Dramatic amid missing links

February 26, 2015 08:29 pm | Updated 08:43 pm IST

Pavithra Srinivasan. Photo: K.V. Srinivasan

Pavithra Srinivasan. Photo: K.V. Srinivasan

Pretty in her draped silk-cotton costume of beige, gold and pink, designed by Guru Shantha Dhananjayan and Anupama Satyajit, up-and-coming Bharatanatyam dancer Pavithra Srinivasan presented the musical compositions of her spiritual guru, Swami Dayanand Saraswati, in a recital that was aptly named ‘Siva Parivar’ as it paid obeisance to Siva, Parvati, Ganesha and Muruga.

Pavithra has trained under a galaxy of gurus: Vasantha and Aravindakshan, Rhadha, Nirmala Ramachandran, B. Seetharama Sharma and more recently under gurus: Shantha and V.P. Dhananjayan and Kalanidhi Narayanan. She has a good understanding of Vedanta and has in recent times matured as an artist as well.

In ‘Siva Parivar’ the devotional songs had to be re-cast to suit a Bharatanatyam-format (vocalist Vasudha Ravi, Pavithra) and visualised (Pavithra, Satyajit Dhananjayan). The musical score was exciting with the inclusion of swara passages and jatis. They also had a concert-level singer in Vasudha and a talent violinist in Easwar Ramakrishnan to enhance it.

The visualisation, however, was flattering - there was no dearth of ideas but they fell short in implementation. While the song on Devi ‘Madura Madura Meenakshi’ (Bageshri, Rupakam) could have had more silence and less pretty poses, the main grouse would be the scarcity of crisp nritta sequences to electrify the atmosphere. Pavithra obviously had a problem with one foot strapped up, but sometimes one felt though the jati was part of the framework, with one of the best nattuvanars (Balakrishnan) and percussionists (Ramesh Babu) in attendance, nritta was not part of the equation at all. The Thillang invocation, ‘Mahaganapatim’ (Adi), for example, had the sollus but no steps.

The programme had a contemporary feel and the good thing is that Pavithra has the confidence to pull it off. ‘Kalyana Subramaniam Namosthuthe’ (Kalyani, Adi) had playful elements thrown in. The keerthana had been fashioned as a tana varnam with chittu swaras, the swaras sung to the beat of the mridangam, followed by the adavus, ganjira and violin. The jatis were teasers - the order of speed mixed up with madhyama kala sollus followed by the same in vilamba kala, long sequences of kudichu mettu adavus without the use of arms, kita thaka tharikita thoms with arms held in Natyarambam, changing nadais of steps with the introduction of a folk beat, etc. The drama was all there, but only in the sollus.

Pavithra is an expressive dancer so there was clarity in the sancharis as she presented Valli Kalyanam, Muruga’s destruction of Surapadma and his power to destroy attachment in the devotees who seek spiritual progress.

The piece-de-resistance was ‘Mahalinga Vibho’ (Sivaranjani, Adi). It opened up dramatically with the recitation of ‘Kha pha cha tha tha..’ sounds that emanated from Siva’s damaru as he danced, otherwise known as the the Maheshwara Sutrani, to the accompaniment of the ganjira, and the presentation of the pancha bhootha and to the beings in creation, all to the melodic strains of the violin. The opening culminated in the representation of the Linga, dramatised by concentric circles, to a beautiful akara passage. The tatva of ‘Advaitam sathyam,’ that resounded in the Thiruvidaimarudur temple when Adi Sankara asked for endorsement, was couched in dramatic percussion and claps and was followed by a visit to surrounding Siva sthalas. The piece ended on a high with evocative representations of devotees pulling the temple chariot that had been re-commissioned by Swamiji after lying unused for about 80 years. This piece lost steam midway, but proved Pavithra’s energy, agility and dramatic depth.

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