11/11/2023
At last.. here are some photos from Prathika Sakthivel's arangetram on August 5, 2023.
Prathika's passion, artistry, performance abilities, skill, talent, and her love for Barathanatyam, all, shone brightly on stage. It is not an exaggeration to say that she had the audience completely wrapped up in the performance.
It was mesmerizing to see her transform from a student presenting her arangetram, to a performer who owned her artistic expression.
In stating her vision for her arangetram, Prathika said that she wanted to present a performance where every audience member took something back with them. The tears, the smiles, the gasps, from the audience, as we traversed the repertoire, was proof that she did accomplish that, and more.
Prathika also wanted to integrate issues of social justice and feminism in her dance. We re-imagined her varnam, a piece on Divine Feminine, to include current day realities. We broke tradition and inserted spoken words before the traditional 'sancharis' ( where situations/expressions/stories are played out through expressive story telling).
We were pleasantly surprised by the standing ovation for varnam, especially since it was 45 mins long. Not a single person moved from their seats.
At the end of the varnam, Pustakam Ramaa ji, our singer in the orchestra, leaned over to me and said ' It felt like the Goddess was seated next to me as I sang, this was so powerful for me'.
Ramaa ji's words sums up the entire experience for me.
Prathika's arangetram was my last student's arangetram. And my heart is full of gratitude for all the students who I have had the pleasure of working with.