Fascinating dance demos. Day 2 at Natya Kala Conf.

Bejoyini Satpathy and Swaroopa Sen from Nrityagram near Bengaluru have made a mark as wonderfully talented dancers. Even their short shows attract many dance rasikas.

This morning, Dec.27, Thursday the duo rocked the auditorium.

Sabha secretary Y Prabhu came up and said that he had goose pimples when he watched the Siva-Shakthi piece of the two and coming as it did on the eve of the great Arudra festival celebrating Lord Siva is was indeed a visual treat to his eyes.

Up second was the ever-spritely dancer-actor Shobana. She surprised the audience by letting six of her little students dance classical to an excerpt from Bach's music.

There was a reason to it - Shobana soaked in western classical music in her early years because her dad was passionate about it and when the time came, she would dance to this music. This was indeed her first sample to illustrate the many influences and ways in which she had adapted these in her works, which are varied and innovative.

The show was stunning, as her group went in and out of these demo recitals on a stage that was bathed in colourful lights and shadows.

The demo also gave us a peek look at a classical theme play in which she is involved as choreographer, of a A. R. Rahman sound track for a foreign film which she used for a dance piece and a Malayalam film music-dance clip she starred in - a sample she used to tell her audience the challenges and 'yucks' a dancer faces when she works in cinema and on its fringe.

She also used the occasion to show how she worked out the emotions and moves of pieces set to different music but based on classical dance idiom.

We had to move on as guru Maya Rao took the stage.

The conference is on till Dec.31 and starts daily at 9.30 am. It is open to all.