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Music Academy Dance Season - Part III

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Leela Venkataraman

Alapadma - The lotus unfolds,by Singapore’s Apsaras Arts, with Aravinth Kumaraswamy as artistic director, was very poetic. Starting with the Padma Alarippu,to segments built around the multi-faceted symbolism of the lotus signifying creation (srishti sarasija mythology, pada pankaja) romance (leela kamala), iconography (alankara ambuja) and sahasra padmam(human wisdom). What showed the dance to great advantage were the allied disciplines—the excellent lighting effects and the costuming, which were professional, adding up to one of the best productions one has seen of this group. Captivating and of great significance was the music composed by Aravinth Kumaraswamy, Chitra Poornima, Satish and Rajkumar Bharathi with the melodious rendition by the singers. And what a nattuvangam expert in Sheejith Krishna! With V. Vedakrishnan (mridangam), Ganapathi Venkatasubramaniam (percussions), Easwar Ramakrishnan (violin), Sruthi Sagar (flute) and Kasturi Sahadevan (veena), the musical team had the best of artists.


Young dancers

The younger brigade of dancers was particularly impressive. Youngest, Mahati Kannan, niece and disciple of dancer Padma Subrahmanyam, has all the talent, equipped with scholarly inputs including musical and dance knowhow. Her centrepiece, the varnam  Ka va Venkataramana, in Ramapriya raga set to Adi tala, choreographed by her guru, showed the young dancer at her best,  beginning with the ashta-aksharas recited from the temple tower, in an episodic treatment ending with the case of Salabeg, the Muslim poet. It depicted that the stalled ratha jatra of the Lord could be set in motion again (evocative veena and flute interventions of B. Kannan and C.K Pathanjali respectively), only through the intervention of the great Vaishnava devotee  Salabeg. The Sankarabharanam padam Dari joochu chunnadi needu priye projected an innocent mugdha. The dancer’s abhinaya, with time and experience, has the potential to acquire depth.


Meera Sreenarayan, continuing from what one had seen of her last year, enthralled with exceptional prowess in both interpretative dance and nritta. In the Husseni varnam in Roopakam, Emandayanara, the nayika addressing Pratapasimha whom she describes as Kamini jana chittachore (who has stolen so many of his subjects’ hearts) is chided for getting smitten by the one with the elephant-like walk. The meditative concentration and ability to lose herself in the moment imparts Meera’s dance with rare potency. With Indira Kadambi’s nattuvangam, were teermanam flourishes (ideas spawned by the guru crystallised admirably in the rendition of the sishya) like the unique way of dancing the kitatakatadinginatom by executing a circle with the entire body and different feet positions. Leaving certain syllables silent, by contrast, imparted new strength to the accented parts.  Jagadoddharana in Kapi, was followed by the humour of the less known javali, Taru marulade vemi bajari, Pattabhi Ramiah’s composition in Natakurinji. Edapalli Ajit Kumar’s tillana in Jog, with the foot-tapping rhythm to Adi tala combinations of 3,4,5,7 and 9, was also unusual.

Shweta Prachande, commencing from the  salutations to Soorya Bhagavan (music by Rajkumar Bharati, evocatively sung by Satish Venkatesh) showed herself to be a fast-evolving artist, compared with what one saw about a year and a half ago. Nritta inputs by G. Vijayaraghavan added to the impact. The interpretation of Lalgudi Jayaraman’s Charukesi varnam in Adi tala Innum en manam, brought out the quality of Shweta’s movements, blending assertive footwork and laya with springy light-footed agility. The charanam was rendered with tremendous involvement. The dancer was equally convincing in portraying the gossipy onlooker’s shock at the abhisarika, in  Choodare—Kshetrayya’s padam in Sahana.


Christopher Guruswamy’s wise selection of items starting from the Subbarama Dikshitar varnam Enta nine telepudurain Khamas set to Roopakam, (learnt from Roja Kannan) choreographed by Adyar K. Lakshman, showed not just his vastly improved capacity for expressional communication, but also his clean technique with light footed leaps, sarukkal, mandi adavu, and full leg stretches. With Murali Parthasarathy rendering vocal support, Christopher followed with the ashtapadi, Natha harey Jagannatha harey (set to raga Vasanti by Hariprasad) portraying the sakhi conveying to Krishna the picture of desolate Radha pining in her home.  Arunachala Kavi’s Ramanatakam piece, with Ravana insolently querying Hanuman (with the consequences which followed), made for a spirited finale.

