Kumari Alla Khevna Reddy’s debut performance enthralls audience

Hyderabad, September 5, 2022: Kumari Alla Khevna Reddy had performed her Bharatanatyam Arangetram at Ravindra Bharati. The august occasion was graced by her guru Padma Shri Dr. Ananda Shankar Jayant, Director - Shankarananda Kalakshetra, Smt Deepika Reddy, Chairperson - Telangana Sangeeta Nataka Akademi, Sangeet Natak Akademi & Kalaratna awardee, Renowned Kuchipudi Guru and danseuse and Lt General (Retd) ARK Reddy, PVSM, AVSM (Recipient of Parama Visishta Seva Medal and Ati Visishta Seva Medal).
 
A disciple of Shankarananda Kalakshetra, Khevna Reddy began her journey in dance at the age of 5 at Vishaka Dance Academy, Visakhapatnam. She moved to Hyderabad at the age of 6 and learned from Smt. Mridula Anand before joining Shankarananda Kalakshetra at the age of 8. Under the able guidance of Guru Ananda Shankar Jayant, she has grown into a passionate and versatile dancer and has imbibed the Kalakshetra style of Bharatanatyam, assimilating the clear angashuddham, split second tala precision, precise footwork and nuanced abhinaya that are the hallmarks of her Guru, and has showcased the dedication, hard work and inspiration that is required of a good dancer. A special mention goes to senior teacher at Shankarananda Kalakshetra, Kaja Neeraja who has shaped Khevna as a dancer that she is today.
 
Over the years Khevna has performed at various venues and festivals as part of the Shankarananda Kalakshetra ensemble. She has been part of the institutes latest production Tales from the Bull and Tiger that has been performed across 7 cities in India. She has also been extremely privileged to have performed for the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, during his most recent visit to Hyderabad, at the BJP Executive Meet. Khevna has also had the opportunity to perform for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, 2017.
 
Khevna is a proud recipient of the national scholarship in Bharatanatyam awarded by CCRT, Ministry of Culture, Government of India since 2017. She also secured distinction in the Certificate Exam in Bharatanatyam from Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University.
 
Khevna has also been learning carnatic music from Smt. Gayatri Kannan for the past 6 years and her understanding of music compliments her dance as well.
 
In addition to dance, Khevna has participated and won medals in various athletic meets across Hyderabad. She was an integral part of the cultural team in her school, Chirec International where she completed her education up to class 10. Khevna has recently finished her 12th standard in Delhi Public School where she was the Performing Arts Secretary and curated many performances for school events. She intends to pursue Psychology in her under graduation along with her dance as a constant companion.
 
She is the 43rd student of Shankarananda Kalakshetra to perform her arangetram.
                          
The Guru
Dr Ananda Shankar Jayant inhabits the worlds of administration, academics, and arts; straddling them with equal ease.
 
Celebrated as one of India's most eminent and renowned classical dancer, choreographer and dance scholar, Ananda's artistic body of work, spans mythologies and abstraction, historical chronicles and women studies, poetry, philosophy and humour. For her contribution to the field of classical dance, Ananda was conferred the Padma Shri in 2007 and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar for Bharatanatyam in 2009.
 
Ananda is a sought-after motivational speaker and actively engages with young India on a wide range of topics. A TED speaker in 2009, her TED talk, has been ranked as one of 12 Incredible TED talks.
 
Another rare international honour was an invitation to speak at the Harvard Business School for the Inspire Series of the India Conference at Harvard, an interview on BBC World Service Radio, the Closing Keynote Speaker for the Wharton India Economic Forum, Mumbai, as well as at the Economic Times Women's Forum etc.

Harnessing Technology for Arts, Ananda has conceptualized and created Natyarambha, a first of its kind digital arts initiative - a Bharatanatyam practice app that was launched in January 2017, now followed across the world. 

The two-hour long Arangetram had seven sequences. Khevna Reddy started with Pushpanjali by offering flowers to the Lord, paying respects to the Guru, the orchestra and the audience followed by Mayura Alarippu. The Varnam in Shanmukha priya Ragam and Adi Talam a composition of Sri Lalgudi Jayaraman showcased Khevna’s command over nritta, abhinaya with graceful movements and commendable stamina.

The next piece an Annamacharya Keertana in Shankarabharanam, “Alarulu kuriyaga” described Goddess Alamelumanga,  dancing with inimitable grace and beauty and as she dances, the flowers in her beautiful long tresses, shower the ground she dances on. Enchanting like a rare blossom, she danced in the wake of a translucent screen, presenting the idiom and grammar of dance with utmost elegance. Her ankle bells tap myriad rhythms, while she twirls and turns, dancing for Her beloved - the Lord Venkateswara.  

The dancer moved on to present the very famous Thillana composed by Sri. Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna in Kuntalavarali set to complex musical score and punctuated by graceful and statuesque postures.
 
And Khevna ended the mesmerising evening by performing Hariharatmaja Ashtakam, the daily lullaby sung to Lord Ayappa at the sanctum sanctorum of the Sabaraimala Ayyappa temple before it is closed for the night. Composed by Kambangudi Kulathur Srinivasa Iyer, the song was first sung by Swami Vimochananda at Sabarimala. This most pious and devotional lullaby beautifully sung by renowned musician KJ Yesudas, is the one played every day at Sabarimala. The song describes the divinity of Swami Ayyappa, in its 8 stanzas with the devotee seeking refuge in Swami Ayyappa.