Sensitive
Offerings:
Bragha
has a simple, unassuming presence, until she begins to
weave magic on her audience with her sophisticated mimetic
skills.
Her
eyes are so eloquent, one glance enough to convey the
depth of admiration for the nayaka or the pain of separation
from Him.......Her talent has been honed to a rare refinement.......She
understands the power of subtlety, where less works
better than the converse.
The
Sankarabarnam tillana in Adi talam became the most vibrant
piece, where music, dance and rhythm came together in
a scintillating finale.
-
The Hindu, Friday, January 20. 2006
'Exceptional
Recital'
It is called Transformation... which is what happens to
both audience and the dancer when Bragha does her Bharatanatyam.
One often speaks of stage presence but here the presence
is only of the dance.
She has a potency, an insight which sings and dances with
a glory and splendour in which the body ceases to be,
and the dancer becomes the dance.
Nandisoll blossoms into a dance statement of beauty and
power ...
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The
fire of total involvement in the dancer is on a different
plane altogether...
The dancer's nritta, apart from the perfection of her
jumps and line, exudes a great joy.
The little 'arudi-s' were examples of rhythmic beauty
and strength... The dancer's abhinaya was superb. She
displayed amazing ability to hold a moment in stillness
and silence... A neat Tillana in Paras provided the
finishing touch to an exceptional recital. Bragha does
her Gurus proud.
- The Hindu-January 8, 1999
She
is very good in nritta and great in abhinaya. I've never
seen, in my half a century of knowledgeable dance-viewing,
a better essaying of "Ramo nama babhuva (Some years
ago in the Music Academy mini hall) and Idaivida and
Payyada a while ago for Narada Gana Sabha.
In her exposition of the emotive content, she was slow,
sure and absolutely riveting.
Bragha Bessell is a rare joy for dance and dancers alike.
Her concentration, her constant striving for perfection...
Her dance indeed was a many-splendoured thing.
- Sruti March 1999
'Excellent choreography'
Vande Mataram Varnam was presented in fine manner by
Bragha, Her nritta was marked with firmness...
The theermanams were rendered in a gripping manner...
Bragha's depiction of the changing moods of the divine
couple was done skilfully.
- The Hindu- September 26,
1997.
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Bragha
: her nritta was marked with firmness and neat execution:
especially the theermanams were rendered in a gripping
manner.
The Hindu, Friday, September
26, 1997
She
has something far more potent, and that is an inside
which sings and dances with a glory and splendour in
which the body ceases to be, and the dancer becomes
the dance.
- Exceptional Recital
An
experience of a life time
Humble to a fault, this dancer attributes all her proficiency
to her two gurus, Kunchitapadam in her initial years
and, now for several years, Adyar Lakshmanan.
If any proof were needed that the Devi of dance in all
her burnished glory and fullness prefers that patra
or vessel which has no ego, then Bragha is the standing
example.
- The Hindu, Friday, October
29, 1999
Here
is a dancer totally unconcerned with being pretty on
the stage.
Bragha's
art. Her Bharatanatyam is a jewel to be treasured.
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1965-1966 : Guru. Late Mangudi Durai Raj Iyer - Gajjai Pooja