The annual dance festival of the Madras Music Academy is unique in many respects. First it is meticulously planned and executed and there are no loose ends. Every year it commences with an inauguration followed by conferring of the Natya Kala Acharya Award to a deserving dancer. This year this-much-looked-forward-to festival was inaugurated by Philip A Min, the Consulate General of the USA, Chennai and as mentioned previously, the Natya Kala Acharya Award was given to Bharatanatyam dancer Malavika Sarukkai.

The festival has the singular distinction of holding both the morning and evening slots at the time mentioned. After every slot, there is a 15-minute break to discuss and digest what one saw over a hot cup of coffee in the typical Madras style, served in the traditional way in steel-tumblers on small bowls, which serve as saucers.

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Upcoming artists are usually given a place in the morning session while the evenings are reserved for veterans. Another point that warrants appreciation is that the green room does not turn into a thoroughfare for people under the pretext of seeing the artists. Artists come out from a small side gate to accept the praises of admirers. As far as felicitating the performers are concerned, the organisers follow the dictum, “excess of decorum is lack of culture”, which gives the festival the necessary dignity.

Spanda Dance Company’s repertory dancer, the young Christopher Gurusamy commenced with Viruttam and performed the varnam, Sami Ninne Kori in ragam malika and rupakam talam. He was excellent in pure dance — Guruswamy’s perfect leaps reminded this reviewer of the male swans of choreographer Mathew Bourne’s Swan Lake. Next up was the aptly chosen astapadi, Mamiyam in ragam hamirkalyani and talam misra chapu. It depicted Krishna’s lamentation for how he would appease Radha who had seen him surrounded by gopis and left in anger. The piece and the varnam gave him enough scope to show his ability to mime.

Anjana Anand is not only a dancer but a reputed scholar too and as a performer, she is widely travelled. She graced the Academy stage first with Subramaniya Bharatiyar’s Nyairu — an ode to the sun — and ended with a thillana in natabhairavi ragam composed by Veena Krishnamachariyar. She excelled in rendering fast theermanams where her steps seemed non-existent. Swati Tirunal’s Sarasasara Sundara was the varnam piece chosen by her — it was in ragam neelambari and adi talam. The varnam about Lord Vishnu and his incarnations proved her mettle as a dancer. Nattuvanar Sheejith Krishna added to the blossoming of the beauty of her recital. Accompanying vocalist Savita Narasimhan, mridangist Ramesh Babu, violinist Easwar Ramakrishnan and flautist JB Sruti Saagar gave the recital its completeness.

Dakshina Vaidyanathan is one of the most promising dancers of the country today and she already has a number of choreographic works to her credit. She fulfilled the desires of the audience with Dandayudapani Pillai’s varnam, Mohamaginen inda velayil in kharaharapriya ragam, where she at first confides about her yearning for Nataraja, her lord, to her Sakhi, before boldly declaring that she is not afraid of any rumours because she is aware that her love for her lord is an open secret. Well-defined sitting postures with knees flexed out and neat rendition of each unit of dance characterised Vaidyanathan’s performance. Possessed with a lovely expressive face, she made it into the hearts of the audience.

Pavithra Srinivasan regaled the audience with a nindasthuthi where her friend criticises her lord but she converts every shortcoming to a compliment, finally saying that he does not need people’s praise because he is a Param Yogi. Nattuvanar Shanta Dhanjayan supported her with her expertise. Vocalist Hariprasad was at his best, as were the supporting mridangist Nellai Kannan, violinist Easwar Ramakrishnan and flautist Sashidhar.

Priyadarshini Govind’s student Sukanya Kumar emoted excellently in the javali, Yera rara in ragam khamas by Patnam Subramaniya Iyer where she expressed her love for her lord. She begged, ordered, requested and cajoled the beautiful youth to accept her. Govind’s soft and subtle way of emoting endeared her to the audience.

A recipient of the Bismiilah Khan Yuva Puraskar from the Central Sangeet Natak Akademi, Meenakshi Srinivasan spoke of her love for the Lord of Chidambaram. In Agnipravesham, Meenakshi Srinivasan explored human emotions, both negative and positive, to the fullest.

Kuchipudi dancer T Reddy Lakshmi, a disciple of Guru Jaya Rama Rao performed Sigganyenoyamma, a daruvu or a song from Bhama Kalapam in madhyamavati ragam by Siddhendra Yogi. It was an interesting piece where the nayika sends her friend Madhavi with her nose ring to fetch her lover. She uses Vacikaabhinaya — spoken words used in Kuchipudi dance — to say that she cannot take the name of her lord but the nose ring will make him realise that she is calling him. A good dancer, Reddy also performed Narayana Teerthar’s Tarangam in ragam and talam malika, which was in praise of Shiva and ended with the performer dancing on the edge of a brass plate producing complex rhythmic patterns.

Kathaka Vishal Krishna also ended his recital by dancing on a brass plate. Kishna is adept at Benaras Gharana Kathak and his superb technique is a combination of inheritance and practice. He is after all a direct descendent of Sitara Devi, the doyen of Kathak. Krishna’s shuddha nritya (pure dance) in ragam shankara was in fact a composition of his grandmother Sitara Devi. Specially appreciated was Nartan Priya adopted from the movements of the peacock. Kushal Krishna, his brother, was on the tabla.

Jaipur gharana Kathaka Rajendra Gangani, son and disciple of Kundanlal Gangani, needs no introduction. He was accompanied on the percussion by his brother Fateh Singh Gangani. A senior dancer, who naturally was in the evening slot, made his dance presence felt right from the Panchakshara Stotram, with which he started. His upaj, minutely woven rhythmic patterns and the special padhants of the Jaipur gharana from the house of the Ganganis was a pleasure to watch. He showed glimpses of his grandfather Sundarlal Gangani’s Ganesh Paran and different chaals. He descended on the audience with difficult and taxing mathematical calculations but executed them to perfection. Vocalist Vijay Parihar and Ayub Khan on sarangi accompanied him.