The evening of solo Bharatanatyam by two up-and-coming artistes – Keertana Ravi and Himanshu Srivastava was a testimony that they are going to stay.
Keerthana Ravi proved to be a vivacious dancer and Himanshu emanated vigour in every nerve, making for a dynamic presentation.
Keertana opened her performance with Adi Sankara’s verses to Ardhnareeswara, set to music by O.S. Arun. The tandava attributed to Lord Shiva obviously comprises masculine dance movements while the lasya is personified in Shakti, the other (better) half of Shiva. In describing Shakti, the dancer took to fragile gestures and crisp footwork while she dwelt considerably on extolling the Shiva aspect with much more gestural imagery.
Hence there was a slight tilt in the balance that embodies the principle of equality. Also, there could be a few instances to elaborate the duality in terms of a mythological incident or two. Perhaps, constraint of time as she had to elaborate the varnam, ‘Pannagendra Sayana...’ a Swati Tirunal composition. With a zesty nritta to match, Keertana’s abhinaya also elucidated the lengthy lyric line after line with expressive mukha and hasthabhinaya – some repetitive, some varied; for instance to the line on Lord Padmanabha’s eyes ‘saarasayata lochana...’ the artiste could emulate the lotus with her eyes without having to show them time and again with her hands. By the same token, she was able to achieve diverse postures to depict the reclining lord which is commendable.
There is a lot of difference in adapting a music varnam to dance format and a dance-specific varnam construed with rhythm in mind. Himanshu scored here with his execution of ‘Swami unnai ye naan...’ a varnam by Vadivelu of the famed Thanjavur Quartet. His vibrant footwork template, the sancharis, exploration of abhinaya to the lines of the song, were enriching. The marked difference in defining nritta for sollukattu as against swaram was noteworthy. So was abhinaya that defines the blooming lotus beginning with its stem and the dignified posture to depict ‘Kulasekhara’. Excellent is the word for the earlier Narayana Teertha, ‘Aloka ye sakhi ...’ where his defined hasta mudras emulated the cowherd (Gopal) Krsna as distinct from Venugopala. The effortless araimandi, the light skip in his gait as he turns round gave unique touch to his artistry as much as the subtle colour combination of his costume. Himanshu danced like a man whatever the role he reflected; his exemplary grip over the medium was visible in the brief spell of excellent dance, hosted by the India Habitat Centre.
