Starting December 4th 2021, Mandala will present the first of a series of 4 bharata natyam performances highlighting the 2 vibrant aspects of the dance form; Nritta/ abstract dance and Nritya/dance with a narrative. The prayerful aspect of bharata natyam performance is ignited by a dance offering, very often in the form of a pushpanjali, mallari, allaripu or prayers of some kind. In this series you will find 4 different dance offerings in praise of various deities such as the  Surya/ Sun God, Saraswathi/ goddess of fine arts, Buddha, and Devi/ consort of Shiva. Each of the performances will also have one or two expressional choreographies/ abhinaya, and will conclude with thillanas in 4 beautiful contemporary melodies including compositions of Shri Lalgudi Jayaraman and Sri Balamurali Krishna.

A short description will highlight each of the choreographies as they are presented. Most of the choreographies are accompanied by the beautiful voice and music direction of Balasubramanya Sharma in Bangalore, and a few others under the direction of late O.S. Sridhar from Delhi. We are very appreciative of the high quality of each of the audio recordings that Mandala commissioned for the purpose of such performances. Three more performances will be presented during the season 2022/2023.

Mandala Arts and Culture would like to acknowledge the generous support of the CATF of Heritage Canada. This series was filmed in the Faris Theatre at the Scotiabank Dance Centre.

To access the performance on December 4th onwards, go to the following link: 

https://vimeo.com/648812408