On Saturday 27th October 2018, Yuva Nartan took place. It is an annual Indian classical dance and music show organised by Nupur Arts. This festival was made up of eight performances with a break in between.
Part 1
The first dance was a kathak piece accompanied by a live tabla, santoor and vocals. Seetal Kaur performed this dance and it was a mesmerising and beautiful dance.
The next piece was a Bharatnatyam Jatiswaram. The Nupur Arts advanced dancers performed this piece, a dance taught by the distinguished bharatnatyam dancer Seeta Patel. I think this was one of my favourite pieces. It reminded me of Gig Payne’s choreography where a traditional piece is ‘modernised’ and made to look more interesting.
Kesha Raithatha performed the the third dance, a kathak solo. The dancing was fast and giddy and with the help of the music and lighting it gave an eerie feeling.
Before the break, Subash Viman danced the last piece of the first half. This was a bharatnatyam solo choreographed by Chitralekha Bolar and told the story of the passion between Krishna and Radha.
Interval
During the 20 minute break, we got to see my dance teacher, her daughter Anaya whose beautiful long hair my youngest daughter seemed fascinated with.
Part 2
After the interval, Vidya Patel, an award-winning kathak dancer performed the first dance. Shammi Pithia created and performed the music for this dance. This dance was amazing as expected but the music was really good too. It was live but once played, it was recorded and repeated with more elements being added including Vidya’s voice, drums and flute. I wouldn’t have expected anything less but it was still mesmerising to see all this.
The next piece was a Kuchipudi dance form followed by an Odissi solo. Both dances were really good and are still considered a minority dance form compared to Bharatnatyam and Kathak. It was good to see the differences and similarities between all the different dance forms. The Kuchipudi was performed by Arunima Kumar and the Odissi was performed by Sooraj Subramaniam.
The show ended with a piece by Nupur Arts dancers showcasing a kuchipudi dance piece which they had learnt from the dancer above, Arunima.
It was an amazing evening although my youngest daughter was fast asleep before the end. But I think she only missed the last dance so it wasn’t too bad. To be honest, I was quite impressed that she stayed up so late as she loves her sleep and we had a really long day, going to see the Hanuman Tales show in the morning.
Hanuman Tales
The Hanuman Tales was also at the Curve and was very impressive. It was an interactive storytelling show aimed at young children. Throughout the show, the performers asked the children for their opinions, asked them to help out with the performance and help act as the story evolved. There was also some crafts before and in the middle of the show and a photo opportunity at the end.
Overall, it was a very enjoyable although busy day.
An accountant and a Mum 