Monisha Arts presented Mohini Nrithyotsav 2012, a classical dance festival, recently at Seva Sadan Auditorium, Malleswaram.
The two-day cultural fest saw a variety of dance performances ranging from mohiniyattam, odissi, bharatanatyam to kuchipudi and kathak. The first day had mohiniyattam presentations by Pallavi Krishnan, Ayswaria Wariar and the students of Monisha Arts.
The much-awaited event began with a performance by the students of Monisha Arts called Cholkettu, an invocatory piece that began with a salutation to Lord Ganesha.
The group show was presented by Shruti K P, Anita Gopi, Saraswathi and Vinaya with a lot of dedication. Next up was Pallavi Krishnan’s performance which stole the hearts of many.
The talented artiste presented three items and each item got a great response from the audience. Her first performance was in praise of Lord Ganesha to seek his blessings.
Next she chose to perform Dashavatharam which had more scope for abhinaya. She chose Pralaya Payodhi Jale Hare Mukunda from Jayadeva’s Geetha Govinda and presented it in a beautiful manner. Set in aadi tala and raagamalika, the dance number depicted each avatar of Lord Vishnu.
Her wonderful expression and enchanting movements transported the audience to a different world altogether.
Pallavi’s next performance was a Thillana composed by Maharaja Swathitirunal. She chose a padam called Chendarsahebarupa, an 18th century composition, describing the plight of a love-struck nayika.
A friend of nayika approaches her beloved and explains to him about her friend’s sad condition. She describes that as a result of being separated from him, she has lost interest in everything. It was set in raag bihag and mishrachapam.
Pallavi succeeded to evoke all the emotions in an effective way. She was supported well by Prasanth Parashini on vocal, Unikrishna on mridangam and Suryanarayanan on flute.
Later, the stage was set for Ayswaria Wariar, whose first performance was on Lord Ganesha.
After seeking his blessings, she presented two pieces which she had choreographed herself. She was supported by Shankar Raman on veena, Jayaram on flute and Achutananda in edikya.
The second day saw a variety of programmes including a mohiniyattam performance by the students of Monisha Arts, Swapna Rajendrakumar and Shruthi Vishwas, odissi by Madhulita Mohapatra, bharatanatyam by Shruthi K P, kuchipudi by Shama Krishna and kathak by Ramya Nagaraj.