Bharatha nATyam debut (arangEtram) in Fayetteville, NC.

[mahakavi]

On June 13, under the auspices of India Foundation of North Carolina, a Bharatha nATya arangERRam of Priya (daughter of Vibha and Ghanshyam Dwivedi), a junior in Terry Sanford High School in Fayetteville took place at the Fayetteville State University campus in Fayettville. Her dance guru is Asha Bala of Fayetteville. The chief guest for the evening was Dr. Sunil Kothari, a well-known dance exponent and critic.

Orchestra:
Asha Bala--- Choreography and naTTuvAngam
Vocal: Mathangi Shankar (Cary, NC)
Violin: Vikram Ragukumar (Dallas, TX)
Mridangam: Rohan Krishnamurthy (Rochester, NY)
Flute and Morsing: Partha Aji (Cary, NC)

After the invocatory song "gajavadanA karuNA sadanA' (Sriranjcani, Sivan) the following items were performed by Priya.
1. MallAri in gambIranATTai
2. MahAgaNapatim manasA ---nATTai (MD)
3, Jatiswaram in khamAs
4. Sri gauri shAradE vishwapradE ( in rAgamAligai). The rAgams used were mOhanam, ranjcani, and kalyANi. The composer is Kausalya Ranganathan. It is in praise of Lakshmi, Gauri, and Saraswati. Very delightful piece both in music and dance.
5. daSAvatAram from gIta gOvindam (JayadEva). It starts with 'praLaya payOdi jalE" describing the 10 avatArams of VishNu. It is again in rAgamAligai. bauLi, kAnaDA, hindOLam, aTANA, bilahari, hamsAnandi, shaNmugapriya, rEvati, sindubhairavi, and brindAvana sAranga were the rAgams used, repectively, for the avatArams matsya, ..........to Kalki.

A beautiful musical interlude by Vikram, Rohan, and Partha in bilahari (toli janma muna ---Thyagaraja) provided a delectable part of the function. Rohan and Partha (on mOrsing) delighted the audience with their interactive tani.