Danseuse Priyadarsini Govind is in Bengaluru for ‘Suvai,’ a performance as a part of the ‘Your Artist Festival’

Priyadarsini Govind is a leading bharatanatyam dancer, renowned for her deep commitment to tradition while incorporating innovative elements. Through her work as a performer and educator, she has helped redefine bharatanatyam, blending the classical with the contemporary. Trained by two eminent figures, kalaimamani SK Rajarathnam Pillai and padmabhushan Kalanidhi Narayanan, Priyadarsini has become a prominent proponent of the padam repertoire. Her nritta (pure dance) is known for its intensity and vigour, while her abhinaya (mimetic aspect of dance) stands out for its natural depth.

With a strong foundation in tradition, she has seamlessly integrated new choreography, advancing the art form while respecting its roots. It should therefore come as no surprise that she will be the artiste in focus at the third edition of the Your Artist Festival, curated by odishi danseuse Bijayini Satpathy and Alif Arts Consultancy. We catch up with Priyadarsini to find out what one can expect at Suvai, her performance as part of the festival this Sunday. While the workshop curated by her at Shoonya in the morning is fully booked, the performance at the Bangalore International Centre, Suvai, in the evening still has a few slots left, so hurry and book your seat!

Do tell us about what it will focus on and why is it called Suvai?

The evening will focus on abhinaya, exploring lyrical compositions and emotions, different situations and characters. What I will be doing is choosing different kinds of compositions in different languages with different themes and exploring them as an emotional landscape. Suvai means taste or flavour. In the Indian arts, you have bhava and rasa. Bhava is the emotion that is expressed by the artiste and rasa is the experience of the audience. Rasa in Tamil is Suvai and seemed apt.

What are the languages and forms of performance one can look forward to?

Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Maithili, Sanskrit and Marathi are the languages I will be performing in. I will be performing padams, javalis and ashtapadis. I’ll also be performing some Sanskrit verses by Vidyapati and compositions by Tulsidas and Surdas.

And what’s next?

Next up, I’ll be performing at the Keremane Shambhu Hegde Rashtriya Natyotsava, better known as the Keremane Shambhu Hegde Memorial National Dance Festival, at Gunavante in Honnavar on February 26, later this month.

INR 850. February 16, 7 pm onwards. At Bangalore International Centre, Domlur.

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