 Classical dance evening in Dubai
 It was a delightful evening with a difference on April 21, 2005, at the Indian Consulate Auditorium in Dubai. There was no loud music, no film dance numbers or the usual pre-recorded music and amateur dances on show, associated with most of the local cultural events. For a change, two classical Bharatanatyam dancers presented a classical recital, ‘Natya Sampriti’, with live accompaniments.
Lakshmi Venkatesh, director, Narthaki Dance Academy, Dubai, has already won many accolades and awards from various local associations in the last 10 years. She has also trained a number of expatriate students in this divine art as part of her illustrious dance and teaching career. She joined hands with another reputed Kalakshetra alumni, Mathangi Iyengar, from Chennai, to provide a two-hour visual and musical treat for the ‘traditional classical dance rasikas’ of Dubai. Mathangi is fast becoming a dancer of repute with a lot of national and international exposure and her merit has been recognised at various national and international forums with critical acclaim.
 The recital, which started with the usual invocation dance, picked up momentum with the traditional jatiswaram, Varnam dances and reached a crescendo with the song ‘En Palli Kondirayya’ in praise of ‘Srirangam Lord Ranganatha’ which was performed with some delightful movements and excellent facial expressions for 45 minutes by both artistes. This number was followed by a Hindi bhajan for variety and then ‘Kanden Kanden’ song from the epic Ramayana, narrating the triumphant return of Lord Hanuman after visiting Goddess Sita in Lanka.
 There was also a lovely number, ‘Muraleedhara’, set to the unusual ‘Maandu’ Raga and the Thillana was the grand finale. The artistes were ably accompanied on the nattuvangam and vocal by K Balakrishan who flew all the way from Chennai, as well two local artistes, Palghat Krishna Rajan on the mridangam and G K Venkatesan on the violin. Both of them are pillars of strength to all the artistes in the region for such
programmes.
 The event was ably compered by Muthu Krishnan and Vidya Suresh explaining the nuances of each dance to the distinguished gathering that sat through the show and warmly applauded the artistes for taking so much pain and effort in putting together a different show in a short span of time.
Meeran of Apollo Studios, once referred to as ‘Dubai Karnan’, when it comes to encouraging artistes, was the chief guest of the memorable evening.
N Ramkumar
Dubai
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