 Bhavya's best
 School-age dancers appear on stage these days by the dozens. The joke is, there are more dancers than viewers! Some of these artistes entice attention through varied PR gimmicks. Very few command attention and admiration purely by dint of their increasingly improving performances, dance after dance.
Bhavya Balasubramanian (13), class-11 student of Bala Vidya Mandir,
Adyar, and disciple of Srekala Bharath (this year's
Sri Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha 'Vani Kala Sudhakara' awardee for excellence in Bharatanatyam), commands spontaneous appreciation from the discerning rasikas all the time.
 Bhavya (meaning 'of becoming humility') danced, in about 10 days, since December 1, beginning at three inaugural festivals - of
Kartik Fine
Arts, Nungambakkam Cultural Academy and Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha - in all of which she won uniform acclaim.
She had to sweat it out, in waiting for the social festivities to be completed. Her dancing time was cut short inevitably and she had to limit her number as a result; she took these delays with good grace and made excellent use of the opportunities available to her.
At the Kartik Fine Arts Programme, Bhavya began with a warm-up Gambiranattai - Adi - Pushpanjali, followed by a crisp Andal kauthuvam (Gowlai-Adi), setting the standard for the other numbers to come.
The Swathi Tirunal ragamalika - Roopakam -Varnam - 'Bhavayami Raghuramam' - a mini Ramayanam featuring all important episodes in the epic - served to bring forth Bhavya's abundant talents in full measure. The sthayi bhavas and rasa lakshanas were appealing.
 Bhavya has alluring stage presence and this together with her ardent love for this art form enables her to translate the theme into creative expressions of a highly evolved mode on stage. Her thematic gestural language (abhinaya) with all its four related aspects (limb pattern - word use - costumes - and emotive feelings) were certainly praiseworthy.
Bhavya will certainly go far, judged by her performances. She has already won the prestigious 'Padmabhushan Dr. Padma Subrahmaniyam Award for excellence in Bharatanatyam. She has also emerged as the ultimate winner in the
Jaya TV show contest 'Thaka Dhimi Tha', this year.
The popular Saurashtram Padam 'Adhuvum Solluval' (Adi - Vaitheesvaran Koil Subbarama Iyer) and the concluding Thillana (composed by Ghatam Karthick) in Rathipathipriya, set to a new beat pattern (Adhi), were delicious desserts.
The supportive orchestral quartet were guru Srekala Bharath (choreography - nattuvangam), Chitrambari Krishnakumar (vocal music), Venkat (mridangam) and Muruganandam (violin).
R Srinivasan
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