Nrithya Arpanam : Mohiniyattam by Shalini Shivashankar

Shalini Shivashankar presents an evening of Mohiniyattam (solo) to pay tribute to her Guru Smt Sreedevi Rajan and her grand Guru Late Kalamandalam Kalyani Kutty Amma. Mohiniyattam is a rare art form in the UK and there are not many practitioners and teachers here. Shalini wants to bring to the audience a true experience of this beautiful graceful form of natyam. She has been teaching this dance style at Upahaar for the last ten years and has been striving hard to get the attention and involvement of organisations and funding bodies to help promote this art form. One of the reasons for this solo performance is to showcase the immense depth and possibilities of movement and abhiniya (expressional dance) through this art form. The evening will bring to you pieces in the format of the traditional kutcheri (repertoire) as designed by Kalamandalam Kalyani Kutty Amma. Some of the traditional pieces you will see are Cholkettu, Varnam, Padam, Saptham, Shlokam. All the compositions selected are those of Kalamandalam Kalyani Kutty Amma or Sreedevi Rajan. Shalini is blessed to be accompanied by a wonderful set of musicians headed by Smt Smitha Rajan on the nattuvagam (grand daughter of Kalamandalam Kalyani Kutty Amma and daughter of Smt Sreedevi Rajan), Vamshikrishna Vishnudas on vocal, Prathap Ramachandra on mridangam and Vijay Venkat on the flute.