Soundarya Natyalaya presented its third annual dance recital- Bharata Natyam- by its students on September 6 at Hindu Temple of Atlanta Auditorium. The program commenced with theSloka recitation by students Shreya, Samiksha, Neha, Divya, Dhanashree and Mehak.

Gayatri, director of Natyalaya, enthralled the audience with her invocatory dance Pranavakaram Siddhivinayakam in praise of Lord Ganesha, describing his Aananda Thandavam. Her ability to showcase both Nritta and Abhinaya was superb, and it was beautifully choreographed by her.

The next in number was Thodaya Mangalam performed by Kavita and Beth, yet another invocatory dance where the dancers paid obeisance to the presiding deity.

The third item was Jatiswaram that was based on live music by Gayatri Subramanian, accompanied on the violin by her husband CV Subramanian and on the mridangam by Jai Radhakrishnan. The dancers Ashka, Suganya and Shubha were crisp in their movements with good control over rhythm and command on their footwork.

It was rather unusual to see young children performing both theory and dance in a single item. But it was made possible by these young children Shreya, Samiksha, Neha, Divya showing nine different types of head movements followed by Swarajathi and by Dhanashree and Mehak showing six types of leg movements followed by a Geetham. They surely deserved a special appreciation considering their age, the youngest being only four years.

Another notable dance was Om Shakti, depicting the different forms of Goddess Shakti as Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati and how they emerge to be one. The scene of Mahishasuramardhini killing the demon was very impressive with Shubha as Durga and Aditi as the demon. Everyone did a wonderful job.

The next item, Govindan Kuzhal Osai, took the audience back to Gokul, the fun and frolic days of little Krishna where he played pranks with Gopis and mesmerized them with his enchanting flute. The highlight of this dance was the episode of Kaalinga Narthana performed by Gayatri with Suganya as the evil serpent Kaalinga. The other dancers were Ashka and Kavita. The stunning movements and expressions by these dancers and innovative choreography brought out the actual emotion of Kaalinga narthana.

After the traditional numbers, before moving to the concluding item, the program took a break and featured solo violin concert by CV Subramanian who was accompanied by Jai Radhakrishnan on the mridangam. C.V Subramanian enthralled the audience with his melodious music on the violin.

The concluding and grand finale of the program was a dance drama, Bhakta Prahalad based on the story of young Prahalad and his devotion to Lord Vishnu and how his Lord comes in the form of Narasimha to save him from the clutches of his evil father Hiranyakashipu. All the characters were splendid and brought out the whole character in them. Gayatri as Hiranyakashipu, Suganya as Prahalad, Kavita as Narasimha and Ashka as Guru depicted the story that was so well conveyed to the audience.

Gayatri Subramanian, the artistic director of Soundarya Natyalaya, performed and conducted the recital. Gayatri has over 200 stage performances to her credit all over India, Malaysia and the US.