Savita Narayani captivated the audience with her Kuchipudi dance

Savita Narayani Potarazu, a disciple of Vempatti Chinna Satyam and Vembatti Ravishankar mesmerized the audience at her Kuchipudi rangapravesam at Music Academy. Former West Bengal Governor Gopalakrishna Gandhi was the chief guest of the event.

Savita Narayani Potarazu, daughter of Healthcare expert Dr. Sridhar Potarazu, performed seven dances during the rangapravesam. Living up to the true meaning of Rangapravesam (Ranga means "Stage" and Pravesam means "Entry"), Savita debut performance elated the audience which included leading kuchipudi and bharatanatyam dancers and eminent personalities of Chennai.

She danced with grace, confidence, expressions and smile. Her riveting performance was a tribute to her own talents and the dedication of her guru to the art form.

Savita left the audience spellbound from the word go. Tastefully done costumes and a high order music ensemble, all worked in her favour. The leaps and jumps, characteristic to Kuchipudi, were executed with restraint and panache.

Her attractive movements of the eyes, eyebrows, neck and captivating footwork patterns created a new world of ecstasy though there were no words to convey any meaning in this item and the dance was utterly preformed in synchronization with the musical notes.

The first dance was a prayer to Lord Ganesha – ‘Pari Paahi Ganaadhipa’ in saveri raagam and adhi thalam composed by Swati Tirunal.  Followed by varmam  ‘Omkaara pranava’ in Shanmugapriya raagam and adi talam composed by Balamuralikrishna.

Savita’s expressions in this song were amazing.  This is followed by padam ‘Aligithe’ in Huseni raagam, misra chapu thalam composed by Kshetrayya. Next was  the tarangam where the dancer dances on a brass plate and was performed very well by Savita. Ragamaaliga ‘Poorayamamakaamam’ composed by Narayana Theertha in adi thalam.

Her next item ‘Siva Ashtapadi’ was presented very elegantly by Savita. Followed by ‘Ramachandra prabu’ composed by Swati Tirunal in Sindhubhairavi raagam, adi thalam.  She concluded the performance with Thillana ‘Geet Dhuniku’ in Dhanasri ragam, adi thalam composed by Swati Tirunal.

A breathtaking recital in which stage presence and grace dominated proved that Savita has it in her to make it big in her innings as a dancer. Vempatti Ravishankar, on the nattuvangam, gave wholesome support in accomplishing this feat. Nattuvangam assisted by Priyanka. The Kuchipudi performance ably supported by Vocal - D.S.V. Sastry and Vanaja, Mridangam – Bharadwaj, Flute – Shashidharan, Violin – Melakaveri Thiagarajan and veena – V.V. Subramania Sarma.

Savita as born in Washington D.C. and comes from a family who bears a deep appreciation for the virtue and divinity of the fine arts. Savita started her training in kuchipudi at the age of five under Vempatti Chinna Satyam and Ravisankar.

Savita will pursue her education in medicine through the George Washington University’s dual degree Seven year Bachelor’s/Medical degree program in Washington D.C.

Savita said, “Over the years I have found that doing justice to the artform requires a vivid imagination in order to occupy different spaces to communicate complex messages through abhinaya, facial expressions, and nritta, pure dance movement.”

“Along with creating paintings for each dance that I will display in a gallery on the day of the performance, I have created a short film documenting what I believe to be true about the arts and social justice.”