Natya Tarangini: Hyderabad completes 15 years, celebrates with Kuchipudi extravaganza

Noted Telugu and Sanskrit poet and scholar Dr. Samudrala Lakshmanaiah was also honoured by Natya Tarangini Hyderabad on the occasion.

Hyderabad: ‘Natya Tarangini – Hyderabad’, founded by Kuchipudi dance exponents Raja Radha Reddy, Kaushalya Reddy and Yamini Reddy, completed 15 years of its existence. The premiere institute of Kuchipudi dance organised a Kuchipudi extravaganza to commemorate this milestone at Ravindra Bharathi auditorium, informed Natya Tarangini Hyderabad’s artistic director Yamini Reddy.

Students and faculty members of the organisation performed on the occasion. Noted Telugu and Sanskrit poet and scholar Dr. Samudrala Lakshmanaiah was also honoured by Natya Tarangini Hyderabad on the occasion.

Dr. Samudrala Lakshmanaiah is secretary (Retd.), Dharma Prachara Parishad, TTD Tirupati and is well-known for his work, including epics, prose, poetry, life history, etc. ‘Life History of Malayala Swamy’, ‘Annamacharya Sankeerthanamrutham’, ‘Yoga Vaasishtam’, ‘Raghu Vamsam’, ‘Andhra Mahabharata Shanthi Parvam’, ‘Panchamaashwasa Vyakhya’, etc., are some of his known works.

Born to the legendary dancing couple Raja and Radha Reddy, Yamini got Kuchipudi dance in inheritance from her parents. Her performances have been highly acclaimed by the art circles and general public alike. For her dedication to the art form, she has received the Yuva Ratna Award (Rotary Club), National FICCI young achievers award, Devadasi National Award (Odisha) and National Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar.

She established the Natya Tarangini Hyderabad centre in 2007 and under her guidance, the institute, where Yamini trains students of various age groups in the art of Kuchipudi dance, has completed 15 years of its existence.

The evening started with the customary ‘Ganapathi Vandana’, a dance recital with a prayer to Lord Ganesha. A dance presentation ‘My Heart is a Temple’, a beautiful poem which adapts verses from the Bible to Kuchipudi dance, followed. The item describes how God even though known by different names exists in our hearts as one. He maybe Rama, Krishna, Allah or Jesus. It goes on to describe how He is the creator of all creatures and remover of all sins. The dancers pray to the Lord to make their hearts pure as a temple.

‘Jathiswaram’ performance (in ‘Athana ragam’ and ‘Adi taalam’) mesmerised the audience with its attractive movements of the eyes, eyebrows and neck and footwork patterns.

‘Shrinagalahari’ composition (in ‘Neelambari ragam’ and ‘Adi taalam’) in praise of Goddess Parvathi depicted her as an embodiment of love, kindness and bliss for her devotees. The ‘Mandooka Sabdam’ performance (in ‘Mohana ragam’ and ‘Misrachapu taalam’) depicted the story of the king of elephants Gajendra and his rescue by Lord Vishnu.

‘Rajashrisabdam’ (in ‘Dhanyashree ragam’ and ‘Adi taalam’) described the great qualities, wealth and might of King Pratapsimha through dance presentation. ‘Thillana’ (in ‘Ragamalika ragam’ and ‘Adi taalam’) composed by Dr Balamuralikrishna and choreographed by Raja and Radha Reddy was exhilarating where the composition, set in ‘Raga Kalyani’, shifts its tone and note and ‘ragas’ like ‘Kanada’ and ‘Hindolam’ emerge from and merge into ‘Kalyani’.

‘Tarangam’ (in ‘Mohan ragam’ and ‘Adi taalam’) marking the climax of the Kuchipudi recital saw dancers display their skill dancing on the rim of a brass plate displaying rhythmic and intricate footwork.

At the end, with reverence and devotion, tiny tots of Natya Tarangini took to the stage reciting ‘shlokas’ with mudras interspersed with a few fundamental steps that are part of ‘Namaskara Vidhi’.

The performances had Guru Kaushalya Reddy on nattuvangam, Deevi Ravikanth (vocals), M Chandrakanth on mridangam, Shivakrishna Swaroop on violin and K Prakash on flute as accompanying artistes.