Scores with eloquence

Arrabbe Perinpanathan’s Bharatanatyam proved to be a delight, despite a few rough edges.

April 23, 2015 03:39 pm | Updated 03:39 pm IST

Arrabbe Perinpanathan Photo: B. Jothi Ramalingam

Arrabbe Perinpanathan Photo: B. Jothi Ramalingam

There were twin delights in Arrabbe Perinpanathan’s Bharatanatyam programme - the dancer’s expressive fluidity and her repertoire titled, ‘Siva Dharaisanam.’ Arrabbe is a disciple of well-known dancer Narthaki Nataraj, and represents a generation that pursues classical dance as a passion alongside professional academic study.

Arrabbe’s bright face and sparkling eyes strike you first, followed by her concentration and involved mime. Her talent stood out even in the Virutham invocation, ‘Theriththa Kanaiyaal’ (Thirunaavukkarasar thevaram, Purvakalyani), in which Siva’s burning of the three cities of Tripura with a mere smile was touched upon briefly. The quick change of expressions, from the burning city to Siva’s smiling radiance, was notable.

Arrabbe’s recounting of the hunter Kannappa’s devotion to Siva, and the ready sacrifice of his eyes to stop the bleeding from Siva’s eyes, during the varnam-style presentation of verses from Thirumoolar’s Thirumanthiram, was unhurried and clear.

She, however, needs to straighten her spine, square her shoulders and add more emphasis to the adavus. Her sense of timing is good. There is occasionally an awkwardness of gesture, but it can be overcome with continued engagement with the style.

‘Siva Dharaisanam’ presented verses from the works of revered Saivite saints including Arunagirinathar, Thirunaavukkarasar, Thirumoolar and Ramalinga Adigal, the first and the third were tuned by musician T.V. Sundaravalli. To add definition to the devotional poetry, they were fashioned into a varnam and a padam (Ramalinga Adigal).

The varnam stood out for many reasons - apart from the verses - the music, that used traditional ragas or pann - raga janyas (Anandabhairavi, Vasantha, Bilahari) with a concluding segment of swaras arranged in the ascending and descending order of the ragas used, and the jathis, ‘original’ Thanjavur jathis handed down to Narthaki by her guru, vidwan K.P. Kittappa Pillai, that sparkled with usi sollus, challenging gaps, karvais in sollus, misra kuraippu and other complexities, to present resonating rhythm statements, all the while keeping the steps simple and relaxed.

Another gem was the ‘Paangimaar Kanni’- verses based padam, ‘Ambalathil Aadugindraar Vennilaave’ from Ramalinga Adigal’s ‘Thiru Arutpa’ in which he uses a nayika’s love for the dancing Lord Siva to express the depth of his devotion. Narthaki added a twist in her visualisation - in between the nayika’s awe-struck vision of Siva and her pleas to her sakhi to help, she added the sakhi’s reaction of disbelief and disgust at her friend’s choice, making it a Ninda Stuthi. Set to lilting tunes of Maand and Jonpuri, the beat was a teasing alternating of tisra and chatusra like a Kavadi Chindu. The result was a lively dialogue, set to a lively beat.

The orchestra, led by Narthaki (nattuvangam) was involved and of the highest order. B. Umashankar (vocal) scored with his deep baritone, while the senior musician Devaraj (flute) provided non-stop melody, aided by the young, conscientious Durai Srinivasan (violin). Dhananjayan (mridangam) was of great support during the short, but nerve-racking jathis, and attentive through the melodic portions.

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