Sarvani Yadavalli- Kuchipudi Performance
29th December 2017

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Kuchipudi Performance - Sarvani Yadavalli - Vempati Margazhi Utsav - 29th December 2017
Bhavanvitha Venkat

Chennai Classical Dance & Music season concluded and it was time well spent attending to classical dance performances, conferences and meeting passionate artists and dance lovers.

On 29th December 2017, attended Kuchipudi performance of Sarvani at Kuchipudi Art Academy in their Vempati Margazhi Utsav. A blissful Sri Siddhendra Yogi's golden statue was a site to behold in all its glory. The statue was inaugurated by the Deputy Chief Minister of Tamilnadu Sri Panneer Selvam on the 26th December 2017. The venue for the fest was at the very academy regular Kuchipudi classes are taken by Kuchipudi Art Academy established by founder Padma Bhusha Dr Vempati Chinna Satyam.

Kuchipudi dancers have a special significance associated to performance in Chennai during the Margazhi. Sarvani, a student of Smt.Sobha Naidu, Sri Vedantam Radheyshyam, Smt.Seetha Nagajyothy (she initiated her Kuchipudi from Guru Raja Ram early in her childhood) performed on the 4th day of the festival.

Sarvani's performance in the Utsav allowed her two items as the slot provided to her was 45 minutes. Her performance came after renowned Sattriya dancer Pratibha Sharma which was well received. It was nice sitting next to well known dance critic Dr Sunil Kothari who was explaining the finer aspects of Pratibha Sarma's performance. A recent trend in Kuchipudi is that dancers who have learnt or performed for more than a decade graduating and working on differnt choreographic themes on their own.

Sarvani's two items were Sandhya Tandavam and an Annamayya Keerthana "Vacchenu Alamelu Manga". Sandhya Tandavam is of Lord Siva dancing with Parvati at the time the daylight fades and the world embraces darkness on the Mount Kailash, and it's timed perfect with the slot she got in the evening.

When the celestial Gods- Brahma, Vishnu, Saraswathi, and Indra give accompaniment on the instruments, Lord Shiva dances with bliss along with his consort Parvathi in Mount Kailash. This Ragamalika in Adi Talam, is written by Sri K V Satyanarayan and Music composed by Gopala Krishna and Sarvani herself choreographed the item. This is a fast paced item in which words are easy to comprehend and follow and the piece is set to charecterastic music of the Lord, vibrant and rhythmic. Sarvani captured the attention right away, her comfort and ease evident. That it was her own choreography so naturally aligned to suit her dancing style incorporating her natural strengths namely the expressive eyes and powerful postures came out in aestheticity and finish. The notable feature was her quick transformation and presentation as Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati that came out with perfect sculpturesque postures. This was also well received by the audience.

She performed another item that's longer, about 30 minutes, an Annamayya Keerthana, Vachhenu Alamelu Manga flows with all the poetic excellence and describes the arrival of the Goddess created to be a Pravesa dharu of Kuchipudi tradition. Choreographed by Padmasri Dr. Sobha Naidu, a Ragamalika set to Adi Talam, the dance narrative takes to depict the navarasas with interpretations. It's nice that she introduced and acknowledged the due credits for the items though she performed to recorded music.

Sarvani has the energy and ease to make an impactful performance and she looks even more comfortable to her choreography. In her future works she may well choose the Vaggeyakaras works, study them in the sense of bhakti and indepth meaning. The classical nature of such items would be much closer to the tradition as also giving scope to sharpen her dancing mind.

Another take away from the performance is of the slots that the dancers get while performing on various stages. An hour or an hour and half slots would allow the dancers to settle and perform to their potential. The second edition of Vempati Margazhi Utsav gave opportunities to other Kuchipudi artists as Lakshmi Reddy and Prateeksha Kashi, and in the previous version it was Aditya Anukula and Lalitha Sindhuri, makes it ideal for the serious dancers who would love to perform in front of the audience well known for their critical appraisal. Chennai has a fairly large Telugu speaking rasikas, and their encouragement and support would go a long way in getting top talent from Kuchipudi to perform in the sacred season.




Bhavanvitha Venkat is a Kuchipudi dancer, Writer.
bhavanvitha@gmail.com
*** All views are of the dancer.
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PriyaLasya Classical Dance Platform - Kuchipudi, Bharatanatyam, Odissi, Mohiniyattam, Manipuri, Kathakali, Chhau, Sattriya
Sarvani Yadavalli, Bhavanvitha Venkat, Kuchipudi Art Academy, Vempati Margazhi Utsav, PL_Hamara_Article 0218-02.1A
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