CHENNAI: According to mythology, Lord Krishna is believed to have said, that among the months He is Margazhi, indicating its auspiciousness.
“The month of Margazhi is special to both Vaishnavites and Shaivites. Andal’s Thiruppavai is recited in Vishnu temples during the month,” says Bhavya Ramachandran, a performer and a public accountant in Toronto, Canada.
“During the Arudra Darshan Festival — usually held on the first full moon night of Margazhi — Lord Nataraja showed His divine dance to sages Vyagrapada and Patanjali. Thus, the music and dance season aligns with the Tamil month of Margazhi which is a very sacred month,” she adds.
Bhavya was in the city for the weekend to offer prayers through her dance this season. For her, Bharatanatyam is a means to seek the divine. The sounds of her salangai, rhythmic tapping, heartfelt expressions, and smooth transitions enthralled the 100-odd audience watching her at The Music Academy Dance Festival 2025. Bhavya performed on different songs in many genres, in the Margam sequence, a traditional Bharatanatyam Arangetram dance performance.
Bhavya’s guru and Padma Bhushan recipient Padma Subrahmanyam compiled the music chosen for the recital. “I perform on what is already choreographed and researched. My guru is a living legend. To perform her well-researched choreographies, it would take decades to start doing justice. As her disciple, that is my biggest responsibility,” she says.
The performance started with a Pushpanjali Tevaram in ‘Nattai’ ragam and ‘Chatusra Ekam’ talam and ended with a Thillana in ‘Kannada’ ragam and ‘Adi’ talam.
While Bhavya occupied the stage with her powerful and emotional moves, making the audience feel happiness, sadness, surprise, and sorrow, an ensemble of nattuvangam and vocal by Gayathri Kannan, vocal by Parur MS Ananthashree, mridangam by Nagai P Sriram, flute by B Gokulakrishnan, and violin by Shree Lakshmi Bhatt made a stronger impact as the audience sang along.
Each of the six compositions and choreographies had “an intended meeting that aligns with my goal for a common man who has no knowledge of Bharatanatyam to understand what is conveyed,” shares Bhavya. An instrumental figure in Bhavya’s performance has been her teacher Gayatri Kannan.
“As a young professional and a mother of two, I only got to practice from 10 pm to 12 am EST. For this performance, the rehearsals happened during early mornings (7 am to 9 am) IST which would suit my late night schedules,” she adds.
During these practice sessions, Bhavya’s audience was her 8-year-old and 3-year-old sons “to tell me what they understand after I emote some lines. This is my way of still wanting to keep the art alive and take on that responsibility,” she concludes.