The event hosted by the students of Lalaji Memorial Omega International School, on Saturday at NaradaGana Sabha turned out to be a runaway success. Kalanjali is the Annual Festival of Performing Arts, managed entirely by the students of the school to promote the field of arts in the city. The event features prominent personalities from the field of Music, Dance or Theatre who conduct a workshop exclusively for the students and then perform for an audience at a premier venue in the city.

The event this year was held on Saturday, 27^th October and featured PadmashriShobana and Maestro Abhishek Raghuram. The duo enthralled the audience in their breathtaking composition “Bhav – BharathaninAindamVedam”.

The danseuse’s performance combined different dance forms and included movements of Mohiniattam, classical Bharatanatyam, Karnas, Folk and more which made it enjoyable for one and all. A Varanam, based on Lord Shiva was the opening sequence and set the stage for the entire production.The evolution of dance and Bharatanatyam was beautifully rendered by Shobana’s students who adorned creative costumes and thematic props. True to the theme of Bhav – BharathaninAindamVedam, Shobana then went on to showcase Natyaveda. The Padmashri recipient left the audience mesmerised with her rendition of mythological tales of Lord Shiva and Lord Krishna.A confluence of live Carnatic music, dance and theatre, Bhav was created with a shared goal to make ‘music for dance and dance for music.’

Abhishek Raghuram’s vocal rendition perfectly complemented Shobana’s graceful movements and expressions. The supporting artists worked in unison and werean absolute treat – AnanthR.Krishnan on the Mridhangam, Praveen D.Rao on the Keyboard and SruthiSagar on the Flute.

Lalaji Memorial Omega International School organised a Student Workshop on 24^th October as part of Kalanjali – Annual Festival of Performing Arts. The workshop was conducted by the GhatamMaestroShri V. Umashankar, son of Grammy awardee ShriVikkuVinayakram.

Shri.Umashankar was accompanied by Shri.Harikrishnan on the Keyboard, Shri K. Sivaraman on the Violin and Shri.Rajaram on the Thavil. The enthralling event was organised entirely by the students of Omega, an initiative taken for the development of event management skills along with the promotion of cultural art forms. Over 200 students from various schools attended this mesmerising workshop.

The maestro interacted with the students and kept them engaged all through the 3 hour workshop by explaining the difficult concepts of classical music through simple words and activities. Apart from speaking about the importance of rhythm in our daily lives, the Maestro made the session lively by equating the beats of the Ghatam with mathematical digits! The students were enchanted with each tap on the Ghatam and the symphony of music by the artists left them mesmerised.

The students found the workshop very informative and enjoyable.  A student from BabesaniArundale was amazed on how critical concepts like “jathi” was explained in a very simplified manner. Students of VaniVidyalaya had fun and expressed that they “look forward to more such events”. The annual Kalanjali event culminates this year with a performance by PadmashriShobana and Maestro AbhishekRaghuram on 27^th October at NaradaGanaSabha.