TALENTED LITTLE WONDER

It was a special occasion for Bharatanatya Kalalaya as it marked the 50th Arangetram programme and the dancer was the little ten year old wonder Varsha Sundar. Varsha performed with lot of excitement and enthusiasm at the Manik Sabhagriha in Bandra.

Varsha Sundar is the talented disciple of Guru Geeta Vekateshwar who is an accomplished exponent and heads the dance academy - Bharatanatya Kalalaya. It was amazing to watch little Varsha dance to heart's content, winning the applause from the packed audience. Varsha commenced her sparkling performance with the traditional invocatory number and followed it with the Khamas Shiva Padam, a composition by Papanasam Sivan extolling the glory and the power of the cosmic dance of Lord Shiva in the Chidambaram temple. The Devi Padam was unusual for its content in which the dancer asks the goddess as to whether she is a toy in her hands?. It was interesting to watch as to how Varsha would relate to different items with innate natural expressions and precise execution of movements which was quite evident in items like the Natakakuranji Varnam and Brindavani Thillana.

Besides the execution of the most elaborate item of the Bharata natyam repertoire, the Varnam, the spectators were thrilled to watch typical characteristic movements of the coiling serpent in the Sarpa Nrityam as the movements are extremely flexible winning the attention of the viewers and quite demanding for the dancer as well.

While Hey Govinda incorporated the pranks of little Krishna and the episode of Gajendra Moksham in which the lord appears as the savior and saves the elephant Gajendra from the clutches of the crocodile. Varsha concluded her performance with the intricate THillana and the lively gypsy dance known as Kurathi. Varsha recieved fine orchestral support from Guru Geeta Venkateshwar on nattuvangam and Guru Padmini Radhakrishnan.for the commendalbe vocal support. On the whole Varsha is a dancer who will definitely go far provided she continues to dance with the same amount of passion and zeal.