Not only is Vaijayanthi Narendran to be commended for returning to stage after a spinal injury, but also to be encouraged because of her intuitive understanding of rhythm and music.
She is the daughter and disciple of Guru Krishnakumari Narendran and is a confident, young Bharatanatyam dancer. There was energy in her movements, especially the jumps, and drama in her delineations, but there is room for refinement in her style. Her performances was presented by Kartik Fine Arts.
Accompanied by two well-known singers, Girija Ramaswamy and Radha Badri, the accent was clearly on the music.
The 75-minute recital had unusual pieces and all of them musically rich -- Dikshitar’s chaturdasa ragamalika, ‘Sri Viswanatham Bajeham,’ Tirunavukkarasar Thevaram, ‘Munnam Avanudaya Naamam Ketaal,’ Papanasam Sivan’s ‘Enna Thavam Seithanai’ and the Pandari Yatra.
With Guru Krishnakumari at the helm (nattuvangam), the musicians, mridangam artist Nellai D. Kannan, violinist M.S. Kannan and flautist Devaraj, provided high quality music.
There was more for the music lover in the opening ragamalika, and the singers turned in a diligent performance, occasionally singing in different octaves to good effect. The dancer was efficient; there was no room anyway for more.
The dramatic part came in the ragamalika Thevaram. Though Guru Krishnakumari had projected the protagonist who loses herself to Siva as Sivagami, the heroine of Kalki Krishnamurthy’s epic, ‘Sivagamiyin Sabadam,’ there was no reference to the context in the delineation, except for the hairstyle. But the visualisation was inspiring. The choreographer had broken down the different stages of curiosity and had drawn sancharis around each; the girl first hearing his name and then wanting to know how he looked, had a jathi woven around his distinctive features. She closes her eyes to imagine the description and internalises it in an intense moment of feeling. The nayika/devotee then asks for his whereabouts; here, Guru Krishnakumari introduced a Gambhira Nattai, misra Mallari. The devotee subsequently loses herself in thoughts of Siva. There was one link missing - a glimpse of the nayika seeing Siva in procession and so losing herself, would have completed the connection.
While the musical arrangement of the Kapi composition enhanced the meaning, the ‘Pandari Yatra’ was high-decibel finale. The medley of melodic and racy abhangs – ‘Namacha Bajaara Pandari Namacha Bajaar’ (Sant Namdev), ‘Sundara Te Dhyana Ubhe Vite Vaari’ (Sant Tukaram), ‘Namadeva Kirthana Kari Prema Bhara Nache Panduranga’ (Namadeva) and ‘Vittu Mazaa Lekurwala’ (Sant Dyaneshwar) – brilliantly captured the devotion of the pilgrims-on-foot to Pandharpur.
There may not have been a dull moment in Vaijayanthi's recital, but her work is just beginning.
