Hyderabad, May 2025: Shankarananda Kalakshetra, a leading dance institution presented a brilliant arangetram of KumariShreenidhi Ramaswamy & Kumari Shivani Nambiar, today at Ravindra Bharathi Hyderabad. The evening graced by eminent dignitaries from the world of classical dance including Dr. Rajeswari Sainath, acclaimed Bharatanatyam exponent and Director, Sruthi Laya Kendra Natarajalaya; Shri G. V. Anna Rao, Convenor, Natya Swara Art Critic; Shri Mithun Shyam, renowned Bharatanatyam dancer and Director, Vaishnavi Natyashala. Connoisseurs of dance and art warmly came to witness this celebration of tradition, talent, and tenacity.
Disciples of Dr Ananda Shankar Jayant, Director Shankarananda Kalakshetra, the two young dancers, struck a chord with the audience from the very first moments.
Ananda Shankar Jayant’s productions are eagerly awaited by audiences as she is known for always to push the bar, making it a delight to watch. This time too, Guru Ananda, presented the Arangetram in a very interesting way.
The Arangetram became an immersive experience, into the magical world of Shiva and Vishnu through Bharatanatyam, Carnatic music and the devotional poetry of the many vageyyakaras. The first half of the program was dedicated to Lord Shiva and was titled ‘Parvati Shankara Namostute’.
The two dancers dressed in striking purple entered the stage in a brisk Pushpanjali, that then segued into a rare Shyama Sastry Kriti on Goddess Parvati.
Guru Ananda, by weaving swaras into the Kriti, presented it in the format of a combined Jathiswaram and Sabdam following the Margam format, that brought the beautiful Goddess Parvati and Her attributes to the audience, with crisp nritta and simple expressions
From Parvati the dancers then took the audience to Lord Shiva, in the next piece, the magnum opus, the Varnam on Lord Shiva. Studded with complicated jati patterns and intricate mathematical calculations, this Varnam was a test of the dancers’ dedication, talent and performance. Both Shreenidhi and Shivani rose to the challenge, with an impeccable performance, embellished with statuesque Nataraja postures, split second tala precision, and nuanced Abhinaya. The well trained and polished dancers delivered perfect and synchronized movements especially in the thrilling Ardhanareswara Jati in the second half of the Varnam, that had the audience clap repeatedly. Guru Ananda Shankar Jayant, wielding the Nattuvangam with elan, was a delight to listen to.
The second half took the audience to Vishnu and 5 Vaishnava Kshetras. Titled ‘Pancha Vaishnava Kshetra Darshanam’ the young dancers, led the audience to 5 revered Vaishnava Kshetrams – Tirumala, Srirangam, Udupi, Guruvayoor and Thiruvananthapuram, dancing to the songs composed in the language of the region by devout vaggeyakaras of the respective kshetra
Beginning with Tirumala, the segment opened with the devotional prayer ‘Srinivas Govinda’ on everyone’s lips as the dancers climbed the Tirumala hills with specially choreographed movements to resemble climbing. There at Tirumala, Vaggeyaykara Annmacharya sings to His Beloved Sri Venkateswara in Telugu
Annamayya is wonderstruck at the many vahanas, or vehicles that the Lord travels on! He asks the Lord. ‘How did You ever learn to ride so many vehicles? You flew on Garuda, to bring the Parijata tree, you rode the chariot to kill Kamsa, you travel on a horse to put an end to Adharma, and on the Seven hills you travel in a palanquin! How did You learn to ride so many vehicles?’ to an Annamacharya song Ettu Nerichitivaya inni vahanamula ekka composed by Late Sathiraju Venumadhav
Tirumala then gave way to Srirangam the abode of Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple, where the poet Arunachala Kavi is perplexed to see the lord reclining and asks ‘Why are you reclining O Ranganatha? En Palli kondeerayya he asks in Tamil and recounts the probable scenes from the Ramayana that may have caused Ranganatha to be tired and hence for Him to recline. A timeless song was brought to life in a wonderful solo by Shreenidhi. She embodied every character in the Ramayana in short cameos, with beautiful Abhinaya and body kinetics. Switching with ease between various rasas, Shreenidhi’s abhinaya was excellent.
Shivani then took the audience to Udupi, through a nuanced rendition of the evergreen Dasarnama of Kanakadasa, in the language Kannada, Baaro Krishnayya.
Shivani became the indulgent mother, getting little Krishna dressed segueing seamlessly into the devotee and poet asking Krishna to bless her. The involved and internalized emotions, took the audience into the magical world of Krishna, and was a tour de force.
The dancers then travelled to Guruvayur, in a poignant ‘Oru Neramenkilum’, a popular composition of T.S. Radhakrishnan in Malayalam.
Set in the form of a slow prayer, the audience could palpably witness the bhakti, embedded in the lyrics, portrayed beautifully by the two dancers.
The grand finale was the filigreed depiction of the 5th Kshetram Tiruvananthapuram, where the reclining Sri Padmanabhaswamy, is seen by devotees through three doors, concluding in an evergreen Thillana of Swati Tirunal in Dhanasri
The involved and bhakti laden performance by the two dancers Shreenidhi and Shivani, transported the audience to the five Vaishnava Kshetras
With soulful and bhava laden music by Sweta Prasad, Mridangam by TP Balasubramaniam, Violin by K Saikumar and Flute by Uma Venkateswarulu, held together impeccably by Guru Ananda Shankar Jayant, the Arangetram was truly a rasikas delight, scoring on theme, content, performance, aesthetics and laid out a new path for younger dance gurus, as mentioned by the Guests – Dr Rajeshwari Sainath, GV Anna Rao and Mithun Shyam.