Aug 25, 2010
August 14th, 2010 marked a milestone event for family and friends of St. Louis teenager, Shalini Subbarao. On the eve of India’s independence day, the 15 year old high school sophomore geared up to perform her rangapravesha (arangetram) in Bharatanatya. The venue was Rockwood Summit High School in Fenton, Missouri. The beautiful auditorium foyer on the premises echoed with sounds of over 400 friends and guests who mingled and admired the elegant ambience bereft with decorations with icons of Lord Ganesha and colorful floral garlands, fresh flowers and brass lamps. Guests viewed the framed pictures of Shalini in her dance poses and the collage of mudras (hand gestures) displayed alongside.
Shalini Subbarao is the disciple of Guru Prasanna Kasthuri of Soorya Dance Company, who through his dedication and discipline has trained Shalini in the Pandanallur style of Bharatanatyam for the last 8 years. Guru Prasanna owes his learning to great teachers such as Gurus Smt. Maya Rao (Kathak), Smt. Lalitha Srinivasan and Smt. Narmada (Bharathanatyam). Along with these teachers, he has also learnt at workshops with noted personalities such as Birju Maharaj, Mahalingam Pillai, Adyar Lakshmanan, Chitra Visweswaran, Pandanallur Gopalakrishna and others. In addition to the nattuvangam and choreography, Prasanna is also a good singer and a music composer. Prasanna established Soorya Performing Arts in 2002 in St. Louis, MO to promote Indian classical dance, music and theater to a greater Midwest audience of United States of America. He has headed many great projects co-sponsored by the prestigious Regional Arts Council of St. Louis and Missouri Arts Council. Gokula Nirgamana, Rainbow-II, St. Louis Indian Drama Festival (Nataka 2007), the first Indian Classical Dance Festival - “St. Louis Indian Dance Festival” in 2008 following it up with the second one in 2010 are just a few of his stalwart productions. Apart from these he has trained hundreds of students in India, Europe and in USA. More than 15 students have performed arangetrams since 2004 under his tutelage. Another student of Guru Prasanna who recently completed her arangetram is Annuja Mathivannan who had hers in Toronto, Canada on August 7th, 2010.
The Masters of ceremony for the evening of August 14th were Aditya Subbarao and Bhavana Kodira. Both of them ably explained the programs of the repertoire to the audience. Aditya also interjected his comparing in English with stanzas in Kannada, his native language, which was well received.
Beautifully dressed Shalini in her peacock blue-green costume and adorned with temple-jewelry took center stage as the rangapravesha repertoire began with the Natya Arambha, a composite dance made of four short dances (Ragas Gambheera Nata, Revathi, Begadey and Kalyani) praising Soorya (the Sun God), Sabha (audience), Ganapati (Lord Ganesha), Goddess Saraswati (Goddess of learning) and concluded with an Alaripu . Following this was the jathiswaram in Raga Kannada, set to the 8-beat cycle, Adi tala. A pure nritta composition with the swaras (notations) intertwined with jathis (percussion phrases), there is no abhinaya (facial expressions) aspect here. The dance deals with the execution of adavus(basic steps) and mudras(hand gestures), combined in definite groups.
The Shabdam that followed was a kriti (song) in praise of Goddess Kamakshi, Queen of Lord
Shiva and mother of Lord Subramanya, who resides at Kanchipuram, a divine place in South India. She is depicted as the epitome of all beauty-both physical and spiritual. Her eyes are compared to the beauty of the lotus petals, her face to the beauty of the full moon, her voice and smile incomparable to anything in the world and one who is the supreme creator of everything auspicious in this world. This song was preceded by a few shlokas (prayers) from Shyamala Dandaka written by the greatest Indian poet, who lived on the Indian subcontinent, Kalidasa, who is credited with the epic Shakuntalam. The composition was KanjadalAyatAkshi Kamakshi, in Raga KamalAmanohari in Adi tala.
