‘Listen to your heart’, an opera that bridges the hearts of the elders and the children was staged by team Abhyasa here at Sri Sathya Sai Nigamagamam on Sunday. The one and half hour play a record number of 400 students set a new record which probably may be a Limca Book of Records. Participated by almost all the students (except the board exam going class students) of Abhyasa Residential School located at Toopran was a great hit with audience. It covered all the nine emotions --- the navarasas of Bhayanaka, Bheebhatsa, Roudra, Veera, Srungara, Haasya, Karuna, Shoka and Adbhuta Rasas. The opera, takes off from the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai and portrays the agony of an average prototype citizen of India, who is seeking solutions from all the maladies afflicting us ! The songs and the dances and drama elevates the viewers from the level of ‘doing’ to ‘being’, by reviving traditional family and educational values. The opera told its audience to make a voluntary choice to ‘Be’ in thought, word and action as the panacea for all societal maladies and brings to form the supreme role of mother in transforming human life and s ociety. It was spellbound performance. All the actors lived their character. Audience were hooked on to their chairs one and half hour as they play took off everybody by surprise with quality production values and excellent performance.
It was multi-lingual using Hindi, Telugu and Sanskrit. School Opera is something which is very rare in our schools. The Indianised School Opera planned and executed solely by children informed Principal of Abhyasa Residential Public School Vinayak Kalletla. ‘Listen to your heart’ has been conceived and written by the principal Vinayak Kalletla.
‘Team Abhyasa’ with all its eagerness and participative spirit, composed, recorded, practised and gathered every essential element to make it possible in just One Week. The whole school worked with proper harmony and coordination to bring the opera into reality said Vinayak.
ATTRACTION The special attraction of the Opera was 10 students of the school who attended Global Young Leaders conference in USA and who have been invited to attend the Swearing-in Ceremony of the US President-elect Barak Obama, were also present and participated in the Opera. The Opera was performed as part of the Annual Cultural Festival of the School which was graced by about 1,500 people. Mani Shankar Iyer, the Telugu and Hindi film director among several others who graced the occasion.