It was indeed a pleasure to be at the Arangetram of Kamshika Umasuthan held recently at the Dorothy Winstone Centre of the Auckland Girls Grammar School in Auckland.
It was like a feast at a five star hotel.
There were so many things that added flavour to this particular show.
I have no intention to compare this event with other Arangetrams, such as well-designed costumes, beautifully played orchestra, the presence of family and friends from all parts of the world, and above all, the hand- painted backdrop produced by a friend of the Umasuthan family in Australia.
I congratulate Kamishka’s parents who organised the Arangetram with attention to all details.
The Dorothy Winstone Centre is a ‘Punyabhoomi’ (‘Virtue Land’) in it that often resonates music through such programmes.
Two-way dynamism
Bharata Natyam in particular makes a person dynamic internally and externally and is a powerful tool to kill the vices and portray virtues.
Kamshika, as mentioned by few of her friends and family members, is a shy teenager but she opened up another sphere of her personality, capturing the attention of the audience and making the show spectacular.
The credit for her performance goes to the Art itself and undoubtedly to her Guru Anuradha Ramkumar. It becomes very challenging for a teacher to make a student to step up and open up and Ms Ramkumar has the expertise and experience in bringing out the best in her students.
Multitasking youth
I believe that students of the present generation are adept in multi-tasking compared to their predecessors. It always surprises me how these teens get time not only to excel in serious environments such as academics, arts but also be equally active texting, communicating with friends and engage themselves in social websites such as the Facebook.
Born in Botswana, Kamshika came under the tutelage of dance master Ajitha Manjesh Lal and since 2007 under the guidance of her current Guru in Auckland.
She is also studying music under the guidance of Tulasi Prabhakaran.
Diversity and Depth are the two components that captured the attention of the audience throughout Kamshika’s Arangetram.
The dances selected for her debut showed the diversity of the art form and perfection achieved through depth in each item.
The accompanying artistes Anuradha Ramkumar (Nattuvangam), Srikanth Gopalakrishnan (Vocal), Kesavan Narayanan Kundil (Mridangam), Ashok Malur (Violin) and Saketh Ram Vishnubotla (Veena) added to the value of the Arangetram.
Shanti Ravi, a Functional Analyst (Information Technology), Organisational Development at the Unitec Institute of Technology based in Auckland is a passionate writer on several subjects.
The review of another Arangetram appears in Entertainmentlink.
