By Anita Nag and Shubha Baskar
The 3rd St. Louis Indian Dance Festival, that took place April 15-17th at the Clayton High School Auditorium, created an appreciation and understanding of the rich dance traditions of India.. The assortment of dancers in the exceptionally well organized dance festival revealed the essence of dance intelligence. It is imperative to highlight that the opportunity to witness, applaud and experience a wide array of dance styles provided the audience burst of vitality and sheer pleasure. These Indian dance styles date back to several centuries and vary in classical dance and folk dance forms. All these dances provide not only entertainment, but also reflect a deeper philosophical meaning of life. This festival presented 23 different dance teams constituting 134 artists coming from different cities of USA and India and was enjoyed by more than 1400 art lovers across three evenings.
The festival was started off by Kris Weiser Dalton a devoted student and an upcoming performer of Bharathanatyam. She had her initial training in Ballet and Jazz in the New York area. She presented traditional Bharathanatyam pieces such as Pushpanjali, Asaindadum and Tillana. Kris's participation represented the interest of the mainstream American population in learning an Indian art form and her performance was very well received by the local American population. Then Pallavi Chandak, a local Bollywood/folk dancer presented folk dances from her students Archana Reddy and others. Mohini attam Dancer - Lakshmi Kurup from New York, presented Natyamanjari, which portrayed the role of an annoyed heroine, who is astonished to see her beloved in her house after a long interval. Her presentation had subtlety and refinement at the same time. The classical performances were interspersed with folk dances such as the vibrant Bhangra performed by youngsters such as Gajan, Suyash, Anjana
and friends, who rocked the auditorium with thunderous claps. Later there was a
collaboration of two styles, also referred to as ugalbandhi' - with Kathak (a north Indian classical Dance form) and Bharathanatyam (A south Indian Classical dance form), performed by Ms. Lakshmi Shriram (from Kentucky) and Ms. Ashwini Gogate(from North Carolina), exhibiting the vibrant movement and vocabulary. Aditi Bandhopadhyay's Odissi was an unimaginably amazing dance with storytelling from the epics such as the Ramayana.
On the second day, Sneha Bagavandoss of Case Nritya, a student organization of classical dances in Case Western University, Ohio, presented Kavyanjali and Tirukkural. Akshata Sridhar's presentation was slow, yet elegant and she showed to be a promising dancer. Soorya Performing team presented Bhavayami - a famous piece depicting Ramayana. It was well balanced, and showed lots of promise of becoming a great dance sequence. Shalini, Sumi, Annuja and Amudha impressed everyone with their Abhinaya skills. Mrs. Seema Kasthuri's melodious voice added charm to mesmerizing presentation of Ramayana, one of the great epics of India, which was choreographed by Guru Prasanna Kasthuri, who also played drums (mridangam) for the show. Another highlight of Saturday was an enchanting Odissi dance by Sreyashi Dance Team and the harmonious dance of twin sisters Ishika and Kritika with another talented dancer - Ananya Kar. The abhinaya composition of Guru Sreyashi Dey - "Manini" - deserves a greater appreciation as it portrayed the excellence and experience of Guru Sreyashi and presented a romantic nostalgia of Krishna & Radha. Abhinaya Dance Company (from San Jose) stole the heart of audience with their impeccable dance movements and astonishing choreography of Guru Mythili Kumar who extracted the best dancing capability from her team, in which Rasika Kumar performed extraordinarily. Natya Dance Theater (from Chicago) presented "Shivam" and proved itself one of the best teams of the country. Guru Roopa Shyamasundar from Detroit deserved kudos for presenting a wonderful dance drama - "DESH" - based on the history of India. Charlotte Moraga (from San Francisco, CA) who was honored with the title "Gem of Dances" presented flawless Kathak performance and made her Guru Chitresh Das very proud.
On the third evening, Guru Sujatha Srinivasan, a veteran dance Guru from Cleveland, Ohio, presented - "Annamacharya Padanirjanamu". She presented famous compositions of Annamaiah such as Parama Purusha, Alarulu Kuriyaga and Dolayam. She was at ease with both Nritta and Abhinaya . Guru Hema Sharma, who also performed that evening with her students, received an award for her service to Indian performing arts in Kansas City area. The Washington University students from St. Louis also presented an exceptional performance of Bhangra which kept everyone on the edge of their seats. The dance collaborations of the final days, particularly the performance of Modern, Jazz by University of North Texas with Prathibha Natesan was engaging as the mannerism with which it brought together two very different cultures is a feat that is frequently attempted but very rarely performed with such excellence. So also the Indian modern dancing by Anjali Tata, an alumni of UCLA, with Prof. Patrick Suzeau, head of Dance Department of Kansas University. Sunanda Nair presented a beautiful Mohiniattam and was honored with the title - "Abhinaya Shikhamani" by another mohiniattam danseuse - Ms. Smitha Rajan. Ms. Pallavi Prativadi, who visited from India, gave a marvelous Kuchipudi (South Indian Classical Dance Style) performance.
Guru Prasanna Kasthuri, the main person, behind St. Louis Indian Dance Festival, performed the final dance of the festival. He presented "Reflections" from his classical dance repertoire. His dance included his past works related to upanishads and Bhagavatham. His major dance number - "Bali Moksha" was very crisp and elegant in the Sanchari Bhava. His performance was filled with a neat Nritta and sparkling Abhinaya. His rhythmic footwork in Kathak was hypnotizing and his selection of items was exceptional.
The host organization, Soorya Performing Arts felicitated Guru Hema Rajagopalan (Chicago, IL) and Guru Mythili Kumar (San Jose, CA) with LIFE TIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD, recognizing the 3 decades of service of these artists in USA towards promoting Indian classical and performing arts. Legendary Sitar player Ustad Imrath Khan honored these artists. St. Louis Indian Dance Festival is a unique dance festival, which has its footing in the past, but embraces the future with innovations. Art patrons have rightly said that "the St.Louis Indian Dance Festival is here to stay and promises to continue to bring the richness of the varied performing arts time and again to St. Louis". |
