Salutations and Celebrations: Subhashni Giridhar

Bharatanatyam dancer, Guru Subhashni Giridhar who trained in Tanjore style of the traditional dance form, gave an enthralling recital on September 1 at Ravindra Bharathi. She celebrated the 28th anniversary of her dance academy Suguna Nrityalaya.

The dance recital began with salutations to Lord Ganesha. She performed for ‘Sri Ganapatini sevimpa rare’ in Ragam Sourahstram, Adi talam followed by Alarippu and Jathiswaram in ragam Bhairavi, a Tanjore quartet composition along with her students.

Subhashni then performed the centrepiece of the concert –Varnam –the quintessential ‘Virainthodi chel mayile’ in praise of Lord Karthikeya; a composition of her mother Vasantha Vijayaraghavan, a composer of devotional songs. The composition in ragam Thodi and talam Rupakam depicts the story of Karthikeya, the story of how he goes on to live a life of a hermit when his brother wins over him by going around their parents and paying respects as an equivalent of going around the world and bathing in all holy rivers; and further goes on to depict his marriage to Valli.

It was the bhava (expression) that caught the audiene attention when Subhashni performed the popular ‘Nagumomu Ganaleni’ in ragam Abheri talam Adi by Sri Tyagaraja. She depicted Sita lost in thoughts of Sri Rama during the vanvaas; she recalls how she met Rama, her journey with him and yearning to see him again.

Subhashni performed a padam – ‘Oru Kaalai thooki’ in praise of Lord Nataraja and his cosmic dance in Chidambaram, in ragam Bageshri talam Adi and concluded the recital with a Tillana, a Tanjore quartet composition. The enthralling program was well accompanied by Renuka Prasad on Nattuvangam, Venu Madhav on vocal, Sridaracharya on mridangam, Sai Kumar on violin and VBS Murali on flute.