It was a unique birthday present for Sucheta Chaphekar, an artiste of rare individuality and acclaimed as one of the finest exponents of Bharatnatyam. As her students recently presented their own compositions at the Tilak Smarak Mandir, and dedicated their presentations to their revered teacher who stepped into her 50th year, this was truly the greatest birthday gift one could ask for.The evening started with a traditional Bharatnatyam recital, Bharatanjali by Sucheta's senior most disciples. The next item was a contemporary dance presentation by the young exponents of the dance institute, Kalavardhini. Layaleena was a bold and off-beat group presentation which maintained the spirituality of the traditional classical dance yet was much more abstract. To conclude, the guru herself presented Meerabai's composition in her own creative dance style Nritya Ganga. She enthralled the audience as she projected the various transitions of Meerabai's emotions for Krishna. She had selected six of Meerabai's less popular compositions and transformed them to suit her dance presentation.An artist of rare individuality, Sucheta undertook her training under Parvatikumar and K P Kittappa Pillai and has made a valuable contribution to the Bharatnatyam repertoire through her research and presentation of the Marathi compositions of the Thanjavur Maratha rulers.Nritya Ganga is her unique choreographic presentation in which Bharatnatyam and Hindustani music are beautifully blended without violating the purity of either. Since its inaugural performance in 1985, Sucheta has given many performances of Nritya Ganga in India and abroad. She is the founder director of Kalavardhini dance institute which has trained a number of talented young dancers and choreographers. Nrityamayi, a recital marked the series of Kalavardhini's programmes.The Kalavardhini charitable trust was established in 1988 by Bhide and Pt Sharad Sathe, well-known vocalist and artist, along with Rajani Dandekar of Camlin Limited. The primary objective was to support the teaching and propagation activities in performing and allied arts, particularly classical dance. In the 10 years of its existence, it has concentrated on technical excellence in dance training but has also pioneered to begin projects which will increase audience appreciation as well as awareness about art and its overall usefulness to everyday life.In order to create deeper understanding and appreciation of classical dance Kalavardhini has launched a new venture by way of a series of programmes titled Nrityaswad. With Arundhati Chaphekar at the helm, its young members have launched a series of performances and workshops since last year.The Nrityamayi which was the last in the series of Dashakpurti celebrations had Bharatanjali which featured Ardhanarishwara Stotra (Dikshitar Kruti), Ritu Samhar (based on Kalidasa's famous work), Devi Stuti, Padam, Tillana and Bhajan. It was presented by the senior most disciples Prasanna Athalye, Neelima Kadhe, Alka Lajmi from Mumbai, Medha Joshi and Anjali Bagal from Pune and Rachita Menon from Chennai. The next performance was the Layaleena and the concept and direction was by Arundhati Chaphekar and Manasi Pimpale.The guru was herself overwhelmed as she was honoured by the Vice Chancellor Arun Nigvekar as she encouraged the youngsters to have goals and she appreciated the efforts put in by her students and then she went on to render her performance Meera Ke Prabhu.
