Odissi marked by grace and elegance

THE DANCE festival of Kartik Fine Arts was inaugurated by the U.S. Consul General, at the Mini Hall of the Music Academy. L. Sabharatnam, Chairman of this organisation presided over. The occasion commenced with a lively performance of Odissi by Sharon Lowen, a senior artiste, with extensive training in this art form as well as Manipuri and Chau traditions.

The five elements of the universe were propitiated by the dancer through the invocatory number, based on corresponding excerpts from our scriptures. An elaborate Pallavi, a parallel to the varnam of the South Indian tradition, and Ashtapadi, depicting an angry Radha, who awaits her beloved Krishna and drives Him away, knowing fully well about his love- encounters with another maiden were some of the pieces that were presented in this performance where, Sharon revealed a sense of deep commitment to her chosen path. She exhibited fine grip over abhinaya, and extended a touch of elegance to her execution of the intricate details of Nritta, while maintaining the dignity and grace of this art-form. Sharon gave a picturesque presentation of the Tribhangi posture resulting in a visual treat.

It was a satisfying experience to watch Shilpa (Sukumar) Darshan, a student of Revathi Ramachandran, give a lively depiction of the varnam, Mohamana En Meedil, focussing on the glories of the presiding deity of Tiruvarur, Sri Tyagarajaswamy. Kesavan (mridangam) accompanied the dancer with expertise, enhancing the beauty of the composition and its performance.

Neat footwork

Shilpa is a talented dancer with a figure and poise, suited for the stage. She has good command over aspects of rhythm and revealed she had gone through rigorous training in this sphere. Her footwork was neat and precise. The theermanams conducted by Revathi with the necessary grip, were crisp and catchy. Especially the Tisram and Misram ones with explicit beats of identification deserve mention. The omission of the fourth charana swara and Sahitya created a glaring void, after which the dancer switched over to the Makuta swara. On the expressive side, Shilpa's approach was too subtle to create any impact.

The ideas elaborated for the pallavi and anupallavi were appropriate; Shilpa revealed involvement, but did not succeed in capturing the finer details of the emotive aspects. Revathi was assisted by Shobhana (vocal) and Sitarama Sarma (violin).

The second part of the varnam of Madurai N. Krishnan, Engum Nirai, addressing the all-pervasive Vishnu in His varied manifestations, was delineated with vigour and enthusiasm by young Aishwarya, a disciple of Anita Guha. The style could not be identified from this performance, as it seemed a mixture of more than one discipline. It could be described as one which belongs to the present trend of dance technique.

Aishwarya revealed certain skill that should be sharpened with rigorous training. Premature exposure will only hamper the gradual blossoming and progress of young talent like Aishwarya, who has to ripen with age and experience. Anita Guha, who conducted the recital, maintained a fast tempo even during the song numbers, which only created a tense mood rather than any spirit of joy. Devi Kamakshi rendered vocal support.

Best of all

The best among the performances of Bharatanatyam in this festival was that of A. Lakshman, a senior disciple of K. J. Sarasa, and the winner of the award of Natanamaamani from Kartik Fine Arts this year. Opening with a crisp Alarippu, Lakshman proceeded to the main number, the Natakuranji Varnam (Karunai seyya) of K. N. Dandayudhapani Pillai, which provided ample scope for this talented dancer to bring forth, in full, his grip over the rhythmical as well as expressive components of this lively piece.

The dancer was at ease more with the execution of the technical aspects, than with the mimetic nuances. Lakshman had a very supportive orchestra comprising Hariprasad (vocal), A. S. Murali (nattuvangam), Nellai D. Kannan (mridangam) and Sikhamani (violin).

Dignity and refinement

At the Bharat Kalachar, the performance of Jayanthi Subrahmanyam stood out for its dignity and refinement. Jayanthi impressed one with her involved work in the sphere of pure dance, with her presentaiton of the exquisite varnam, Daanike, in Todi, a master piece of the Quartette. Roja Kannan, another senior dancer of the same school, enhanced the recital with her in-depth understanding of the dance set-up (by their teacher Adyar K. Lakshman) of this number and conducted with perfect coordination with the dancer as well as the other members of the orchestra, particularly, Jagadeesh Janardhanan (Mridangam), who enhanced the recital with his excellent accompaniment. However, the integral part of the performance which is the musical support, was devoid of any expertise. The Padma Seshadri Sisters who sang for Jayanthi, are talented young vocalists with a rich voice, but they seemed to have learnt the composition from the notation, which has its own disadvantage, more so when they did not realise the need for looking at the artiste as she performed the sancharis for the Pallavi and Anupallavi lines of the varnam. Hence their output became mechanical, and lifeless; the usual traditional way of singing this brilliant piece with all the essence of the raga was missing.

While Jayanthi depicted the different ideas with suitable elaborations, she could have been more focussed in her depiction of the heroine who is described as the most suited companion of the valorous Shivaji Maharaja, the patron-king, mentioned as the central hero of the varnam. Her exposition of the divine form - Lord Siva (Mahadeva) worshipped by the prosperous King - was apt. However, she did not attend to some of the intricate terms in the Muktayi swara sahitya, which along with the musical nuances are bound to cause blissful moments; Jayanthi danced effortlessly for the technical segments as well as the gripping theermanams with confidence and experience, revealing her years of training.

The padams Magudochi and Inchu boni spoke of Jayanthi's deep understanding of the intricacies of abhinaya, although the technique is known for its minimal, suggestive hand delineations and sometimes vague Hasta mudras. In abhinaya, the dancer needs to attend to full-fledged Hastaviniyogas to establish communication. All the songs were Telugu which led to monotony.

Exquisite portrayal

At the same venue, the vibrant, colourful atmosphere of Melattur came alive through a thematic recital, titled Soundarya Manjari, meaning a cluster of emotions of the feminine characters,presented by dancer Srikanth, who belongs to the traditional family of artistes, hailing from this place. Srikanth, who is well-known for his exquisite portrayal of feminine roles in these (500 year-old), ritualistic dance-drama, proved himself as its true torch- bearer.

With the traditional musicians accompanying the Melattur Natarajan Group, Srikanth depicted excerpts from the different dramas of this tradition. Tiruvaiyaru Brothers, Narasimhan, and Venkatesan rendered soulful music which is the major, integral part of these dramas that have been handed down through generations. Vijay Madhavan, yet another talented dancer from this troupe, conducted the performance skilfully, accompanied by Kalaiarasan (violin) and Vijayaraghavan (Mridangam).

NANDINI RAMANI

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