Express News Service
CHENNAI: The stage dims and the ringing of anklets fill the air as the performers walk on stage. The gleam from a mirror on someone’s dress flashes through the hall. A television screen on both sides of the stage informs audience of the next act, and the lights turn on. The students from LKG to class 12 from the Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan Group of Schools (PSBB) stand on stage, dressed in bright costumes, ready for the music to begin.
When it does, they dance in unison and with great poise, performing acrobatics and choreography at the level of professional dance groups. The dance drama, titled ‘Swagatham Krishna — The Universal Guru’, was a series of stories centred on the Hindu God Lord Krishna, and the various incidents in his life, held on the 61st anniversary celebration of the PSBB Group of Schools. The two-day event took excerpts from Krishna’s life and put them in a contemporary context.
The performances were a fusion of Bharatanatyam, Russian ballet and Thai dance forms, with students acting in tune to voice overs recorded by them. Around 650 students from four PSBB schools in Chennai took part in the event held at Kamaraj Memorial Hall on Saturday. The performance ‘Krishna, the messenger’, a fusion piece danced to a collection of Carnatic and modern music as well as bhajans that were recited, promoted the importance of finding peaceful solutions even during tumultuous times.
‘Kandarindhom Kaliyin Kaalinganai’ brought a fresh angle to the destruction wrought upon the environment by human beings’ greed through the fight between Krishna and the massive, many-headed serpent, Kaalinga. The students swayed with the music perfectly, dressed in brightcoloured outfits that were unique, colourful and special for each character. The chief guests for the event were Vishaka Hari, Harikatha exponent and Carnatic singer, and Priyadarsini Govind, Bharathanatiyam dancer.
“There was perfection in every aspect — the choreography, the sound, the lighting, even the placement and direction of the smoke from smoke machines. I was transported to Brindhavan, then Mathura and then Kurukshetra with each performance,” said Hari to the students and parents present at the hall.
