The deceptive ease with which Apoorva Jayaraman glided across the performing space reflected the strength of her preparation in the art. A disciple of Priyadarsini Govind, Apoorva’s recital followed the Margam pattern with a congenial amalgam of grace and dynamism. Having trained in Odissi under Uday Kumar Shetty, she is also well qualified academically with a Doctorate in Astronomy from Cambridge and a Master’s degree in Physics from Oxford.
Apoorva opened with Ganesa Pushpanjali composed by mridangam artist Vijayaraghavan and set to music by Rajkumar Bharathi.
The little rhythmic passages interwoven with the Sanskrit words saw the dancer employ both emotion and pure dance to invoke the blessings of the elephant god.
Apoorva’s perception of the larger picture and the ability to highlight the pertinent details could be seen in the Khamas varnam ‘Entani Ne,’ a composition of Subbarama Dikshitar. The structure has several charanams built in of which typically three are selected. The composition was a comprehensive one which afforded the performer enough opportunities to showcase her potential.
The measured pace of the Tisra Jati Eka talam piece held steadily by both the orchestra and dancer gave a weighty aura to the performing. Clear cut nritta where the dancing explored geometric planes was dovetailed with tricky arudis.
The nayika’s devotion to Lord Tyagaraja was portrayed with variations as in Apoorva’s three pronged reaction to the Lord in procession, and covered the gamut of love, awe and sorrow. “Why this anger, discard it and come to me” beseeched the artist with refined depictions.
The popular song in Surutti and Misra Chapu, ‘Indendu Vachithi,’ was a leisurely interpretation. Characteristic of her teacher’s style, the ‘dialogue’ was generously sprinkled with spicy humour in the padam.
Apoorva’s delineation of the other woman donning a woe-begone expression and craftily snaring several gifts stood out for skilful handling.
The sarcastic demeanour en route to turning the fickle lover away showed the artist’s control of sthayi bhava.
The next lyric, a Surdas bhajan in Mandu and Adi, ‘Kabahun Badegi Meri Choti,’ turned out to be a sweet piece. No doubt, the picture of Krishna badgering his mother Yashoda created endearing images and showed the eternal bond between mother and child.
But given the global reach of Bharatanatyam today, wide ranging themes explored within the classical format that evoke rasa, will be inspiring to both performers with artistic acumen and rasikas alike.
Thillana in Desh, Adi, composed by Lalgudi Jayaraman, was a symphonic lyric with lively nritta.
Nattuvangam by K. S. Balakrishnan, vocal support by K. P. Nandini, mridangam by Sakthivel Muruganandam and violin by N. Sigamani formed a capable orchestra.
