Temples glow with colours of Phagun on the fifth day of Khajuraho dance festival

Performances of Kuchipudi, Kathak and Bharatnatyam group dance

Bhopal, 24 February.

Holi is such a colorful festival of Indian culture that it fills the entire atmosphere with enthusiasm, zeal and joy. This was apparently visible on the fifth day of the dance festival in the tourist town of Khajuraho when the dance group of eminent Bharatnatyam dancer Sandhya Purecha gave an enthralling Holi performance. It was as though the colours of Phagun had descended on the vast complex of Khajuraho and the figures carved in the temples seemed to come alive. All the tourists and art lovers present in the Khajuraho temple complex had similar experience. On the fifth day, Kuchipudi group dance by Vasant Kiran and partner Kadiri Andhra Pradesh, Kathak by Sharvari Jamenis and group from Pune and Bharatnatyam group dance by Sandhya Purecha and group from Mumbai gave their performances.

Dance enthusiasts were overwhelmed to see the Kuchipudi group dance performance of Dr. Basant Kiran from Kadiri Andhra Pradesh along with his group with their costumes, dance, expressions and body movements. Dr. Basant Kiran gave this presentation while composing a Roopak ‘Shankari Shankarayam’ on Ardhanarishvara Nateshwar composed by Adi Shankaracharya. The story is about nature and man coming together, done in ballet style. The Roopak was of Vedantam Ramalingam Shastri while the dance composition was by Basant Kiran himself. The music was by Venkatesh Kuppaswamy.

The second performance of the evening was of Sharvari Jamenis of Pune. Rohini Bhate’s disciple Sharvari started her dance with Nritya Vandana. While dancing on a composition based in Raga, Yaman and Teen Taal- ‘Om Anadi Anant ..”, she worshipped Sthal, Kaal, Urja Disha, Rangbhoomi, Swar, rhythm, taal, Nupur etc. in a soulful manner. After this, in Shuddh Nritya, she performed Utthan that aamad paran, paran aamad tatkar Tukde etc. She concluded the presentation with Bhav Nritya.

Her ‘Rang ki Pichkari Mari’ in Teen Taal was Holi and Phagun come true. Accompanying her in this presentation were her disciples Mugdha Tiwari, Vaishnavi Deshpande and Juhi Sagdev. Shri Nikhil Phatak on tabla, Shri Sunil Avchat on flute and Shri Manoj Desai on vocals and harmonium assisted in the presentation.

The evening came to an end with a Bharatnatyam performance by Sandhya Purecha and her group. Sandhya Purecha is one of the talented dancers of Bharat Natyam and has performed her art in the country and abroad. She began her presentation with a ballet centered on the three streams of Sanatan Dharma, Shaivism, Vaishnavism and Shakta. In this presentation, adorned with Raga and Taal Malika, a splendid performance was given on Ardhanarishwar, Uma Maheshwar Stotra. She embodied the Dwarkadhish and Vitthal form of Lord Vishnu with her dancing expressions on the verses of Uma Maheshwar Stotra, Roopam Dehi, Jayam Dehi. After this, Sandhya Purecha and her team presented Shakti Upasna with Bhava Nritya from the Argala Stotra of Durga Saptashati. Bhavna Shah, Chitra Dalvi, Pushkar Devchake, Reshma Gudekar, Dhruv Patkar, Madhuja Golatkar, Ushmi Doshi, Sharvani Kulkarni, Manasvi Mirlekar, Rupali Surve, Sanika Shinde and Manjushree Mata assisted in the presentations. The music was by Sriprasad and Manoj Desai. Satish Krishnamurthy on percussion, Vijay Tambe on flute and Chetan Joshi added on to the musical evening.

Hindustan Samvad