Bharatanatyam recital enthrals SAARC delegates ahead of meet

New Delhi, Sep 24: The Third Meeting of SAARC Ministers of Culture which began here today got a slice of India’s rich culture on the eve of the two-day international meet when leaders and delegates were treated to a Bharatanatyam recital from the south of the country.

Five young artistes from Chennai’s Kalakshetra showcased the vivacity and variety of the classical dance before an audience that comprised ministers, top bureaucrats and their families from the eight member-nations of the 1985-founded South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, or SAARC.

The 50-minute show, which was organised by Sangeet Natak Akademi on Tuesday evening, was strung together by frontline dancer Priyadarshini Govind who is currently the director of the 1936-established institution.

Artistes from Chennai-based Kalakshetra Repertory Company
 perform Bharatanatyam in New Delhi on Sep 23 Tuesday on the eve of the
 Third SAARC Culture Ministers Conference in the national capital.

As the dancers — three of them males — presented four celebrated items to recorded music at The Ashok hotel in the capital, the SAARC delegates from Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bhutan and the Maldives besides host India watched in relaxed attention. The end of the performance saw them applaud the artistes with long rounds of claps, much to the pleasure of Priyadarshini and the Kalakshetra Repertory Company artistes Hari Padman, Sibi Sudarsan, K P Rakesh, Indu Mohan and K Sharada Acharya.

Culture Secretary Ravindra Singh said before the start of the show that India was seeking to strengthen cultural ties with the rest of the SAARC nations. “We share centuries of history,” he noted, adding that the deep bond manifests in matters ranging from food, art and literature.

Culture Secretary Ravindra Singh and Joint Secretary V Srinivas on stage, flanking Kalakshetra director Priyadarshini Govind, after a Bharatanatyam show by the Chennai-based institution's repertory company's five dancers on Sep 23 Tuesday on the eve of the Third SAARC Culture Ministers Conference in the national capital.

The dance recital, according to Priyadarshini, eminently mirrored the insight and spirit of Bharatanatyam gurus, including legendary theosophist Rukmini Devi Arundale who founded Kalakshetra in 1936.

Mr Singh presented Priyadarshini and the stage artistes with shawls.

The dance programme began with the invocatory Allarippu in raga Nattai, followed by a Jatiswaram in Kalyani and set to the three-beat roopaka taal. Then came the main piece, a Keertana on Nataraja (set to Kedaragoula raga and choreographed by the couple V P Dhananjayan and Shanta). The recital concluded with a Tillana composed by 20th-century musician Papanasam Sivan in raga Hindolam.