The thing about annual programmes of cultural institutions is that they are often more focused on individual performances of participants than on quality. Having every pupil on stage is an important objective: it encourages each of them. But it may result in a series of indifferent pieces that come one after another. Meera Chhandam’s annual outing at Rabindra Sadan was no exception.

The dancers of varying age groups, dressed in coordinated colours and never lacking in enthusiasm, put up pieces that they had learnt in the course of the last one year. As the institution teaches both Bharatnatyam and Kathak, a host of girls and a handful of boys presented both the forms.

The youngest students offered alaripu and a swara adavu, demonstrating the basic steps of Bharatnatyam, while the seniors went into more complex movement patterns in the ashtabhujeshwari durgastotra, shivapanchakshara stotram and a keertanam by the poet, Papanasam Sivan.

In an order that is best described as random, the Kathak performances were slotted in between the ones of Bharatnatyam. A display in teental and a tarana in Kalavati were some of its highlights.

There was a general sense of sloppiness in the entire presentation. Although it is understandable that the students are at different points of development as dancers, it might have made more sense to limit the performances to only what they are capable of. Some stood out — as the more advanced always do with their obvious gift and energy. But some others were, unfortunately, quite out of depth. There wasn’t much imagination in the choreography to handle this discrepancy.

The programme betrayed a lack of sufficient rehearsals and poor coordination haunted the show that was further ruined by the master of ceremonies who was obviously reading the script for the first time and kept tripping over words.