A Star Is Born; Abbeyramme Sriharan’s Bharathanatya Arangetram – A Review
By Usha S Sri-Skanda-Rajah –December 2, 2015
Usha S Sri-Skanda-Rajah
It was undoubtedly apparent, to everyone, a star was born that day when Abbeyramme Laveniya Sri Haran, only sixteen years old, looking stunning and graceful on stage, danced her way into the hearts and minds of her enraptured audience as they watched her enthralling performance, making her ‘Bharathanatya Arangetram’ (Dance Debut) to a packed Logan Hall, in one of the world’s, arts and cultural capitals, London, on 24th October, 2015.
Abbeyramme, an honour student of Old Palace of John Whitgift School, Croydon and disciple of Sri Prakash Yadagudde of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, brought this ancient and divine art form, Bharathanatyam, to life, like only she knows how. Everyone who came – accomplished Bharathanatya dancers, dance aficionados, friends and family were in awe; even first timers liked and appreciated what they saw – and some who planned to leave during the intermission, stayed the course, captivated by her dance.
Abeyramme’s performance was truly spectacular in both expression and movement. Bringing out with style, energy and aplomb, all the splendour, beauty, grace, skill and precision required of this classical dance discipline, Abbeyramme kept her audience spell bound first of all – with her amazing facial expressions, consisting of a range of emotions and second of all – with her crisp and expressive body movements that involved a combination of animated hand gestures, vibrant footwork and sculpture like poses. There was never a dull moment in her dance; you could see she connected with her audience and they connected with her in a fascinating way through her story telling and dramatisation – Bharathanatyam a dance form, essentially combining Bhavam (expression), Ragam (music), Thalam (rhythm) and Natyam (dance); and actually blending together the three finer elements of Nritta, Nritya and Natya as enunciated in the Natya Shastra by Bharata Muni. Abbeyramme became the personification of the characters she played.
Abbeyramme’s repertoire (Margam), strictly following the traditional structure an Arangetram must conform to, consisted of a set of very fine and carefully selected compositions, I thought, that helped to draw out her versatility and brilliance:Read More
