‘Lasyotsavam 2017’, a two-day festival at Model Regional Theatre, Thrissur, had interesting performances of veteran and upcoming artistes in Kathakali, Mohiniyattam and Bharatanatyam.
Rukmangadacharitam , a play in Kathakali play which was presented on the inaugural day, featured Mohiniyattam dancer Pallavi Krishnan as Mohini with maestro Kalamandalam Gopi as King Rukmangada. It was Pallavi’s maiden appearance on stage as a Kathakali artiste after a period of rigorous tutelage under Kalamandalam Harinarayanan. Her confidence was evident in the presentation of the ‘Sari’ dance brimming with lasya and subsequently in the visualisation of the padam Sumasara Subhagasareera.
Kalamandalam Gopi as King Rukmangadha and Pallavi Krishnan as Mohini
In sync
While Gopi moved fluently from Sringara rasa to Bhakti and finally to Soka rasa, Pallavi could ably switch from lasya to grim obstinacy as the king refused to give up his abstinence on the day of Ekadashi to indulge in a romance with Mohini. Although a cameo character, Kalamandalam Adithyan as Dharmangada, the son of Rukmangada, was impressive. Towards the crescendo, expressions of the king’s moral dilemma such as anguish, remorse, anger and self-derision flashed across Gopi’s demeanour, enhancing the experience for viewers.
Kottakkal Madhu accompanied by Nedumpally Ram Mohan sang each slokam and padam evocatively. Rendition of charanams in ragas, Kapi, Reethigowla and Abheri were refreshing and befitting the context. Kalamandalam Unnikrishnan on the chenda and Raj Narayanan on the maddalam traced the entire gamut of Gopi’s expressions sans any loopholes.
On the second day, Kalamandalam Veena Warrier’s Mohiniyattam recital was rather brief. Veena started with a cholkettu, treated generally as a pure dance item. The piece was in praise of Lord Rama. Her neat presentation of hand gestures (hastamudras), torso movements and footsteps had the grace of classicism. Veena then took up Kanakanaruchiram , a Pancharatna kriti of Tyagaraja in raga Varali, as the nucleus of her recital. This, again, is in praise of Rama. The dancer spent considerable amount of time extolling the virtues of the Lord with boundless devotion. Devoid of diversity in mood and behaviour, the item turned out to be lacklustre. The concluding item too was a Ramasthuthi. Veena did Ahalyasapam as vinyasam much to the delight of the audience.
Mohiniyattam by Kalamandalam Veena Warrier
River song
Immediately afterwards Leela Samson and her disciples performed their new creation, Nadi (The River) mostly as group choreography. Poems from Tamil, Sanskrit, Kannada, Urdu, Hindi and Bengali form the text of Nadi . Composer Rajkumar Bharathi has spared no efforts to retain some traditional ragas while recomposing others to attempt a dialogue between the past and the present, and between Carnatic and Hindustani Music.
The opening segment of the recital was Tagore’s Ogonodi . The dancers, male and female, identified themselves as the stilled Champa tree addressing the frantic river. The image of the seemingly unmoving tree interspersed with the undulating flow of the river became vibrant as the dancers did the piece stylishly. Next was a visual adaptation of select verses from Sangham poetry. Blowing wind, gathering clouds, lightning in the sky, tall mountains, incessant shower and the river are images that evoke the bounties and moods of nature. With the movement vocabulary of Bharatanatyam, the dancers illuminated those metaphors backed by the verses and an alluring rhythmic ambience. They also portrayed the pranks of lovers in correlation with the river.
A scene from the group presentation ‘Nadi’, choreographed by Leela Samson
Solo piece
Sundar Saree , the next item, was drawn from folk tradition yet incorporated into a typical Poorab thumri. Termed as Nirgun thumri, the piece was heavily influenced by poets like Gorakh Matsyendranath and Kabir. Sari, the central metaphor in the thematic thread of the piece, is the unstitched garment. The flowing, expanse of the sari and the seemingly endless flowing external expanse of the banks and borders of the river are the two parallels. The river is the journey of life and the sari, the unending eternal self. Leela’s solo rendition of the item was a bold attempt to concretise the philosophical undercurrents of this grand metaphor.
The item that followed was based on a Dikshitar composition elaborating the nature of the river Ganga. Titled as ‘Sthayi-Sanchar-The descent of Ganga’, the piece began with a virutham in praise of the river. Accompanied by the thanam and the pallavi, the dancers made the item a soulful prayer to Ganga, extolling her as the origin of all sacred waters. The last but one item was the visualisation of a poem ‘The River’, from Girish Karnad’s famous play, Hayavadana .
Kinare Kinare , an Urdu composition, proved to be a fitting finale to the recital. The traveller who is the protagonist waits for the wave to come in as the rhythm of affection and love. The dancers connected the piece to a thillana and made it brisk so that the audience did not have a dull moment. Lasya Akademi of Mohiniyattam, Thrissur, organised the fete with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture.
