Pandanallur legacy continues..

[KVasundhara]

Dear friends,

I thank you all for your blessings for my daughter Madhuvanthi's successful completion of her Bharatantyam arangetram. Please see the review of her arangetram by Dallas art critic Dr.Seshadri

Thank you
Vasundhara Kikkeri

Being a child of excellent musicians and part of a larger family of connoisseurs of fine arts, gives an individual breadth of exposure to fine arts at a very young age. It also sets the bar very high for young members of the family, as they venture into performing on stage, whether it is dance or music.
Young Ms. Madhuvanthi Kikkeri, a sophomore at Flower Mound High School, proved to be more than equal to the challenge, when she performed her arangetram at Patty Granville Arts Center in Garland, which was packed to its full capacity of 700.
One hears and read a great deal about how standards are dropped and shortcuts are taken just to perform an arangetram in these current times. This was definitely not one of those arangetrams. Madhuvanthi performed a full margam. Her nritta sparkled. She was extremely graceful and ably met the challenge of abhinaya that daunts most young dancers.
The performance started with a shloka paying obeisance to gurus in Revathi and segued seamlessly into the lilting Bahudari composition of Tulasi Vanam, Bhajamanasa, which served as the pushpanjali. The traditional alarippu followed along with a jatiswaram in Vasantha. For the sabdam, it was a treat for dance lovers to see an old classic, Sarasijakshulu natanam aade.
The varnam tests the true mettle of a Bharatanatyam dancer as it involves a challenging blend of pure dance, expressive dance and endurance. The Varnam chosen for this performance was none other than the Khamas masterpiece of Ponniah Pillai, Swamiyai azhaitthu vaa di , a very special composition for Guru Revati Satyu. It was close to 45 mins long and young Madhuvanthi held her audience spell bound. Following such a difficult and strenuous varnam, one would typically expect the following piece to allow the dancer to catch his/her breath. However what followed was a vigorous and dramatic padam on Kali, Yaarukkum adangatha neeli in Abhogi. Once again Madhuvanthi rose to the occasion splendidly. A lovely Purandaradasa devaranama, Adahodalle makkalu, further showcased Madhuvanthi’s expressive skills. The grand finale was the tillana in Madhuvanthi composed by Lalgudi G Jayaraman. The dancer of the evening was named after this raga. The mangalam was in Revathi raga. The beginning and end of the program were in Revathi raga as a tribute to Madhuvanthi’s Guru, Smt. Revathi Satyu who was the nathuvanar for this performance. This was also a grand 100th arangetram for Guru Revati Satyu.

As if the repertoire weren’t challenging enough for the young perfomer, the audience had movers and shakers from both the Carnatic and Western Classical Symphony in attendance. Sangeet Samrat Sri Chitravina Ravikiran was the chief guest, Veena vidushi, Dr. Suma Sudhindhra and Director of education for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Jami Allen were guests of honor and speakers.

No dance performance can succeed without good support from the Orchestra and both Sri Ravikiran and Dr Sudhindra made it a point to highlight and praise the orchestra members individually. Vocals were provided by Smt. P Rama. Madhuvanthi’s father Kikkeri Narasimha, an accomplished concert level violinist, played his heart out for his young daughter and it showed.
Madhuvanthi’s mother Vasundhara Kikkeri , an accomplished veena artiste made a brief appearance on stage to play the veena during the Vasantha swarajati. The other members of the orchestra were Sri Raman on the flute, Sri Janardhan Rao on the mridangam, Sri Manjunath on the Rhythm pads and Kum. Gayatri Seshadri on the Veena.
One truly hopes that Madhuvanthi will be blessed with many more opportunities to perform.

[Sreeni Rajarao]

Vasundhara,

Thanks for the detailed review!

Very happy to hear about the success of the event!

Congratulations to Madhuvanthi and all of you - I am sure there was a lot of hard work in preparation for the big day!

Was it Smt. P Ramaa from Bangalore who provided the vocals?

Was it Sri. V K Raman who was on the flute?

Good to note that your Guru Smt. Suma Sudhindra was also present at the event.

I hope to see video clips of the performance!

[rshankar]

Congratulations to Madhuvanti and the Kikkeri family!

The Varnam chosen for this performance was none other than the Khamas masterpiece of Ponniah Pillai, Swamiyai azhaitthu vaa di , a very special composition for Guru Revati Satyu.

I assume this was special for Madhuvanti's guru (and not composed for her!) - can we know why?

[KVasundhara]

Dear Ravishankar ji,
Thank you very much for your best wishes.
I am sorry about the delayed response. The Varnam is special to Guru Revati aunty. It was her Guru Sri Kittappa Pillai Sir who taught that Varnam to her. I am told that he taught the Varnam with such attention to every detail. It is a 45 minute varnam with ample scope to fully explore the Bhava,Nrtta and the abhinaya. He taught the varnam explaining every rasa,Jati and every story that was depicted. Madhu was taught the same way too.It was like reliving the experience. Meenakshi and Sundareshwra are aunty's favorite deities too.

Dear Srini,

Yes, it is Smt P.Rama and Sri Flute Raman. I will try to post Mahu's picture.

Thanks,
Vasundhara