Saraswathy Kala Kendra and Research Centre in Mira Road, Mumbai, presented Vasudeva Nritya Kala Manch, all India National Dance competition and cultural festival for two days on 27 and 28^th September 2024, at Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar Natyagriha Mira Road.

It was quite exciting to watch children and youngsters performing varied styles like Bharata natyam, Kuchipudi, Odissi, Kathak, Mohiniattam and folk dances with lot of enthusiasm and excitement. The festival was supported by the department of Culture, Government of Maharashtra and Sangeet Natak Akademi, Ministry of Culture, Government of India.

Natya Sharada Guru Subhitha Murali, accomplished Bharata Natyam and Kuchipudi exponent and mentor, director of Saraswathy Kala Kendra and Research Centre said, “The main idea of organising a festival with the inclusion of a dance competition, is to promote classical arts and most importantly to provide a platform to children and youngsters, as platforms for upcoming talent is not easily available, am grateful to the Maharashtra Government and Sangeet Natak Akademi for their valuable support and encouragement, without which it would have been really difficult to organise a festival of such a magnitude, attracting the attention of young dancers from different parts of the country. Besides the prize winners, certificates of participation is provided to all the participants in order to encourage them which is the need of the hour”.

The participants were distributed into groups according to their age, in three sections, solo, duets and group presentations. The Solo sub junior section winners were first Sakshi Shetty, second Anishhka Badaditya and third Nidhi Rahane, the junior solo winners were first Pushkala Shastri, second Aaryahi Deshmukh and third Thaneesha Nair.

The senior solo winners were Vani Nayak, second Anushka Ramanathan and third Seesha Gireeshan.

The duet junior winners were first Pushkala Shashtri and Shubhavi Joshi, second Siya Maru and Nidhi wani, third Shrinidhi Shrivastav and Nidhi Rahane. The senior duet winners were Vani Nair and Sharanya Nambiar, second Niharika Tiwari and Bharat (the only male participant), third position Anushka Bhandari and Dnyaneshwari Mohare.

The group junior first position for Vidya Sriram group, second Loita dance group of Sashi Ramesh, third position Garima dance group, The senior group winners were first Garima Dance group, second Shivanjali dance academy group and third Garima dance groups. While lot of dance teachers had sent their students to participate in the competition, some of the dance teachers whose students performed quite well were Guru Anuja Bhate of Shivanjali dance group from Pune, Guru Garima Sharma of Kathak Aarambh Academy, Guru Vidya Sriram and Guru Uma Devi for the solo Kuchipudi performance.

Besides the traditional Bharata Natyam repertoire presentation, the highlight performance of the second day was the dance ballet “Pancha Bhutam” incorporating the five elements of nature like Aakash (Space) by Kaashika and group, Vayu Air by Venkatesh and group, Varuna Water by Kaashika and group, Agni Fire by Darshita and group and Bhoomi Earth by Maitree and group, directed by Guru Subitha Murali. The event was coordinated by Abhiram Murali and fine compere was by upcoming actor Aamir Sikander.

Distinguished guests were veteran kathak danseuse, Guru Rajashree Shirke, musician Pt Balakrishna Iyer, Carnatic vocalist Shivaprasad, Bharata Natyam exponent Guru Nilesh Singha, President of Rotary Club of Mira Raod Vivek Damani and the judge for the competition was Kuchipudi exponent and eminent arts critic Guru Vijay Shanker. On the whole it was a wonderful festival.

By Guru Vijay Shankar