29th Nrityaantaranga by Vidwan B.Deepak Kumar
Mangaluru: ‘Nrityaantaranga’ is a series of dance through which the attempt is made to understand the art form better. It is a journey to the inner substance of dances especially Bharathanatyam. It is the dream project of Vidwan B.Deepak Kumar, Director of Sri Mookambika Cultural Academy(R.), Puttur. Vidwan Deepak Kumar had thought to create a platform for young upcoming talents wherein they could showcase their Talent and consequently develop the experience of solo stage performance. To put this idea into action ‘Nrityaantaranga’ was designed.
Here the key idea is to give a platform to the budding artistes to perform solo and through this training them for facing the audience in future. Another idea is to create a good and well-informed Audience or Kala Rasikas for the classical dance. Today the audience is lacking proper information about the art forms. Hence this platform tries to give proper and detailed information about the dance numbers performed and also different aspects as per how better to understand the dances performed. The event also provides a platform for discussions related to the dances performed so that the audience is confirmed of understanding the Core-Antaranga of Dance-Nritya.
Today Nrityaantaranga’s fame has spread all over the state and many artistes from outstation come here enthusiastically to perform. The series has successfully completed 28 series. The 29th series was performed by Vidwan Deepak Kumar himself on July 8th. In ‘Shashi-Shankara’ auditorium in Darbe which is the performance place of the academy observed a packed audience during this event. The evening was inaugurated by Smt.Sarojini Nagappyya, a national level awardee retired head teacher from Eshwaramangala. Smt. Sarojini admired the purpose of the monthly series. She also appreciated the achievements of Deepak Kumar and his Academy and wished them success. Vidwan Deepak Kumar performed under the title ‘Bhakti Marga’ wherein all the dance numbers were devotional themed.
The evening started with a Shloka praising Mother Earth, then moved on to Sankeernachapu Alaripu which was newly choreographed for this event. Moving on, the Varnam in praise of Lord Nataraja was the main course. In the Varnam Deepak portrayed all shades of devotion to the ultimate Lord of Dance-Nataraja, his adornments, his relevance as the 5 elements, his gorgeous form of Cosmic Dancer who dances rhythmically with Parvathi and so on. The next number was a beautiful Bhajan on Lord Rama composed by Tulasidas in Yaman Kalyani Raga. In this piece, Deepak portrayed the various characters of Ramayan with various forms of devotion towards Rama. The evening was concluded by Thillana with unique Shollukattus. Vidushi Preethikala, Deepak’s wife supported on both Nattuvangam and Vocal. Vidwan Geetesh supported on Mridangam and Vidwan Rajagopal on Flute.
Submitted by Vidwan B. Deepak Kumar