Varnam is the feature piece of a Bharatanatyam performance that equally emphasizes the nritta (pure movement) and abhinaya (expressions). This composition brings out the relationship of naayaka-naayaki (hero and heroine). The lyrics explain emotions of joy, sorrow, and feelings of love. They indirectly refer to God, since the naayaka is said to represent the “paramaatma” (Great Soul, God), the naayika(heroine) represents the jeevaatma (human soul, man). The varnam Shringara Chaturanae in Raga Karaharapriya, composed by Smt. Dwarki Krishnaswamy portrays the relationship of the devotee to her beloved Lord Krishna.
Following a brief intermission the program continued with Shalini rendering the two Padams, Jaganmohanane Krishna in Ragamalika and Pogadhi Rallo Rango in Raga Shankarabharana. The stories in the padams are based on Lord Krishna and his anecdotes and memorable stories such as those taken from the Mahabharata. The stories of Mohini, Bhasmasura, Arjuna, Karna and the battle of Kurukshetra all seemed to have come alive in Shalini’s rendition of the first padam. Abhinaya plays a very important role in the padams. The great Hindu poet, Purandara Dasa has used the rasa (sentiment) of Vatsalya (Parental love) in the latter to the maximum.
Every rangapravesha has a scintillating Tillana and Shalini’s was in Raga Kathanakuthuhala (Adi tala), composed by Padmashri Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna. Tillana is a pure dance form with vigorous movements. The Tillana enables the dancer to exhibit finesses, nimble footwork and fluidity of movements to fast-paced rhythmic pattern in accordance with the verbal phrases from the musicians. Shalini’s conversations with the artistes in the form of a jugalbandi added an interesting dimension to the Tillana.
The finale of the rangapravesha was the mini dance drama, Ravana and the Aatmalinga, an episode excerpted from the Hindu mythology. The lyrics were written by Shalini’s grandmother and choreographed by Guru Prasanna. Ravana (the Asura (Demon) King of Lanka performs a rigorous penance in the Himalayas for which he is blessed by Lord Shiva with the “Aatma linga" which was very desired by Ravana’s mother for her daily worship. Lord Vishnu realizes the power that would come to Ravana from worshipping the 'Atma linga' and foresees the harm that could come to the world due to this indestructible power. Lord Vishnu devises a plot and involves Lord Ganesha to execute the plan.
The Atma linga eludes Ravana and settles down in what is now Gokarna in South India, thereby defeating Ravana’s quest for greater power.
The dancer was ably accompanied by professional musicians several of whom had traveled from India. Vidwan Ramesh Raamalingappa on the mridangam, Vidwan Jayaprakash Kaanoor on the flute, and Vidwan Hemanth Kumar on the violin accompanied the vocalist Mrs. Seema Kasthuri who with her melodious voice sang the compositions with the accompanying nattuvangam by Guru Prasanna Kasthuri.
Shalini has been learning dance from Guru Prasanna Kasthuri since she was 8 years of age. Today as a 15 year-old she feels dance is an integral part of who she is! Dance has created a stronger bond for her with the Indian heritage she comes from. A Honors student at Parkway West High School, Shalini is an all-rounder, dabbling in violin and classical Indian music and athletics as well. She graduated from the Center of Indian Cultural Heritage (Balvihar of St. Louis) with an education that has imparted the rich culture and heritage of her East Indian descent. She now spends her Sunday mornings teaching the younger kids at the school as a youth group volunteer. She has performed at several Soorya Dance company productions such as Rainbow II (2006, 2007), Call of the Flute (Gokula Nirgamana)(2007), Om Ganesha (2004, 2009), St. Louis Indian Dance Festival (2007, 2009), She has also performed at “Festival of Nations” at Belleville(2006, 2007). Shalini had the opportunity of performing in Gokula Nirgamana with Guru Prasanna Kasthuri, at the inaugural program for the International Kannada conference in Chicago (AKKA) in 2008. In December of 2009, she was invited to perform at the International Dance Festival hosted by Shantala Arts in Bangalore, India, in December of 2009, on the occasion of its 25th anniversary.
Shalini has taken great pride in performing and sharing the art form at several other local events such as ‘Diversity Day’ at Mastercard, AT&T, Forest Park, ‘Diversity Month’ at the St. Louis Public Libraries, ‘Asia Day’ at Monsanto, Kannada Sangama, Cultural Association of South India, and India Association. Shalini looks forward to continuing to learn dance and to share this part of her Indian heritage for years to come!
