Kala Mela – August 2025

The second edition of ‘Kala Mela’, the monthly festival of dance conducted by Kalakshetra under the aegis of The Department of Culture, Government of India, was held at the Bharatha Kalakshetra auditorium on 23 and 24 August 2025. The festival showcased one production of Kalakshetra and the other from different dance forms of India. This month it was a presentation of Kuchipudi of Andhra Pradesh, along with a presentation by Kalakshetra.

Day One

A group presentation titled Guru Samarpanam, by the artists of Kalakshetra, aiming to showcase the most well-known dance pieces in the repertoire of the institution. It was meant to be a tribute to those who have made valuable contributions to the Kalakshetra bani. The dancers presented a complete margam in the traditional style.

The first item was the Nandi Chol, choreographed by Adyar Lakshmanan, this was followed by jatiswaram in raga Chakravakam. The main item, the varnam, in the raga, Natakurunji, a composition of Papanasam Sivan with dance choreography by Krishnaveni Lakshman, and jati choreography by mridangam vidwan Karaikudi Krishnamurthy. Next was a Kshetrayya Padam in the raga Ananda Bhairavi, choreographed by Bragha Bessel, a solo piece performed by Indu Nideesh.

This was followed by an excerpt from the iconic Rukmini Devi dance production, Meenakshi Vijayam, choreography by Rukmini Devi and music by Bhagavathulu Seetharama Sharma. Dancer Sreedevi Jayakrishnan then presented an ashtapadi in ragamalika, choreographed by Krishnaveni Lakshman. The performance concluded with a tillana in Brindavana Saranga on Lord Krishna, music by Madurai Krishnan and dance choreography by Adyar Lakshman.

Orchestra consisted of Sai Shankar - vocal, supported by Vinayak; K P Rakesh on nattuvangam; Karthik Balaji on the mridangam; N V Srinivas on the violin; and Sashidhar on the flute.

It was a well coordinated presentation with the music and dance complementing each other, making for an enjoyable evening.

Day Two

The second day had a Kuchipudi presentation by Veena Murthy Vijay and her students. Veena gave an introductory talk in which she traced the origins of Kuchipudi, from Yakshaganam and Bhagavatha Mela, and its association with Kalakshetra and Rukmini Devi.       

Veena described the six main and important items that she was going to present, which she said were the mainstays of the dance form of Kuchipudi.

The first piece was Poorva Ranga Vidhi, which is literally the preparation of the stage for a performance, it also pays obeisance to the goddess of Kuchipudi, Bala Tripura Sundari.  Next was a traditional shabdam, Ramayana Shabdam, which tells the full story of the great epic culminating in the crowning, Pattabhishekam of Lord Rama. Sandhya Thandavam was next, a solo by Mano Jagdish; a vigorous dance item done with great energy by Jagdish.

The main piece of the evening, Bhama Kalapam. This is a kuchipudi masterpiece which never fails to elicit admiration both for the performer as well as the music, no matter how many times it is viewed. It was a solo piece by Shama Krishna, with Veena coming in at intervals as the sakhi, Madhavi; a wonderfully executed performance. Next was Siva tarangam describing the taming of a furious river Ganga by the Lord. In this piece the dancers danced on plates and pots, in traditional Kuchipudi style. The final piece was Simha Nandhini where Veena drew the image of a lion with her feet while dancing, this too a traditional Kuchipudi piece which is very popular with audiences worldwide.

Music was recorded. Though the items covered were to highlight this dance form, one got the impression that too much was being compressed in the allotted time, making some pieces too fast and some others not shown complete justice.