Lucknow, Dec. 17 -- Ahead of the centenary celebrations of Bhatkhande Sanskriti Vishwavidyalaya (BSV) starting December 18, a two-day pre-centenary event commenced on the university campus on Tuesday. On the first day, an "Open Mic" session was organised for students who presented a wide range of renditions, including classical and semi-classical vocal music, along with bhajans and folk songs. Shivansh Mishra, a first-semester bachelor of performing arts (BPA) student, rendered a bhajan followed by Nishant Pandey, a sixth-semester BPA vocal student, who gave a semi-classical (Dadra) presentation. Vishwam Srivastava, a first-semester BPA vocal student, presented Raga Darbari Kannada and Pushkar, also from the first semester of BPA vocal, won accolades for his rendition of a folk song. The jury included former faculty member and vocalist Devendra Kumar Pathak, while the programme was coordinated by Manoj Mishra, head of tabla department. Each participant was allotted three minutes for their performance, and as many as 34 students participated in the event. Musical accompaniment was provided by Anant Prajapati on the tabla and Prashant Tripathi, a student, on harmonium. Students had also set up art and food stalls. Astika Sharma, a fifth-semester BPA Bharatanatyam student, and Varun Shukla, a fifth-semester BPA vocal student, jointly set up a handmade art stall featuring wall decor of Lord Jagannath and Lord Krishna crafted in Lippan art, along with handmade candles, bookmarks, paintings, and miniature artworks. Muskan Agrawal, a Bharatanatyam diploma student, had set up a handmade food stall offering corn sev, bakarwadi, corn bhujia, corn chips, and banana chips. Bhatkhande Sanskriti Vishwavidyalaya is set to celebrate its 100th year with a three-day conference scheduled from December 18 to 20 at the Kala Mandapam auditorium....