Variety shows being very popular with international delegates, the Bharata Kalanjali students performed at many corporate shows, and shows organized by the Tourism board. Mahesh, an agent from Paris, attended one such program and being impressed, wanted to see some more of their work. So, a program was arranged at Adyar Lakshman�s cottage. After auditioning to select troupes, Mahesh finally chose to invite the Dhananjayans in the Bharatanaatyam category for the mega tour of France in 1973 for the Festival with one month of performances, 6 days a week at the prestigious Theatre De La Ville in Paris. The other artistes chosen were Birju Maharaj for kathak, Shiv Kumar Sharma for santoor and Hariprasad Chaurasia for flute.

�They were also upcoming artists then, but every show ran to full house. Every 3 days, we performed different items, to the accompaniment of a live orchestra. Madurai T Sethuraman was the vocalist. After that, Shiv Kumar Sharma, Chaurasia and we were invited by another agent to tour Europe for 2 months. That tour was financially and artistically, very satisfying for us.�

�Interaction during this festival brought Birju Maharaj and us closer and this paved the way for my helping to procure a solo performance opportunity for Birju Maharaj in Madras under the auspices of Narada Gana Sabha in 1974. After that, artists from North India were invited periodically to perform in Madras and that made Narada Gana Sabha a pioneer in promoting artistes from the North.�

FESTIVAL OF INDIAN ARTS IN PARIS - Reviews