 Crisp and versatile
Neeraja Srinivasan’s solo Bharatanatyam recital, under the auspices of Kartik Fine Arts at the Narada Gana Sabha mini hall, Chennai, recently, had the required attributes in good measure that won for her easily commendable audience acclaim.
Her earlier tutelage under Vanaja Narayanan, a student of (late) K N Dandayudhapani Pillai, an eminent dance guru of yesteryear, stood her very well during her crisp and versatile 75-minute performance. Ragamalika - Aadhi Varnam, especially, was executed with graceful élan. Needless to stress that the Varnam is the most exacting number in any dance recital. Neeraja, as an experienced danseuse, passed the test with praiseworthy distinction.
Bharata’s Natya-Sastra, while detailing the qualifications for a perfect dancer, lays, inter alia, considerable stress on hand gestures (hasta-mudras), pure dance, step skills and rhythmic flavour - ‘Yatho hasthah, Thathoh rasah’. Neeraja gave satisfactory proof of her possession of these skills.
The other numbers, the Shanmukha Kauthuvam (Shanmukhapriya-Aadhi), Neerajakshi Kamakshi (Hindolam-Rupakam), Jo Achutananda (Kaapi-Kandachapu), Netrandi Nerathile (Husseini-Rupakam) and the popular Brindavani - Aadhi Thillana (Balamurali) were all quite pleasing both for the aural and visual senses.
Neeraja has been a protege of the Tamilnadu Iyal Isai Nataka Mandram under their talent promotion scheme. A graded artiste of Chennai Doordarshan, who has also performed for Sun TV, this young dancer has travelled abroad (US) to perform and conduct lec-dems, as also in India. She is also a regular choreographer-performer for Tamilnadu Tourism Department cultural festivals at Mamallapuram, Kancheepuram, Courtallam, Chidambaram, Ooty, Yercaud, Kodaikanal and at the Delhi (International Trade Fair), besides under the auspices of premier sabhas during seasonal festivals.
An important landmark was her participation in the music-video ‘Vande Mataram’ international telecast performance of A R Rahman. She runs the dance school by name ‘Tandavam’ and is a teacher at the school run by dance teacher Vidya Bhavani Suresh.
Divyasena’s nattuvangam, Meera Ramesh’s vocal music, Hari Babu’s percussion, Sitarama Sharma’s strings and V Ramanan’s flute strains were pleasing accompaniments.
R Srinivasan
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