The art enthusiasts of the city enjoyed the Sunday evening experiencing the delightful performances based on woman empowerment. A week-long cultural festival ‘Aadhya’ began at Bharat Bhavan from Sunday. The fest is all about dance, music, and tehatre performances by renowned women artistes of the country. The fest began with the performances by Kathak maestro Yasmin Singh and the classical maestro Begum Parveen Sultana. To begin with the performances, a group of youngsters presented ‘Vaani Vandana’ under which they sang the praises of women in bhajan ‘Namo Namo Jab Saraswati Bina Koi’.
The group was accompanied by Ashish Upadhyay on Tabla and Anup Sharma on Harmonium. later, a noted and a renowned Kathak dancer Yasmin Singh gave a mesmerizing Kathak performance before the Bhopalites at Antrang hall, Bharat Bhavan. She performed a dance drama ‘Shakti Swaroop’ based on women empowerment. Under the dance drama, Yasmin showcased various faces of women. On one hand she displayed her image as a caring and understanding being on the other hand she showcased women as a powerhouse of self confidence and struggle.
Bestowed with natural beauty, talent and grace, she is an accomplished Kathak dancer whose facial expressions complement her dance and make her performance superbly stunning. Her emphasis is on Perfection, ‘Riyaz’, ‘Taiyyari’ in ‘Tatkar’, ‘Pandhant’ and command over the ‘laykari’. Ability to effortlessly move from one character to another in split of seconds has helped her in winning over the pundits, critics as well as popularity amongst masses.
Subtle ‘Abhinay’ (Acting), lithe and elegant footwork, graceful movements are some of the fine hallmarks of her performance. A magnetic stage presence and complete mastery of technical nuances made her performance enjoyable. She was accompanied with Vidhnath Singh on Tabla, Sudhir Pandit on Sitar, Vivek on flute, Trilochana Sona on Pakhawaj, Vijendra Kumar on keyboard, and Deepak and Anuradha Dubey on vocals.
The classical music lovers were treated with a mild evening wrapped with melodious ragas, presented by Parveen Sultana.Pandam Bhushan Begum Parveen Sultana is an Assamese Hindustani classical singer of the Patiala Gharana. She is among the foremost classical vocalists in India and is known as Queen of Classical Vocal. She has a unique style in her singing which captured the attention of the audience and they listened to her ragas with rapt attention.