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The Natyanjali Dance Fests are special. The dancers hop across one temple to the other during
the five days and pay homage to Lord Shiva through dance.
As the festivals unfold in Tamil Nadu, the Kutcheribuzz team covers the journey, the festival, the
sidelights and the people every year. We bring you the daily reports this year also.
VINCENT D' SOUZA writes from these places, daily.
Ban
Bo Shambo!
Chidambaram, Nataraja Temple. 7 pm.
Over 3,000 people pack into the venue of the Natyanjali. Amazing!
I try to find out with the hosts the reason for the big rush on a weekday. Perhaps it is because two local dance academies are presenting their students on stage.
Perhaps they are here to see the 'kuravanji' billed for the finale. At about 9.30 pm.
Whatever be the reason for the huge crowd, clearly a well-designed dance fest in places like Chidambaram draws hundreds of people.
Scholar B. M. Sundaram says he was stopped this morning on his way to the temple by a young man.
"Isn't Ramya Krishnan coming?"
"Ramya who?"
"Don't you know Ramya? Ramya the actress!"
Off and on, the Natyanjali fests in the state have featured actors who are also trained in classical dance. Though the stars attract more people the latter behave like crazy fans and spoil the atmosphere.
Backstage, Sundaram is drawing up a list of songs which the Natyanjali hosts will not entertain. "We`are tired of having 'Bo Shambo' every day at every festival,"he says.
Perhaps it will help if people like Sundaram and the organisers brief and interact with the invited artistes long before the
Natyanjali.
More people are streaming in. It is 8 pm. Carnatic vocalist Unnikrishnan passes by the KutcheriBuzz operations nook in what should have been a 'nandavanam' of the temple. His wife is scheduled to perform - with the troupe of guru Kshemavathi of Trissur. The dancers are Rina Ashok, Usha Suresh, Priya Krishnadass, Asha Anand, Priya Unnikrishnan and Sujatha.
Kathak dancer Luna Poddar from Kolkotta follows the Mohiniattam recital.
And the finale is a rousing act - the ' Arthanareeswarar Kuravanji' featuring dancers Roja Kannan, Priya Murle, N. Srikanth and Aswathi Srikanth. This is the third show of this production though it had been whittled down to 60 minutes from the original 150 minutes production.
The performance begins well past 10.30 pm but at least 1000 people stay back to watch it. And have their fill. As Roja and Srikanth play act and dance in exaggerated story-telling, the audience giggles right through. A performance supported by musicians Sasirekha on the nattuvangam, Bhama, vocals, Anirrudha on mridangam, Sasidharan on flute
and M. S. Kannan on the violin.
Dance students at the Annamalai University, Chidambaram, bring down the curtains at 1.20 am. As the lights are turned off, all the people who slogged it out backstage assemble on stage for a keepsake picture for the album.
For many, the Natyanjali draws different people together to work on the sidelines.
We hope to meet again on March 6, 2008. The day when the Natyanjali will be inaugurated next year here in Chidambaram.
Photos, from top to bottom -
1. Mohiniattam performance by dancers of guru Kshemavathi
2. Scene from 'Arthanareeswarar Kuravaji'
3. The dancers of Annamalai University
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Photos by Mohandas Vadakara
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