“The Arangetram is an important event,” explained the girls’ guru Janaki Raj Shrikanth.
Guests were welcomed with traditional greetings, sweets, gifts and full-color programmes, and were treated to an evening of world-class music performance, traditional Indian cuisine and an impressive dance recital from the two young students in a range of colorful outfits.
She added that the inclusion of Balinese temple gates in the set design was an expression of gratitude to Indonesia, where the family have lived for the past eleven years since moving from Minnesota in the United States.įriends and family travelled from India, Singapore and the US to view the Arangetram performance, with over one hundred guests attending at the grand Jakarta Arts Building hired especially for the occasion. “That is the wonder of globalization,” said Maya’s mother Uttara Gadre, “that we could find a Bharatanatyam guru for our daughter here in Jakarta, who was visiting from Singapore”. The girls were lucky to find Janaki Raj Shrikanth, a Bharatanatyam guru and choreographer at the Prarthna School of Fines Arts who has spent a lifetime studying and practicing the dance form in Kuwait, Singapore and Jakarta. The Arangetram is usually performed before a sympathetic audience of family and friends who will not judge the student too harshly for any mistakes made in their first public performance, but is still intended as a platform for criticism of both the student and the guru in the interest of developing artistic excellence.įor high school students Maya and Madhumita, the study of Bharatanatyam performance has been a way to learn about their Indian cultural heritage even while studying abroad in Indonesia. The student will then undergo a year of intensive training in preparation for the performance.Īs a symbol of accomplishment, dancers are given painjan, or ankle bells, by the guru for the debut. The main purpose of Bharatanatyam dance is for the performer to evoke rasa, or feeling, in the audience through the precise recital of steps, gestures and facial expressions to offer prayers or convey stories from the great Hindu epics.Īfter a number of years of training, a dancer’s guru will decide when the student is ready for the Arangetram, or “ascension to the stage”, to make their public debut as an accomplished Bharatanatyam performer. Originating from the court traditions of Southern India, the Bharatanatyam dance form balances elements of expression (bhava), melody (raga) and rhythm (tala) in an intense training regime that includes the study of yoga, Hindu mythology, history, drama and aesthetics. The night was an important event for the young dancers Maya Gadre and Madhumita Chandrashekhar who have both been studying South Indian Bharatanatyam dance for ten years in preparation for their debut public performance, or Arangetram.
The two and a half hour performance showcased a range of traditional Bharatanatyam choreography, accompanied by a traditional live band, framed on stage by a model of the ornamental gates of a Balinese Hindu temple. Adorned with gold jewellery, ankle bells and vivid colored silks, two teenage dancers from the Jakarta International School gave their debut performance at the Jakarta Arts Building in Pasar Baru on Saturday in front of family and friends.Īscension to stage: Maya Gadre and Madhumita Chandrashekar wear traditional costumes while performing the Bharatanatyam dance at the Jakarta Arts center last Saturday night.