Nritya Tarangini Dance Festival

- Vijay Shanker
e-mail: vijaydance@gmail.com
Photos: Vinod Thaikandy / Silver Star Video

April 4, 2026

Nritya Tarangini international dance festival was conducted by Saraswathy Kala Kendra and Research Centre, Mumbai at the exquisite Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar Natyagriha on January 31st and February 1st attracting the attention of several aspiring classical dancers and young classical dancers in different classical dance styles, with solo and group presentations that also included folk dances. This is an annual festival organised with the support from the Ministry of Culture, Government of India.

Saraswathy Kala Kendra and Research Centre's founder director Guru Subitha Murali, accomplished Bharatanatyam exponent and mentor says, "Without the support from the Ministry of Culture, a festival of such a magnitude is not possible. Every year I get so many entries from dancers all over the country and at times overseas too, as platforms for young upcoming dancers are rare and far off, but it's the young dancers who would determine the future of classical dances. While I try to provide a platform to as many dancers as possible it's not easy to manage the expenses. While I honour the performers with trophies and appreciation certificates, I would love to provide remuneration too, which is possible if I get better corporate support". Besides performances, competitions are also held in different styles and it's really amazing to watch children and youngsters rendering remarkable performances with lot of enthusiasm, hence the future of classical dance is quite bright and gratifying too. In order to attract the attention of modern contemporary society, western dance was also included for the first time in the competition section and the judge was western Ballroom dancer and choreographer Denzil Denis and for the Indian classical dance section the judge was Kathak exponent and mentor Chetan Saraiya.

Shreya Joshi

Kiran Khade

The first day performances featured Bharatanatyam by Guru Uma Devi and group of Mudra Dance Academy, Kathak by Guru Garima Sharma and group, Bharatanatyam by Guru Tushar Sawant and group and solo Odissi performance by Krityea Narshing Rana. The second day featured Bharatanatyam by Disha Poojary and Maitree Shastri, disciples of Guru Subitha Murali, Bharatanatyam by Guru Monojit Saha from Kolkata and by Meenakshi TD, Kathak by Shreya Joshi from Bengaluru, Odissi by Kiran Khade from Odisha, Kathak by Varanya Sinha from Varanasi. Meenakshi Acharya was the only dancer to perform Sattriya, interesting combination of both vibrancy and elegance, Bharatanatyam by Guru Vidya Sriram and disciples from Mumbai, and by Srushti Joshi from Bengaluru, Kathak by Guru Anuradha Ray from New Delhi, group Bharatanatyam by dancers from Saraswathy Kala Kendra.

Monojit Saha was among the best male dancers of the festival. He commenced his sparkling performance with a Mallari, followed with the sabdam in praise of Lord Shiva. However, the "piece-de-resistance" of the evening was the popular number "Bho Shambho", a composition of Swami Dayanand Saraswati that features the powerful cosmic dance of Lord Shiva with the typical iconic poses that defines the Mahadeva. Monojit danced with vibrancy and dexterity, attracting the applause from the audience.

Manojit Saha

Tushar Sawant

Another male classical Bharatanatyam dancer, Tushar Sawant, created quite an impression with his vibrant and striking performance. He performed Bhairavi Shatakam, composition of Adi Shankaracharya, in praise of the radiant and powerful goddess Bhairavi. Tushar is the director of Shambunath Nrityalaya and also a Marathi folk dance choreographer with several performances to his credit.

Srushti Joshi, disciple of Guru Jyothi Pattabhiram and Dr Sadhanashri presented a captivating performance, proving her expertise in expressional dancing and in the technical presentation too. Srushti performed an interesting composition of Purandaradasa "Hemme aadalu bedi", a Devarnama, in which the saint poet claims that every strength we claim is gift from the Divine, not a reason for pride. Thereby, he exemplifies his statement with the instance of Ravana who due to his arrogance and conceit is unable to lift the Shiva Dhanush and the case of Satyabhama, who is proud of her beauty and royal lineage, hence Hanuman is unable to see the divine qualities of Sita in her but finds them in Rukmini. Srusti also performed a Navavarna Kriti in praise of goddess Parvati, who is seated in the centre of the divine Sri Chakra. A composition of Dr Ganesh, this number also interpreted the nine manifestations of the goddess.

Srushti Joshi

Garima Sharma

Anuradha Ray

Ashta Lakshmi by disciples of Subitha Murali

The four Kathak dancers who revealed their command over the technique and rhythmic complexity were Guru Garima Sharma from Mumbai, disciple of the veteran mentor Pt Rajendra Gangani, Anuradha Ray from New Delhi, Varanya Sinha from Varanasi and Shreya Joshi from Bangalore. Odissi by Kiran Khade was quite pleasing. Disciples of Guru Subitha Murali performed Ashta Lakshmi in the Bharatanatyam style incorporating the varied manifestations of the goddess like Dhanya, Santana, Vara, Vijaya, Mahalakshmi etc. It was pleasing to watch the dancers trying to perform with complete involvement and enthusiasm. On the whole, it was quite exhilarating to watch some dancers performing quite well.

Vijay Shankar is a Kuchipudi and Kathakali exponent, teacher, bilingual journalist, arts critic and actor.