Blind, yet in perfect sync

“We can’t see the color of our costumes. We can’t see you all. But we can see your expressions through our hearts,” said Taraka Ramudu one of the dancer among the five visually challenged dancers who gave an extraordinary performance arranged by the Department of Language and Culture, Government of Andhra Pradesh on Sunday evening at Ghantasala Venkateswara Rao Government Music and Dance College.

Buse Goud, Guru Prasad, Taraka Ramudu, Satish Rao and Sivaswamy are trained under the efficient Guru Suvarna Venkatesh. All five dancers being blind, presented a Bharatanatyam recital and received the appreciations from the art lovers of the city.

The ‘Articulate Ability’ group from Bangaluru had performed six items namely ‘Ganesh Dwadasa Stotram’ of Narada, ‘Panchabrahma prabandham’, ‘Venuswana Vilola Vallabha’, ‘Kamsale’, ‘Khadga naman’ and ‘Thillana’ under the supervision of Mysore B Nagaraj. In the item ‘Khadga naman’, the dancers used swords in their dance performance. Even with being blind, their meticulous calculation thrilled the audience.

Nagaraj conducted the programme with his apt, soft and expressional narration for each dance item. On this occasion the chief guest Mandali Buddha Prasad, Deputy Speaker, Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly said that the artistes performed their dances with perfect ‘mudras’ and expressions.

The artistes were felicitated by Deputy Speaker. Dr D Vijaya Bhaskar, CEO, Andhra Pradesh Creative and Cultural Commission said that the dancers do not seem blind while performing because of how perfect their movements are. After their presentation, the audience gave them a standing ovation.