on the tigress and the king realised that he was no ordinary boy with his spiritual ability and was a divine being. The king resolved to make a shrine for him. Thereby Manikanda was transformed into Ayyappa and shot an arrow to mark the place for the shrine. Every year thousands of pilgrims gather at the river Pamba for a holy dip and then proceed to the Sabarigiri Ayyapan temple.  Lord Ayyappan is "Harihara Putra"- son of Lord Shiva and Vishnu in the form of Mohini, hence he is worshipped by both Shaivites and Vaishnavites at the time of "Makara Vilakku" every year. The dancers of Abhinayaa Institute portrayed all the characters well, maintaining the dramatic quality of the performance. Lord Shiva was enacted by Meena Santosh, Mohini by Varsha Viswanathan and Ayyappa by Sneha Anujan. Concept, music and choreography are by Dr Chitra Viswanathan, who heads the Abhinayaa Institute of Research and Fine Arts and has trained several dance aspirants for more than three decades. She has performed in many dance dramas both in India and overseas and has won accolades and critical appreciation for her devotion to classical dance by various organizations.  Vijay Shankar is a Kuchipudi and Kathakali exponent, teacher, bilingual journalist, arts critic and actor. |
