 Bharatanatya arangetram at Missouri
 The Bharatanatya arangetram of
Maheetha Bharadwaj was performed on September 25, at Clayton
High School auditorium in Clayton, Missouri. USA. Maheetha is 9
years old and is a fifth grader at Ellisville Elementary School
in Ellisville, Missouri. Maheetha had Bharatanatyam training
under gurus Adyar K. Lakshman (director, Bharatha Choodamani
Academy of Fine Arts, Chennai) and Sudha Srinivasan (director,
Nrithyalaya, Downers Grove, Illinois, USA). Both the gurus
conducted the nattuvangam, including vocal music. Accompanists
included Meenakshi Gopalan (veena), Ravichandra Kulur (flute)
and Janardana Rao (mridangam).
After pooja and prayer to
Lord Ganesha, the programme began with a MallAri (ragam:
gambeeranAttai; thALam: Adi), slokam on Ganesha (ragam: Arabhi),
and alaarippu (ragam: nAttai; thALam: tisra nadai). It was
quickly followed by a shabdam (Ayar sEriyar aRindhiDAmalum in
the ragams: kAmbhOji, shanmukhapriyA, bilahari, and madyamAvathi;
thALam: misra cApu). Both items were executed by Maheetha with
subdued dignity.
The next item was the main
piece, a varNam, manavi cEkOnarAdhA, (ragam: shankarAbharaNam;
thALam: Adi) by Ponnaiah PiLLai of the Thanjavur Quartet fame.
This piece, in praise of Lord Brihadeeswara of Thanjavur, was
done with great aplomb by Maheetha, adhering to the technical
details. (A flower piece fell off from her hairdo but the girl
paid scant attention to it and managed the situation with great
deftness, just concentrating on what she was supposed to do).
After a brief intermission, the
programme continued with a keerthanam composed by AnnamAcAryA,
shringAra mUrithivi, (ragam: khamas; thALam: kaNDa cApu)
followed by a Muthuswami Dikshitar kriti, simhAsanasthithE (ragams:
saurAshtram, vasanthA, surati, and madyamAvathi; thALam: rUpakam).
The AnnamAcAryA piece was done at some leisure elaborating the
flower boat sequence while the Dikshitar piece was executed with
reverence and dignity, culminating in Maheetha’s prostrating
at the feet of goddess PArvathi which was highlighted by
darkening of the stage except for a single spotlight on her.
 The final item was a thillAnA,
(ragam: BrindAvana sArangA; thALam: Adi), composed by Madurai N.
Krishnan. Maheetha really showed extraordinary brilliance in
executing the thillana, incorporating technical accuracy and
grammatical purity.
It was really an enjoyable and
delightful performance by the 9-year old girl. Throughout the
programme she never showed any signs of stress that would
normally befall a youngster doing an arduous arangetram.
This writer chatted later with
Adyar K. Lakshman regarding the girl’s talents. With due
reluctance characteristic of a guru, he mentioned that this girl
was the youngest of all his current disciples and that she
exhibits a quick grasp of the technical details and that she has
the essential element of “naturalness”, a sort of innate
talent. It was his experience that Maheetha was always ready and
willing to meet the guru’s agenda more than half-way. He felt
that Maheetha is going to be a delight to watch when she matures
into a young maiden, learns more of the art and performs at
various gatherings.
This writer felt that Maheetha
demonstrated a great talent and her facial expressions were
quite that a young woman rather than a little girl, not to speak
of perfect footwork and nimble limb movements.
S Subramanian
Raleigh, North Carolina
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