The plethora of young expertise on the lookout for efficiency alternatives makes one marvel if cultural organisations can stay as much as the spiralling demand for platforms. Hence, it was attention-grabbing to look at some young dancers on the Music Academy’s dance pageant.
Shweta Prachande owes her glorious approach with evocative abhinaya to years of an built-in strategy to coaching — aside from studying Bharatanatyam below Priyadarsini Govind and abhinaya veteran Kalanidhi Narayanan, it additionally consists of Kalaripayattu, together with dance research. After a pushpanjali in Gambhira Nattai and Adi tala as curtain-raiser, she went on to current the Thanjavur Quartet varnam ‘Sakhiye inda velaiyil’ in Anandabhairavi set to Adi tala. Following Sruti Sagar’s melodious flute overture, and Binu Venugopal’s vocal help, the varnam was a delight, portraying the nayika’s love for Rajagopala with the conch, who resides in Rajanagar and cajoling the sakhi to entreat the Lord to return to her. Eyes stuffed with craving following the Lord in procession, describing at size the greatness of the Lord, together with how he saved an elephant (in between displaying the jumbo feasting on a leafy department pulled off a tree) from the jaws of a crocodile — had been all a part of the dancer’s interpretative imagery. The jatis rendered to nattuvangam by Aadith Seshadri and mridangam help by Siva Prasad mixed precision and impeccable approach.
After such a transferring presentation, Panchali Sapatham, was theatrical, and got here as fairly a disappointment. Music was by Rajkumar Bharati however the usage of extreme sound like derisive laughter greeting the ignominy of a Kaurava prince slipping on the ground of the Pandava palace, mistaking its sheen for a water physique, the sport of cube, Draupadi’s shaming, and eventually, the Kurukshetra warfare with the ultimate scene of Draupadi’s hair being anointed with slain Dushasan’s blood, appeared to lose sight of the truth that dance aesthetic is about subtlety. And for a dancer with a lot expertise, the place is the necessity to resort to extreme drama? The thillana in Behag was a mix of positive dance artistry and poetry with traces from Tagore’s ‘Mama citte nitte nritte’ on the philosophy of existence, with its everlasting rhythm of life and loss of life.
Shashwati Garai Ghosh acting at The Music Academy’s 2023 Dance Festival
| Photo Credit:
S.R. RAGHUNATHAN
Shashwati Garai Ghosh, one among Sharmila Biswas’ most gifted college students, has lastly been given a slot that she richly deserves. Her ‘Ekatra’, exploring new dimensions by means of the Odissi approach, started with Jayadeva’s ‘Srita kamala kucha mandala dhruta kundala’ within the benedictory Mangalacharan, rendered in a method during which the devotees sing at Puri for Jagannath – the slayer of Kaliya, Madhu and Mura and Naraka, and Ravana, in his avatara as Rama. The pallavi in Shudh Kalyan, with music by Shrijan Chatterjee and rhythm set by Bijay Kumar Barik, noticed nritta elaboration, characterised by a really feel for the temper of the raag. There is a deep sense of internalisation even within the nritta segments that one experiences in Shaswati’s Odissi.
The concluding shringara piece, primarily based on Srila Rupa Goswami’s ‘Ujjvala-Neelamani’, was choreographed by Sharmila Biswas. Goswami’s shringar connotation initiatives all worshippers as feminine, eager for the one Purush (the Supreme). And he believed that the ultimate stage of Oneness with this Purush will be attained solely after experiencing Shantarati (a thoughts completely absorbed within the beloved one), Dasyarati (serving the beloved one like a servant), Sakhyarati (being on equal phrases like an in depth pal) and Vatsalyarati (being fiercely protecting of the beloved one like a mom is for her youngster). After all these states, ‘Drishyate madhure rase’, one begins to expertise madhura rasa of shringar (the ultimate state of merging with the beloved one). While one can have variations of opinion on the readability of the introductory explanations, Shashwati’s dance primarily based on Herman Khuntia’s music composition, was effectively introduced.
Harinie Jeevitha at The Music Academy’s 2023 Dance Festival
| Photo Credit:
S. Thanthoni
There was a sizeable viewers on the morning recital by Harinie Jeevitha, a college at her guru Sheela Unnikrishnan’s dance faculty, Sridevi Nrityalaya. She started with ‘Sorkattu’ by Shivanandam of the Thanjavur Quartet, set to Thodi raga and Tisra Eka tala, an invocation to Shiva primarily based on the Marga Bandhu stotram. Introduced by a brief Sankarabharanam alapana on the veena by Anjani Srinivasan, the Papanasam Sivan varnam ‘Karunai seidida’ in its interpretation of the devotee’s love for Kapaleeswarar (‘kaadal un meedu meerude’), noticed the dancer describe the beloved’s coronary heart beat like a drum, leap like a deer and be washed by waves of pleasure. Harinie is a proficientdancer however the choreography was so closely filled with imageries and solfa syllables within the jatis that one felt a leisurely strategy would have been extra evocative.
The pure abhinaya half post-varnam comprised an Ashtapadi ‘Keshi mathanamudaram’ whereby Radha beseeching her sakhi to fetch Krishna reminisces the intimate moments with Krishna and the way he made her overcome shyness. While the dancer had sought some steering from Bragha Bessell, the abhinaya knowledgeable, the remedy wanted extra introspection. The Vasudevachar thillana in Surutti made for a positive conclusion.
Bhavajan Kumar, groomed below Leela Samson, is a steadily evolving dancer. Right from the beginning with Varaguna Pandyan’s Virutham ‘Anjel endra’ in Ragamalika, accompanied by singer Sweta Prasad’s bhav-filled and tuneful vocal help, the dance interpretation at a leisurely tempo took the efficiency to a special aircraft. Given the penchant for pace in audiences right this moment, it’s uncommon to see a dancer current a chauka kala pada varnam ‘Sarasa ninnu ippudu’ by Ponniah (a forerunner to Swati Tirunal’s ‘Sumasayaka’) in Karnataka Kapi (Rupakam). Woven around the time-honoured varnam system of the nayika’s love for Brihadeeshwara, right here the Lord is depicted in his accoutrements of tiger pores and skin and snake round his neck conquering the inimical forces despatched to defeat him. The arudis, the musicality of the teermanams with their sollukattus, Sheejith Krishna’s nattuvangam, the dancer’s rendition and the music moved collectively seamlessly. This made for a novel expertise.
Bhavajan’s abhinaya has conviction, rising from a serene base. This was proved within the Sarangapani lyric ‘Urukke’ in Devagandhari, depicting the brash hero being chided for considering he may get the heroine to return to him simply by a click on of his fingers, when even the nice Rama needed to break Shiva’s bow earlier than successful Sita ‘Smarasundaranguni sari evvare’ with the swadheenapatika’s boast that none may evaluate together with her love in faithfulness and readiness to do her slightest bidding. The recital ended on a excessive word with the ‘Kalinga Nartana’, an Oothukadu Venkata Kavi Tillana in Gambhira Nattai.