I had the pleasure of attending Saiesha Aparajita’s Arangetram on the 25^th of June 2023 at Littleton High School, MA.

The event started with a beautiful opening by Saiesha’s brother and father with a recitation of the Vedas, this set the tone of joy, harmony, and beauty for the evening. The welcome speech by the parents was light, humorous and most of all joyful.

The evening started with a Pushpanjali in ragam Ganamoorte and Adi talam, this piece was refreshing, with inspired choreography executed with grace and strength. Suman is following in the footsteps of her Guru Padmini Ravi’s style of choreography which isn’t easy to create or execute. Both were done effortlessly!

Next up was the Jathiswaram in ragam Hamsadhwani and Rupaka talam which was clean and crisp with nothing extra. A Shiva Shabdam followed in ragamalika and Misra Nadai talam which Suman set to a unique style that is all her own, Saiesha rose to the occasion and delivered the item with a calm strength. 

The Varnam on Lord Muruga in ragam Neelambari and Adi talam started very strong. The opening Jati was inspired where Saiesha performed with crispness while equaling her teacher’s delivery. Stories of Lord Muruga were interlaced prettily to show the heroines love. The entire piece had very interesting choreography, but what I was most amazed by was the fact that Saiesha never lost her energy throughout the dance, in fact she made it look easy.

There was a musical interlude which was brilliant, with a rendition of the popular bhajan Raghupati Raghava which kept us all in a Zen mind space.

The next item was a Sai Bhajan, in ragam Sindhu Bhairavi and Adi talam. To help with the performance, Suman Satyamaraju a friend of the family provided the vocal support. The bhajan, the creativity and Saiesha’s presentation was lovely.

Devi Stuti on Sharada, Saraswati, Durga followed the Sai Bhajan. The Ragamalika and Talamalika along with the choreography with the aesthetics and characteristic of each goddess was delivered with beauty and grace by Saiesha. The jathis between each paragraph lent to lovely transitions. 

The popular piece Brocheva in ragam Khamas and Adi talam was mesmerizing with the various stories interspersed. I was truly amazed that it was towards the end of the performance journey and Saiesha didn’t look even a little out of a breath.

The Thillana in ragam Atana and Adi talam was as high in energy as the opening item Pushpanjali, Saiesha danced with grace, energy, and ease. She never lost the energy lovely eye work clean lines with hands and legs.

The musical support provided by Nandakumar on Vocals, Ravi Kulur on Flute; Karthik on Percussion was the perfect complement to the event.

The food was just as amazing and served by a sea of friendly faces.

A very successfully arangetram for Saiesha, her parents and Suman. Congratulations to all and thank you for inviting me!

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