DANCE REVIEW : Prakash & Co. at Wilshire Ebell

Viji Prakash and her Shakti Dance Company succeeded in an ambitious program with religious and philosophical themes Saturday at the Wilshire Ebell Theater.

The program, “Moha Mudgara” (To Destroy Delusions), was inspired by verses advocating non-attachment to worldly goods and honors by the 8th-Century Hindu religious thinker, Sankara.

Many of the 15 scenes, distributed in two acts, made didactic points about the futility of expecting lasting happiness through learning, passion or wealth. The program ended with a general dance of devotion to the sage.

The dancers, more than 30 of Prakash’s students, ranging from the pint-sized to the adult, acquitted themselves honorably in the Indian classical idiom of Bharata Natyam, maintaining clear postures, charged movements and expressive mime gestures.

Two advanced students, Radha Carman and Lila Kamhout, danced their prominent roles strongly.

Prakash, of course, remained unequaled and always commanded the stage. She is a dancer who combines sensuous appeal and centered, weighted power; warmth and imaginative characterization. And she also generously makes her students so prominent.

But the program could have been shortened, with little loss. And it should have been clearer that narrator Keshini Kashyap meant to be ironic when introducing the sequence that mocked fame, instead of seeming to start a different show.

Still, the program had impact and sustained, serious purpose.

Throughout, tireless, superb accompaniment was provided by vocalist Jahnavi Jayaprakash, flutist A.N. Bhagyalakshmi and drummer N.G. Ravi.