Young artistes to come together at Amaravati Sankranti Festival 

The Amaravati Sankranti Dance Festival will present a host of young artists performing before a huge line-up of illustrious guests on January 12, 5 pm onwards at Tummalapalli Kalakshetram. Promoted by the art connoisseur and prominent industrialist Y Harish Chandra Prasad of Malaxmi Industries Amaravati Festival is but a small beginning to what is expected to be an annual dance festival on the lines of Khajuraho in the years to come.

The festival will be a platform, where promising young artists will showcase their expertise. While there is a major line-up of artists including Bharatanatyam dancer P Hemanth Kumar, Kuchipudi dancers Charitha Sreya Vadrevu, Kesavaprasad Pasumarthi, Bhagavathula Sowmya and Manisha Chakravarthy and Sirisha Chakravarthy, and Andhra Natyam dancer Sarada Ramakrishna; a cultural organisation from Hyderabad, Natya Swara under the aegis of GVAnna Rao will be participating in the prestigious festival along with five artists showcasing a variety of dance traditions. “It is a sort of cultural exchange. I am taking dancers from Telangana to Amaravati.”

Kuchipudi artiste Sindhuja, a performer and teacher and graded artist with Doordarshan has given many performances and won several awards, and is known for her “nritta” and beautiful “abhinaya”; the award-winning Odissi dancer, Debashree Patnaik is the disciple of Yudishtir Nayak, has, in addition to India performed extensively across Europe and the USA, and is a graceful embodiment of traditional Odissi; trained under Guru Nandini Mehta and K Murli Mohan from Nadam, Bangalore, the elegant Kathak exponent Mitha Vinay has been performing across the world and is also teaching in Hyderabad since 2011; Aditi Rao, a student of Shankarananda Kalakshetra’s Ananda Shankar is known for her stage presence and Anga Shuddam, and is a treat to watch; Dr Mythili Anoop presents Mohiniyattam with unparalleled refinement.

Presently training under Kalamandalam Kshemavathy, she is also a Kathak dancer and teacher. The five artists have, in addition to presenting solo pieces have worked on a common item that will showcase the ‘Unity in Diversity’ that the Indian classical dances stand for. “We are presenting a Thillana by Dandayudhapani Pillai. It is in Tamil,” shared Sindhuja, who will also be doing a Narayana Teertha Tarangam. “It is in Desh Raag, which is a Hindustani raag, and hence it is easy to adapt to Kathak,” added Mitha Vinay, who is performing a Tulsidas Bhajan too. Aditi is performing to a Jayadeva Ashtapadi composed by her Guru.

“I think it is important to create more such platforms for upcoming artists,’ she opined. “It is an exciting project, and a learning experience to learn the disparities and commonalities. It is important to be a part of such confluences. It helps us maintain our own technique, and at the same time, every form has to evolve. One of my Gurus, when she saw any interesting movement in any other form, would pick that and convert into Mohinayattam style. That is how every art form evolves,” informed Mythili, who is looking forward to perform at Vijayawada.

Anna Rao, who has been working on this idea since some time now, and is organising the event is happy with the encouragement given by Malaxmi’s Harish Chandra Prasad. “He is responsible for making this dream a reality. And, it is our endeavour to make it the most prestigious event in the cultural calendar of Andhra Pradesh. We wish to continue the effort in the coming years to make it a mega event with participation of artistes from all over India and abroad.”

By Rajeshwari Kalyanam