Kavyaa Kannan exuded confidence while portraying the myriad emotions of the lovelorn heroine

Under the auspices of Kavyaalaya, Kavyaa Kannan presented her Bharatanatyam recital astatine Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mylapore. The dancer’s show was a grounds to the meticulous grooming nether Parvathy Ravi Ghantasala, Bhuvaneswari Koushik and her mother, Veena Kannan. 

Kavyaa commenced the recital with an invocation to Ganesha successful raga Hamsadhwani, acceptable to Adi tala. This was followed by the popular navaragamalika varnam ‘Saamiyai azhaithodi vaa sakhiye’, composed by K.N. Dhandayudapani Pillai. Here, the nayika asks her sakhi to bring her ‘sami’ Shiva, whose matted locks are adorned with the satellite and the Ganges. She expresses her ‘virahathapam’ to her sakhi, sharing her angst of being separated from her lord and longs for his return. 

Throughout the varnam, Kavyaa handled the hasta mudras, abhinaya and footwork with easiness and confidence. What followed was M. Balamuralikrishna’s Javali successful Jenjutti raga, misra chapu tala. The nayika, here, expresses her intense love for the nayaka, telling him not to permission her. Kavyaa depicted an aggravated khanditha nayika successful the Ashtapadi ‘Yahi madhava yahi keshava’, wherein she directly confronts her beloved Krishna, for his  betrayal.

Kavyaa concluded her show with the thillana, composed by Balamuralikrishna in raga Behag.

The orchestra included Bhuvaneshwari Koushik (nattuvangam), Koushik Champakesan (vocal), N. K. Kesavan (mridangam), Anantha Raman (violin) and Devaraj (flute).