Dakshina Vaidyanathan Baghelbegan with a Salaam daru by Shahaji. Pachimiriyam Adiappaiya’s varnam Viribonihad the sakhi as protagonist entreating Lord Rajagopala to answer the love call of her flowerlike friend stung by the arrows of Manmatha, who is no ordinary female. An intelligent dancer, Dakshina here needed a change of emphasis—while pleading the case of the friend, the sakhi needed to play down her own glamour and personality, while imploring the Lord to help her friend. Karaikudi Shivakumar’s jatis, with S. Vasudevan’s excellent nattuvangam, were performed with grace and laya emphasis. The abhinaya item from the bhajana sampradaya Momu jopura in Behag was moving, and equally impactful was Triveni (music by S.  Vasudevan) where Gangotri represents Saivism, Yamunotri represents Vaishnavism, and above all this representing the all-pervading Brahman is the river whose flow is unknown, namely, Saraswati.

After Dakshina, Kirti Ramgopal’s recital was like a peaceful lake with no ripples of any kind. The total peace in her dance without the slightest effort to project her persona is a quality one does not come across today. Even the varnam in Kharaharapriya, Mohamaginen had the same treatment with no hype.

One of the high points of the festival, with an intellectual resonance, was Apoorva Jayaraman’s Bharatanatyam, which, apart from the dance expertise, revealed the mind behind it. The beginning with Rig Veda’s Nasadiya Suktam posed the fundamental question of whence, how, and what of creation itself. In the swarajati in Khamas, Ma mohalagiri meerude by Namasivaya Pulavar, Apoorva portrayed the smitten nayika overwhelmed by the darts of Mara which threaten to consume her like fire, and implored the sakhi to deliver her love message by catching Kazhugachala Velavar Ettendiran at the appropriate moment. The dancer’s interpretative clarity (trained under Kalanidhi Narayanan and Priyadarsini Govind) was characterised by a measured quality of inner silence and gestural economy, with Satish Venkatesh’s melodious singing never distracting from the dancer. In the nritta interludes, Apoorva’s innovative flair in the movement units radiated originality. Jayashree Ramanathan (nattuvangam), Siva Prasad (mridangam) and Easwar Ramakrishnan (violin)  were all supportive.

It was a changed Parshwanath Upadhyhyeone saw, the savoured slowness of his abhinaya in the Quartet’s varnam Sarasijanabhain Kambhoji choreographed by his guru Sudharani Raghupathy, quite unlike the razzmatazz of his earlier presentations. One felt the inner stillness in moments showing Nee padame gati naanu raa as well as in phrases depicting padakamala, kamalanabha, and kamalasana. A very mature performance!

Pavitra Bhattmade an arresting start with Adi Sankaracharya’s Subramanya bhujangam, a ragamalika set basically in Misra Chapu excepting for the first sollukattu in Adi tala. It was good to see the dancer taking up a Tanjavur Quartet swarajati set to Chakravakam, with the nayika pining for Brihadeeswara. He had the right support in singer Venkatesh Kuppuswamy, and the jatis with Kalishwaran Pillai’s nattuvangam, sparkled with the dancer’s emphatic footwork and forceful movements. His rendition of Gopalakrishna Bharati’s Vazhi maraitirukkude,had emotive strength though the gesture showing the bull—held close to the body—failed to convey the message that the bull, like a mountain, was blocking his view of the shrine). The orchestra included Satish Krishnamoothy (mridangam), K.P. Nandini (violin) and J.B. Sruthi Sagar (flute).

Yakshagana by Sri Idagunji Mele, Keremane Shivananda Hegde’s group, was one of the most artistic presentations starting from costume, entries, stage formations and the way even the cloth curtain, with contrasting aesthetic borders, was held to form a square or loops around the characters. Vali Moksha, in an abridged form, brought out all the salient features of the characters involved. What a singer in Anant Hegde Bhagwah, with mellow chenda and maddala support from Krishna Yaji and Marasimh Hegde! Unfortunately, a large part of the audience started leaving. Surely Kannada is not difficult for the Tamilian to understand!

Absolutely brilliant was Vaibhav Arekar’s choreography and conceptualisation of Shrimant Yogi, on the life of Karmayogi Shivaraj Maharaj. This was dance theatre at its best and the ability to present the story without ever personifying the enemy in dance (crushing Mughal rule of the time was suggested through the sound tape and music), and scenes like the dancers hands tapping the floor with their hands in perfect syncopation to imitate the sounds of galloping horses, showed creative imagination of the highest order. The surprise was the reaction to what they thought was  “saffronisation”in the yellow flags flown—with some people walking out; a typical case of reverse intolerance when people are not able to look at historical happenings without being coloured by the politics of the day! What a pity! This production, as many know, was created much before the present government dispensation was even thought of, the  yellow flags here symbolising Karma Yogi with no relationship with the politics of today. Unfortunately, it would now seem necessary for even the most non-political of choreographers to announce beforehand the time and intention of a production. Such lack of objectivity in the audience is surprising.


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