Madhavi to perform abroad
Last Updated : 11 Apr 2011 12:55:50 PM IST
It is not just another performance for Madhavi Chandran. On April 28, she would be performing Bharatanatyam at what is considered the largest Indian classical music festival outside India, the Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival. And she has got this opportunity, thanks to her being adjudged the winner of the Spirit of Youth award for the best dancer instituted by prestigious Music Academy in Chennai.“It is indeed a big moment for me. It is the first time that the Spirit of Youth award winner is being given an opportunity to perform abroad,” says Madhavi. "Till recently, the winner was given the opening slot at the opening ceremony of the main dance festival of the Academy. This time the Academy has given the winner a bigger and huge platform as the Thyagaraja festival is the number one such festival outside India,” says Madhavi with elan. The Thyagaraja festival, now in its 34th year, has grown to be a 11-day festival with more than 8,000 attendees. Well, the way to the best dancer title at Music Academy was no cakewalk, says this talented young dancer, who just finished her degree in Communicative English from All Saints’ College. Some 400 dancers had applied for the contest, along with their biography and performance CDs. From this list, 10 were shortlisted. “And each of us had to give one-and-half hour performance at Music Academy. We won’t be informed who would be the judges. They would be sitting among the crowd,” says Madhavi. Madhavi ought to be a familiar name for dance connoisseurs. She is well-trained in Mohiniyattam and Bharatanatyam right from her young age, thanks to her mother Girija and aunt Geeta Krishnakumar who run Regatta, the dance and music academy in Thiruvananthapuram. Achievements at the school youth festivals, the Kalathilakam title at the Kerala University Youth Festival, the National Balasri award (which she received from A P J Abdul Kalam in 2005), national scholarships and graded artist tag from the Doordarshan are among the major laurels to her credit.“My mother and aunt have been my teachers. In 2000, I happened to attend a training session led by the Dhananjayans and since then I have been taking training from them too,” she says. However, Madhavi is sure that in the long run she would be pursuing Mohiniyattam more seriously. “When I was at Rashtrapathi Bhavan to receive the Balasri award, I happened to hear quite a discouraging comment about Mohiniyattam. I felt very bad. I think it has not yet got its due recognition. I feel it is a dance form which can convey more emotions,” she says. Alongside, she would be doing masters in dance and would probably do post graduation in sociology or political science as well. “It is good to learn another subject as well,” she says. It would not be her first performance abroad. She has already performed in the US (as part of a cultural exchange programme), Japan and the Middle East and would be going to the Middle East once she returns from the Thyagaraja Festival.
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