On account of Mahashivratri, city artiste, Ankita Deshkar Vishwaroop gave a Bharatanatyam performance on the songs of Shiva at Gopal Krishna Temple, Gorakshan on Friday, Mahashivratri.
Ankita is a student of city Bharatanatyam gurus, Dr Kishoree and Kishor Hampiholi and is currently learning from a Chennai based guru, Sri Vijay Kumar S.
She started her performance with an invocatory item, Nandi Chol. The dance represents Shiva’s dance while Nandi gives beats on Mridangam. She then, did a Shabdam, Tillai Ambalam, which depicted a devotees immense love for lord Shiva. This was followed by, Irakkam Varamal, a padam on Shiva, where a devotee is complaining to lord Shiva about him not showing pity, even though she has heard so much about him, Shiva according to her, fails to show mercy to the devotee.
The next dance was a keerthanam, Bho Shambho, a praise to lord Shiva. The programme ended with a dance, Chandra Chooda. This dance had a deeper meaning with people being told that Shiva and Vishnu are one and it doesn’t matter whom people worship, the prayers reach almighty.
Ankita explained the meanings of all the songs, and stories behind these before performing these dances. She thanked her gurus, family and the temple administration for providing her the space to perform on such an auspicious day.