Teynampet P.K.M. Ravi and his team opened the 49th Art and Dance Festival of Krishna Gana Sabha, with their Nadaswaram kutcheri on December 9, in Chennai. And you couldn't escape from being drawn to the festivity and celebration at Maharajapuram Santhanam Salai, off the ever buzzing T. Nagar area.
Hamsi Raghuvir of Bangalore rendered the invocation. Arts promoter Nalli Kuppuswamy Chetty, President of Sri Krishna Gana Sabha (and a another half-a-dozen sabhas in Chennai) welcomed the rasikas.
Sitting on the front row were well known artistes like Lakshmi Viswanathan, Haridwaramangalam A.K.Palanivel, politician R.M. Veerappan and sabha secretaries.
Sonal Mansingh, renowned Odissi dancer and Chairman, Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi inaugurated the festival. She unveiled the portrait of Odissi maestro Kelu Charan Mohapatra. This year, the fest at this sabha is dedicated to the memory of Kelu babu (as he is known).
Senior dancer Padma Subrahmanyam presided over. She presented the 'Nrithya Choodamani' award to Odissi dancer Madhavi Mudgal (also a student of Kelu Charan Mohapatra). The 'Acharya Choodamani' title was conferred on dance guru Indra Rajan.
The dance guru known for her skill in nattuvangam, has recently been teaming up with Pondy based veena artiste and dancer Raghunath Manet at concerts abroad. And she surprised the rasikas by reciting a jathi at the end of her speech thsi eveving. Senior dancers Chitra Visweswaran and M.V.Narasimhachari, convenor of this year's Natya Kala conference felicitated the awardees. S. Rajaraman, Director of Kalakshetra, presented shawls on behalf of the Kalakshetra Foundation.
Endowment awards for prize winners under various categories were presented too.
Formal function over, it was time for a Odissi recital by Surupa Sen and Bejoyini Satpathy of Nrityagram, Bangalore.
