Splendid visual fare at ‘Nrutyanjali’ festival

Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh Tourism Authority commenced a dance festival with different dance forms like Kuchipudi, Bharatanatyam, Mohiniattam, Kathakali and Kathak at Ghantasala Venkateswara Rao Government Music and Dance College on Tuesday. This dance festival ‘Nrutyanjali’ will continue till Thursday. This event has been organised by Sri Vagdevi Kuchipudi Nrityalaya. On first day, excellent Kathak was showcased by Karunag Center for Performing Arts & Sai Arts International, Bangalore.

Artistes Nidada Karuna, Karthik Besetty, Swetha Venkatesh and Smitha R Sastry performed well and the artistes showcased the dance with their gestures, upper body movements, facial expressions, bends and turns. The main focus of the dance becomes the eyes and the foot movements. The eyes of the performer have worked as a medium of communication of the dance items and the dancers tried to communicate the expressions. They have performed Umang, Vandanam and Teen Tal and exhibited their talent exceptionally.

M Surendranath performed the items ‘Vande Vasudevam’ and ‘Surtyastakam’ in Kuchipudi dance format. As usual, the local artistes and disciples of Sappa Sivakumar performed the old and routine dance items like ‘Panamosmi Vinayakam’, ‘Krishnam Kalaya Sakhi Sundaram’ and ‘Bho Sambho… Siva Sambho’.

It is very pitiable to state that the other dance forms have been exploring the new inventions while the dance masters were still performing the old and routine stocked items years together and making the audience engaged. Even the organisers were not bothered what they were performing. This trend should be changed and the choreographers should start new and innovative items to exhibit their talent for the connoisseurs.

While inaugurating the festival, K Satyanarayana, DG (Fire) said that the State Government was taking much care to protect traditional art forms and spreading the cultural aroma in the State. Dr D Vijaya Bhaskar, Director, Department of Language and Culture, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Telagareddy Satyanadam, Joint Commissioner, Income Tax, Golla Narayana Rao were also present.