YUVA: Arishadvarga
Bharatanatyam (Advanced) student Madhurabhashini Gowreesan, who is also in the Stage Tech, Teaching, Administration, and Communication tracks of Silambam’s Arts Apprenticeship Program, shares her thoughts as an audience member and stage technician for YUVA 2026
Every year, ever since I’ve been watching YUVA, the cohorts never fail to impress. Each time I walk out of the performance, I always claim “that was the best YUVA I’ve seen!”, but at this point, I’m just going to accept that YUVA just gets better and better every year.
The program flowed beautifully, complete with an introduction, a piece for each of the Arishadvargas, and a thillana, along with narrations, dialogue, musical interludes, and lighting that seamlessly sewed the pieces together. The Arishadvargas were an unfamiliar topic to me, however, the stories were very familiar, as I assume it was to the rest of the audience as well. The way the production was presented was unique and clever; making it engaging for all types of people in the audience. They depicted classic stories that everyone knows, and then they demonstrated how Arishadvargas can play a role. The YUVA 2026 performance had the perfect balance of all elements and aspects of an enjoyable performance; entertaining abhinaya, jathis that set the right mood, and music that stood out. Even with a diverse cohort, each artist’s different talents were showcased beautifully and everyone played multiple parts in different ways in each piece.
The Abhinaya in the stories from each dancer was eye-opening. Each dancer really captured whatever character they played. From the way they blinked, walked, everything was perfectly matched to the portrayal of the role. An example of this was in the Kroda piece, when Siri Chandrasekhar was Ganesha, going around Shiva and Parvathi in the mango story. The way she walked was spot on! There were many such small details that made a big difference. Another thing that grasped my attention was that each jathi was also danced as if the character was dancing the jathi themself! It was amusing and interesting to watch. In the Mada segment, in the dance challenge between Bhasmasura and Mohini, the jathi incorporation was genius, and I just loved the attitude and expressions each dancer had during that jathi. The compositions of the jathis and music were done very nicely and were very dynamic. I enjoyed watching Manipuri for the first time, and it was a surprise to learn that the Manipuri dancer Naosheen Noor made the recording with her own vocals and instrumental to the piece she danced!
I am extremely grateful that I had the opportunity to see YUVA from a unique perspective this year . As an Arts Apprentice in the Stage Tech track at Silambam, I worked alongside the YUVA Cohort to run stage lighting and audio for the performance, along with my fellow tech apprentices. I’ve always enjoyed lighting design, however, I have previously stayed away from bold colors that took up the stage. I thought bold colors would be overpowering, wash out the dances, and would just look unpleasant. Through this experience, I learnt that bold colors, when used appropriately, play a crucial role in creating the right mood, atmosphere, and more on the stage. The satisfaction we experienced when we nailed perfectly the timing of a light color change, cannot be described . I felt particularly proud during the Matsarya segment, which switched between light, bright colors and a dark, gloomy dim blue. It was amazing to see the lighting change the mood in sync with the dancer’s facial expression transitioning. Another great lighting moment was at the beginning of the piece, when Krishna comes and uncovers his hands from her eyes, and the lighting becomes brighter.
Running lights and sound for a show may seem like a full time job that leaves no time to enjoy the performance , but I think that is far from true. I felt like I was able to experience the performance more deeply because I knew the context of the scene. Being a dancer myself, I was able to immerse myself fully in the show, and predict the right time to go to the next lighting cue.
The most important lesson I am taking away from this experience leading tech for YUVA 2026 is professionalism, a big part of which is clear and direct communication - with the artists, my supervisors, and others. I look forward to fine-tuning these skills even more in the future, as communication is crucial in any area; whether it's the artists communicating an important theme through an arts showcase, or communicating with the artists beforehand for their needs.
This 2026 YUVA, Arishadvarga: Antaryuddham Abhinayavedyam, I enjoyed observing this aspiring program from different perspectives; as a tech, an audience, and a dancer. This performance also got me thinking, even after the performance, and looking differently and deeper at the stories I’ve been told today. YUVA 2026 was unique, creative, dynamic, and wasn’t like anything I’ve seen before, yet, it still was true to its culture. I am truly glad that I was able to experience this opportunity, and I cannot wait to see what else the Silambam 25 Season brings!
