The nritta items were performed together. They exhibit good geometry, but are hampered by poor group choreography and moments of hesitation. A Thyagaraja keerthana in Chittaranjani ragam, Adi talam, was dedicated to Shiva with appealing three-dimensional poses and interesting theermanams. Verses from the Krishna Karnamritham in Reethigowla ragam, Adi talam, was set in a varnam format by Tirumalai Srinivas and choreographed by Narmada. The item, ‘Sri Krishna kamala natho’ traced Krishna’s life from birth until the Geethopadesha. Satyanarayana Raju’s delineation of baby Krishna being spirited away by Vasudeva in the rain and taken to Yashoda’s home was convincing. Krishna kills the demoness Poothana while suckling at her poison smeared breast. Lakshmi Bai was lucid in this sanchari, but not involved enough. The second half of the varnam was most enjoyable with it’s pace and melody intertwined; an added feature was the raas-lila between Krishna and his gopis.

A devarnama on Hanuman in Purvikalyani ragam by Purandaradasa by Satyanarayana Raju had a couple of good moments: Hanuman shrinking himself to enter Lanka was well conceived, setting fire to Lanka was the other high point. But Vijayalakshmi’s handling of another devarnama ‘Yemmanalli kananendu’ in Shivaranjani ragam, about Rama being none other than Vishnu himself, was a let down. So was Lakshmi Bai’s ashtapadi in Desh ragam, ‘Pasyati disi disi’. Neither the dancer nor the musician showed enough depth in the latter. But the trio scored again in their scintillating thillana in Ratipati ragam, Adi talam, a composition of T.V.Gopalakrishnan. A sense of professionalism needs to be cultivated to enhance coordination and group dynamics. The group’s histrionic talents also require some streamlining. A good effort, but not enough.