SHREWSBURY, MA– Aarushi Pant, whose Indian classical dance journey began 13 years ago, this summer mastered her BharatNatyam Dance Arangetram, or ascending the stage by dancer after the completion of formal training.
With 10 dances and a live orchestra, Ms. Pant’s three-hour solo performance was staged at Robert R. Jay Performing Arts Center in Shrewsbury, MA, on July 2, 2022, in front of an audience of about 250 people. She is a student of Sridevi Ajai Thirumalai of the Natyamani School of Dance.
Ms. Pant, daughter of Mandy and Pankaj Pant, mesmerized the audience with her Nritta, Nritya and Natya. Nritta means pure dance, a presentation of rhythm through graceful movement of the body. Nritya consists of footwork and expressions while Natya is pure expression, or abhinaya.
Her repertoire comprised a set of ten dances (five in the first half in the more traditional segment) and remaining five in the second half following intermission.
During a 20-minute break in the first half, the audience was entertained with a musical interlude by the live orchestra comprised of vocalist Murali Pavitran Vasudevan, mridangist Murali Balachandran, violinist Tara Anand Bangalore and rythmist Sudarshan Thirumalai.
Also shared during this time was a slideshow by Ms. Pant on the various common hand gestures known as “mudras” that she used to depict actions/emotions during her performance.
From portraying the Hindu God Ganesh in “Gaye Ganapati” to showing the love at first sight encounter between Ram and Sita in “Deva Devam Bhaje” to showing the king of Dance, Lord Shiva in the Varnam, to playing both Goddess Durga and Goddess Kali in “Tripura Sundari” to transitioning into “Baby Krishna” in “Maiyya Mori”, Ms. Pant left the audience speechless performing to sheer perfection each of the rich diverse roles that she took on.
In order that the audience may learn more about the various Gods that Ms. Pant portrayed, she drafted and shared a document with the audience which is available over here : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DnOdDG1QL962X8wKga89t-DAJO-xYaZt/view?usp=drivesdk
