Bengaluru-based mother-daughter duo of Bhavana Venkateshwara and Dhanyashree Venkateshwara lit up the Shilparamam Madhapur stage recently with their breath-taking performances. The mother-daughter duo followed the Bharatanatyam repertoire by beginning their performance with Pushpanjali, Jhem Tanana, followed by Ganesha krithi, Trimatta Kautvam, Shrungapuradeeshwari Sharadhe, Tillana and bringing the curtains down with the energetic Mangalam. Bhavana’s dance had the right aesthetics and energy, with brilliant technical excellence and abhinaya.
Speaking to Natyahasini, Bharatanatyam dancer, Bhavana Venkateshwara, says: “In a move to give back to the society, I established my dance school, Sadhana Dance Centre, a decade ago and train over 100 students, apart from spreading the knowledge in other schools.” Retracing her dance journey, the Bengaluru dancer says that she was initiated into the world of Classical dance at the age of six years. “I began my classical dance training under Gurus Padmini Sirish and Rajiv, and later underwent a training in Kalakshetra Style from Karnataka Kalashree, Guru Dr. Shridhar and Smt. Anuradha Sridhar at Khechara Academy of Bharatanatyam, Bengaluru,” she says.
Bhavana reminisces that immediately after completing her graduation, she started her dance career by a solo performance and in 2013 performed her Arangetram at JSS Auditorium, Bengaluru. Performing across the country at various events, Bhavana has been bestowed with many awards like – Nritya Priya Award, Vijayawada; GTF Women’s Excellence Award, Bengaluru; Excellent Dancer Award, Mysore; and Nritya Surya Award, Tituvannamalai.
With performances at Mysuru Dasara, Mysore; and Nrutyanjali Festival, Mount Abu, Rajasthan; Bhavana has performed in prestigious dance dramas such as Ramayanam, Kumarasambhava, Dhashavatharam, Srinivasa Kalyana and Ranganatha Vaibhavam.
Bhavana, who was accompanied by her daughter, Dhanyashree Venkateshwara, shared that her daughter has been learning dance under her since the age of three years. A third standard student of Jyothi Kendriya Vidyalaya, Bengaluru, Dhanyashree is also learning Carnatic Music under Guru Smt. Muktha Madhusudhan. The proud mother says that her daughter has been performing regularly in lead roles in all dance ballets presented by Sadhana Dance Centre. Apart from dancing, Dhanyashree was nominated as the finalists for Mr. & Miss Little Bengaluru in 2018; also, took part in kids Sloka chanting telecast on Sri Sankara Channel.
“I have passed with distinction the Adya Music examination conducted by Bengal University and Bharatanatyam Prarambhika examination with High Distinction conducted by Akila Bharatiya Ghandarwa Mahavidyalaya,” says the youngster. Apart from performing solo at Shilparamam in Hyderabad, Dhanyashree says: “I have performed solos at Golden Temple, Vellore; and in my home city, Bengaluru – at the Prestigious Dance Festival, Chinnara Kalarava to live orchestra and Chinnara Nritya Sampoorna.”