The event was a sanchari competition, a competition to test the expressive and imaginative strength of the dancers, held by Natyarangam, the dance wing of the Narada Gana Sabha, Chennai. The place was the Mini hall of the Sabha. The participants were all young dancers above the age of 15, both male and female, and the judges were abhinaya guru Smt.Kalanidhi Narayanan, and Sri.Balagopal, a revered teacher from Kalakshetra. The dancers were asked to come in only practice costumes. Unfazed by all the excitement around her was Vanathi Raghuraman, the resonant vocalist who sang for all the participants. The organization was excellent, once more proving the sincerity of the organizers. Smt.Sujatha Vijayaraghavan, a committee member, as well as a prominent scholar and musician, compeered the show with great dignity. It was a small intimate group and the interaction was on an informal level. Of course, participation could have been much more; only 7 or 8 schools of the 25 invited took part. The scope for growth and learning is tremendous in such situations.

Natyarangam is doing yeoman service for the dancing community. For the last three years, they have been actively promoting young dancers, furthering their education, and giving them performance opportunities. It is up to the dancers to make use of the facilities offered. The winners were Jayanthi Jaishankar, disciple of Sri Adyar Lakshmanan and Roja Kannan, Annapoorna, disciple of Smt.Kalanidhi Narayanan, and Madhumathi, disciple of Anita Guha. They were enthusiastic and conducted themselves with dignity. Jayanthi dileanated ‘Neeradum karai thanil nithamum vandhanai neringi pesiyedhe ninaivedhan illaio’ , a padam in kapi ragam by Smt.Ambujam Krishna. She had a certain maturity and lucidity about her. Annapoorna was very impressive too. She had a Neelambari piece ‘Yendha vailaiyum unnai andri veroor yennam undo’. Special mention must be made of 10-year old Asmitha Chandramohan, disciple of Urmila Satyanarayanan, who was so expressive and confident despite her young age. She was obviously not in the fray because of her being too young. This is not to say that the others were not up to the mark. Unfortunately only one can win, that is the tragedy. But the dancers are old enough to accept minor disappointments, are they not? Dancers Urmila Satyanarayanan and Roja Kannan were very sporting when requested to participate on a non-competitive basis.

Sri Balagopal assuming the character of the wily Shakuni demonstrated ‘the dice game’ between Yudhistira and Duryodhana. He mocked at Yudhistira, he encouraged Duryodhana, and played his crafty game of dice all at the same time. To those who missed this one can only feel sorry. He explained that in kathakali because of the elaborate make-up unless ‘bhava’ or feeling was intensely emoted, the ‘mukha abhinaya’ would be lost. The ‘sthayi bhava’ of the song should always be borne in mind was Smt.Kalanidhi Narayanan’s advice. She stressed the necessity of using the imagination to interpret a single phrase or line in many ways. She delineated a line from a Behag padam ‘Samayam idhe rara na sami tamasincha kora’ where the nayika beckons to her man first with love, then with impatience, and finally in annoyance. The gradual change of mood was remarkable... It would be unfair to state that the most enjoyable part of the morning was the demonstrations of these two stalwarts, them being so much senior to these young aspirants. May we see more of these masters... and more young students willing to open their minds and learn.