Krishna Nrityanjali, an offering of dances in praise of Lord Krishna, was a well-attended program at the Sri Lakshmi temple in Ashland, MA on Sept. 9th. This was part of the Gokulashtami celebrations at the temple and it was lovely to see several children actively taking part in the same.

Facts such as the timing of the program coinciding with the start of another hectic school year, with people returning from their relaxed summer vacations and schedules and dance schools taking time off during summer, had minimal impact on the general participation, with over 25 items. The event commenced with the invocation to Lord Krishna, by Sri. Krishna Bhattar, the temple priest. Sri. K.G. Narayana welcomed the gathering and Smt. Meena Subramaniam, Senior dancer, teacher and choreographer introduced the coordinator of the event, Smt. Jeyanthi Ghatraju.

Smt. Ghatraju, in her introduction, mentioned that the name Krishna brings out the feeling of unconditioned love and the august gathering is so special that their love for Lord Krishna and dance brought them there on a rainy afternoon of a busy week-end.

The program started with a pleasing Pushpanjali by Shruthi Suresh, student of Smt. Thanuja and Parija Meenakshinathan. Little Nikita Shalabh and Aishwarya Nambi, students of Smt. Sapna Krishnan presented a flavorful pushpanjali and captured audience's attention.

Mamatha Raj, who had her arangetram recently, presented a combination of slokams and Mallari. Blessed with a sleek stature, expressive face and great control of rhythm, one could see her dedication and hard work in her presentation. She also performed Chikkavane Ivanu, effectively expressing the aspirations of the many mothers in the audience. Ananya Mahalingam Dhingra presented a soulful Devi Shabdam to the live music of her guru, Smt. Meena Subramaniam. Krithi and Urmila disciples of, Smt. Neena Gulati followed with a graceful, fast-paced and challenging thillana in Ragamalika.

Now, there was a change of style to Kuchipudi and two very young students of Smt. Sumithira Anand, Namratha Mehra and Pavithra Sriram stole the hearts of the audience with their presentation of Vinayaka kauthuvam. Next, Shachi Phene, Priyanha Nadanasabesan, and Sneha Durgapal, students of Smt. Sunanda Narayanan, graced the program with a lovely jathiswaram, performed with intricate and brisk footwork. .

Following this, Meghna Chandra, disciple of Kum. Neha Parikh performed the powerful Krupa Samudram slokam followed by alarippu. It was quite the piece. Meghna came back and proved her abhinaya skills in "Ye Raa", another age-old, popular number. Himabindu Kakaraparthi delighted all of us with a Krishna Shabdam. Many of us who've grown up watching and enjoying this lovely piece were totally moved.

It was now the turn of some senior dancers to show us that their dedication to dance hasn't gone down any bit in spite of life's changing demands. Sangita Raghunathan, Suman Adisesh (both senior disciples of Smt. Padmini Ravi of Bangalore) and Amrita Devalapalli (disciple of Smt. Sridevi Jagannath, in turn a disciple of Smt. Padmini Ravi), brought out the beauty of Lord Krishna's dance in their padam Natavarataruni. The choreography was brilliant and fast-paced, and took us all to Brindavan.

Kathak was not left out either and Sangeetha Bansal sure made the composer, Pandit Jitendra ecstatic with her "Badariya ayire". She also presented Murli Manohar, another soul-stirring piece. Senior guru, Smt. Rhadha's timeless choreography in Ododi Vanden Kanna became evident in the next padam presented by Sneha Subramaniam and was another delight to watch. Bhakthi shringara was brought out beautifully in Jagaddodharana, another classic piece, presented by Prakruti Mavanur next.

"Yenna Naan seidhen", asked senior dancer Smt. Meena Subramaniam. As mentioned by Jeyanthi, she did several things; most importantly, set an excellent example for the youngsters who claim to have no time to practice. In spite of a busy and challenging career, she has always kept up with her dance and participated very actively in many dance events in the area. She proved to us that Bharatanatyam is not all about jumping up and down; it is the communication that matters. With simple, straight forward and subtle expressions, she was able to communicate the bhava underlined in the padam.

Brindavanadolu aduvar yaare, another Purandaradasa padam followed. Rama Kamath and Suman Murali, disciples of Smt. Jeyanthi Ghatraju explored the greatness of Krishna in spite of some Gopis wondering who the new one was, dancing with Krishna, and concluded that it was none other than Krishna that mattered to them. Kavadi chindu is always an eye-catcher with a folksy tune and lovely rhythm. Poornima Surya had trained Aarthi Shivakumar, Meena Sundar, Lakshmi Venkat and Rupali Sharma quite well in the nuances of this piece who presented the item neatly and lively. Another notable presentation was the Ramayana Shabdam by senior dancer, Smt. Janani Giri Swamy, disciple of Guru Smt. Rajee Narayanan. Crisp and clean choreography, combined with the lively presentation by Janani, helped bring out the nuances of an epic in a short shabdam format. How could a program at the Lakshmi temple be complete without praising Devi? Aishwarya Krishnaswamy, disciple of Smt. Sridevi Thirumalai, in "Pahimam Sri Rajarajeswari", prayed to the goddess to protect all of us from the evils of our past deeds, and give us health and happiness. She brought out the beauty, and benevolence of goddess Rajarajeswari, with grace and poise. The last presentation was by Pooja Sreekumar, a disciple of Smt. Sridevi Thirumalai, highlighting the greatness of Lord Venkateshwara's feet, in "Brahma kadigina padhamu". Pooja's expressive face spoke volumes in interpreting the lyrics of this beautiful piece. Her guru would have been quite proud to see her choreography come to life!!


Sri K.G.Narayana announced several projects under way sponsored by the NEHTI committee. He was seeking the help and support of all the music and dance teachers and the general public in the New England area to come forward and actively participate. The program ended with arathi to Lord Krishna.


All in all, it was quite a blissful evening and a great offering of love to Lord Krishna. Even the heavens had to co-operate at the end and cleared up!

|