Every year between August and September, Natyarangam, the dance wing of Narada Gana Sabha, presents its annual thematic dance festival, which brings together eminent personalities including musicians, dancers, and scholars on the same platform. The festival offers young talented dancers an opportunity to perform, and allows them to conceptualise and create a full-length presentation on the chosen topic. Each year’s edition will have a different theme.
This year’s festival, titled ‘Rithu Bharatham’, is themed on the six seasons. The theme provided an opportunity for the artistes to unleash their imagination and explore the myriad facets of each season. But the committee’s guidelines to include a wide range of works — from Kalidasa’s to Sangam, and from Ragamala paintings to festivals — seemed difficult for the dancers to fully explore the essence of each season.
A specific template, requiring the dancers to integrate their ideas, resulted in a similar pattern getting repeated on all days. Rama Vaidyanathan segmented the season into five parts beginning with Saumya and ending with Apeksha.| Photo Credit:SRINATH M The festival began with Rama Vaidyanathan’s ‘Vasantha Rithu’ (Spring) performance.
Rama had divided the season into five parts beginning with Saumya (season of Equanimity), Punaravarthana (Rejuvenation), Kama roopini (love), Bahu Varnani (multi-hued), and Apeksha (hope). Rama Vaidyanathan’s Vasantha Rithu Rama Vaidyanathan’s performance was ti.