Beauty and Grace at Annual Recital of Abhinaya School of Performing Arts

KATY: Colors, choreography and synchronization were the highlights of Rasaanubhava’14, the annual recital of Abhinaya School of Performing Arts, at the Stafford Civic Center on May 18.
The artistic director and teacher Indrani Parthasarathy, well versed in the Pandanallur style of Bharathanatyam and also trained in Kuchipudi style of dancing is the daughter of the dance Guru Karnataka Kalathilaka Smt. Radha Sridhar of Bangalore. Indrani has to her credit more than 100 solo performances and has been a performer in India, UAE and USA and has been a part of her mother’s dance drama productions.

Indrani established the Abhinaya School of Performing Arts in 2001 which is originally based in Katy, and has now grown and has branches in Cypress and Pearland.

The annual recital began part one featuring with the junior to intermediate student performances. Anupama Nagasimha, assistant teacher welcomed the guests while senior students Vrinda and Isha introduced the dances.. The curtain raiser was an invocation dance by Abhinaya graduates Archana, Komal and Prasannah. The junior students then presented a highly colorful yet synchronized performance maintaining their lines and formations from adavus to jathiswaram. Besides performing dances they had learnt over the year they also performed dances specially choreographed to popular folk and fusion numbers. The students performed with fervor and confidence in their coordinated costumes.

The senior segment began at 4:30 pm. Emceed by senior students Ritvik and Ritika the senior recital had an array of beautifully choreographed traditional classical dances like Mallari, Shabdam, Jathiswaram, Padam, Keerthanams and Thillana. The highlight of the evening was a surprise performance by Kavya who presented a highly energetic power charged solo dance Mahishasura Mardhini. The students also presented a colorful presentation called Rangoli which featured dances choreographed to fusion, semi-classical and folk songs. The intricate choreography stood out more because of the colorful coordinated special costumes. The joy and passion for dancing was evident on the faces of the students as they performed. The recital ended with a happy note about the student performances by teacher Indrani Parthasarathy.