Dancers to Present an Ode to Shakti and Girls

Hyderabad:On Navami, celebrated on Friday, Goddess Durga appears in her most ferocious avatharam — Mahishaasura Mardini— and slays the Mahishasura. Incidentally, Friday was also the International Day of the Girl Child.

Looking at the challenges the girls face in the society, and to promote their empowerment, Natya Tarangini, a dance institute in Hyderabad, presented a Kuchipudi performance as an ode to Navadurga, especially to spread the message of shakti (power) of Devi.

“For the last three years, it has been a desire to create a piece on Devi ‘Shakta’. I was finally able to present an excerpt on this day divine Devi in all her splendour and forms,” said Yamini Reddy, a Sangeet Natak Academy awardee, who choreographed ‘The Ode to Navadurga’ to mark the Navaratri and International Day of the Girl Child.

“This piece is a creative interpretation of the Navadurga through an aesthetical matrix of the rhythmic cadence in the multi-layered edifice of Indian dance tradition,” she explained as a group of her students performed. “It begins with an ode to Parashakti — the ultimate mother who manifests as Lalitha Devi to give birth to the Universe thus starting the process of creation.”

The dancers enter into different rhythmic time cycles chatusram, tisram, misram , khandam and sankeernam and pay an ode to each of the nine Devis of Navaratri. The piece ends with a virtuous display of rhythm by dancers dancing on the rim of a brass plate, signifying the transcendence of worldly-connections and ultimate growth and spirituality which we must aspire to as human beings.