First off, congratulations to Sreelatha Vinod, senior disciple of Gurus Shantha and V.P. Dhananjayan, for putting together an exciting repertoire! Not only did it provide rasikas with fare to look forward to, it also helped alleviate the effect of a snooze-time slot that Narada Gana Sabha has popularised amongst good dancers who are not yet celebrities to qualify for prime-time slots.
Sreelatha has a beautiful presence and an innate grace to charm you right away but more importantly, she is a growing Bharatanatyam dancer who continuously challenges herself. Pairing with ace nattuvanar Venkatakrishnan, also a senior disciple and faculty, Bharata Kalanjali, Sreelatha revelled in his rhythmic compositions- the five nadai-based jathi korvais- in the rupaka-tala padavarnam (‘Mohamana’, Bhairavi, Ponniah Pillai), and in his creation, a Ritigowla, adi tala thillana.
There was an absolute thrill in the conquering of complex rhythm and Sreelatha tackled it by rendering the spontaneous bursts of rhythm in between korvais well.
There was a fair bit of challenge in the varnam sahitya as well, being a celebrated bhakti-sringara composition dedicated to Tyagaraja of Thiruvarur. Sreelatha brought in references to the sthala through the nagaswaram tradition, which plays a big part in temple rituals, and the majestic Tyagaraja procession taken out on festive occasions.
The varnam was preceded by the Appar Thevaram, ‘Kunitha Puruvamum’ (ragamalika) in which the saint-poet says he does not mind re-birth as long as he gets to see the beautiful dancing form of Nataraja. The devotional tone thus having been established, Sreelatha focused on love in a temporal sense in the sahitya delineation. Instances such as the nayika seeing the nayaka in the mirror and subsequently realising that she had imagined his presence, conveyed the intensity of her feelings.
Even the yearning to be together came through clearly but one felt there was some self-consciousness. The abhinaya was not as smooth as the subsequent ‘Jaanaro ee Mohamu’ (Khamas javali) or the ragamalika piece, ‘Dikku Teriyada Kaattil’ (Subramania Bharathi). The attempt was brave but the change needs to soak in.
The orchestra was worthy of high praise. Murali Parthasarathy (vocal) warmed up with a bright Nattai kriti, ‘Sri Mahaganapathe Surapathe’ and while his Bhairavi was tuneful, his best was the Khamas javali.
Taking off on a high pitch, he slowly unravelled the beauty of the song and the pleading tone of the heroine. It’s true that barring Venkatakrishnan, who came alive in the lively and descriptive Shadaakshara Kavuthuvam (Shanmughapriya, Rupaka, Madurai Muralidharan), varnam and thillana, the musicians were at their best in the Khamas piece.
If you thought rhythm was only for the nritta fireworks, you should have heard Vedakrishnaram (mridangam) in the javali- a folk beat here, a ganjira-effect there, always soft and suggestive. His evocative play mirroring the heroine’s enjoyment of the forest and her fear of darkness in ‘Dikku..’ was poetic. Likewise, Kalaiarasan (violin) who was faithful in the heavy Bhairavi piece, unleashed his talent post-varnam; the ragamalika was his triumph.
An enjoyable afternoon indeed. There is a warning though- despite the araimandi and the good footwork, there is an unmistakable heaviness that can hamper the overall effect.
Click on the respective venues to read about concerts performed there.
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