Varanasi Dance Festival held in BHU

Guest performers included Bharatanatyam artists Nilay Mandal, Esha Banerjee,  Subhankar Sengupta, Soumen Palit and Smrutimayee Kar.  Indrajit Sarkar, an aspiring Odissi dancer was also one of the guest performers. They performed both solo numbers and group items. Deen Rajesh Shaw (BHU Music Dept.) was the Chief Guest.

Nilay and Subhankar performed a piece on goddesses Saraswati choreographed by SNA awardee Smt. Rama Vaidyanathan. Needless to say, this was one of the best performance of the day. Pushpanjali and Guru Vandana was another excellent piece put together by the group.

Sixteen-year-old Smruti Mayeekar performed Bho Shambo. Her tandava movements were perfect to the core. Esha Banerjee, a Bharatnatyam artist from Thanjavur style performed abhinaya on Jayadeva’s Ashthapadi.  Her expression was flawless. Meghpallavi,  a small Odissi piece was performed by Indrajit Sarkar. Indrajit’s grace as a dancer was reflecting in his movements. The last performance of the group was Ashtalakshmi Slokam. The audience was taken by surprise as this is a very know song however the unique choreography had heightened all the senses of the viewers.

Looking at the Organisers, Performers and Guest Artists, we can safely say that Indian classical dance is in good hands.  We need more of this kind of events. Both government and non-government organisers should come forward to organise such events.