Graceful and subtle

``SOL KUTTRAM, Porul Kuttram, Isai Kuttram...'' in any Therukoothu (traditional total theatre of Tamilnadu), the Kattiakaran enters from behind the hand held curtain, the tirai, and after announcing the theme of the play and the story, requests the audience to treat the troupe as if they were their own children and forgive any mistakes that may occur in dialogue, content and music. Leela Samson did this after performing the varnam. She came on the stage to request the audience to kindly forgive small mistakes in the Nattuvangam done by her young orchestra. But the small mistake in the recitation of the Jathi in the varnam, was managed beautifully by both the young nattuvanar and the experienced dancer who paused for a second and recited the syllables of the Jathi herself and the nattuvanar got back to the track. But for this little faux pas,the orchestra gave the Bahirprana (outer life) to the dance.

Vocalist Sudha Raguraman is a golden find. She not only has a pleasing voice but also an involvement with the dance and its content and her mellifluous and bhava-ladan singing made the dance performance of Leela Samson that much richer. Sudha herself is very young and so are nattuvanar Sivakumar, mirdangist M. V. Chandrasekhar and violinist Subbulakshmi. Each one was superb in their accompaniment.

Leela Samson's performance was marked by subtlety, precision and grace. A slow kalapramana just enough to give the dancer time to complete every adavu to its fullest form, every gesture to speak its fullest symbol and every bhava to bring out the appropriate rasa in the audience. Leela has built her own architecture of dance on the firm foundation she received at Kalakshetra. She has also found a trademark symbol in her costume design which is distinctly her own, making a statement of being in the North and South Indian breeding.

Beginning with a Ragamalika Sloka on Siva as Ardhanareeswara, Leela was restraint itself in depicting the Androgyny, was able to convey many a thought using her back as an expression. A very clever idea indeed.

The Thanjavur quartet varnam was in Kalyani and very intelligent Theermana Korvais composed by Karaikudi Krishnamurthy. To this Leela's very interesting Nirtta gave a lusture. The Abhinaya was restrained, but it was Nritta that stood out here.

The Jawali in Thodi brought out the intense Abhinaya that Leela Samson is capable of. Standing with her head and eyes lowered, Leela opened her eyes to the intense irshya (jealousy) that was the Sthayibhava of the Jawali. The danseuse used her back to subtly convey some extremely erotic ideas.

Leela brought in an Uttamma guna in the samanya Nayika she depicted in the Kshetrayya Padam where the woman is so besotted that she wears her heart on her sleeve. In the bhajan, ``Shyam thori'', there is a concrete imagery and playfulness. Her arms have a special flexibility. In the Revathi Tillanna composed by Lalgudi Jayaraman, there is a special, distinctive pattern of the arms and hands enhanced with unusual choreography of the opposite symmetry of raising one hand and lowering the other. There were a remarkable, accelerating, movements on a straight body. It created the image of a chola bronze dancing.

V. R. DEVIKA

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