Young dancers Hematharuni Vijayakumar and Lavanya Ramadurai began their dance recital for Kartik Fine Arts at Narada Gana Sabha with a simple prayer to the remover of all obstacles, Lord Ganapathy, with the song ‘Guruvarulum Thiruvarulum,’ that vividly described the elephant-headed god.
They moved on to the main piece of the evening, Nrityophaharam, ‘Innum En Manam,’ in raga Charukesi, describing the state of the nayika pining for Krishna. The dancers delineated the song by taking turns to depict the lines. The various episodes were competently enacted by the duo.
The tempo gained momentum for the chittaswaram ‘Kuzhal Oodum Azhaga’ culminating in the final swara passage with the two dancers capturing the raas in all its detail with beautiful images of Holi. The young dancers, however, need to fine-tune their postures and work on bringing azhutham and clarity in their footwork for theermanams.
The Vasanta raga kirtanam, ‘Natanam Aadinar’ was a lively song with brisk nritta passages and postures. Hematharuni then showcased the many facets of Krishna in the Mohanakalyani song, ‘Aadinaye Kanna.’ Describing the beauty of his form, for the line ‘Mayil peeli kondaiyil,’ the dancer’s portrayal of the peacock, narrowing down to its single feather that adorns Krishna’s crown were visually appealing.
It was left to Lavanya to show her talent in presenting the ragamalika composition ‘Vaaranam Aayiram.’ The dancer’s sensitive abhinaya prowess came to the fore in her portrayal of Andal — from maintaining the posture and sthayi bhava of the character to the description of the narrative passages. The two dancers concluded their show with the Swati Tirunal Dhanashri raga thillana.
Guru Maya Shyamsundar conducted the recital, supported by Lata Ramchand’s melodious singing, Kalaiarasan on the violin and Karthik on the mridangam.
