Gone are the days when a nayika used to sit in front of the mirror, dress up and wait for her hero to arrive. Engulfed in the pangs of separation, she could neither drink nor eat. Time has changed and dancers today have found many other ways to showcase the various stages or ‘avasthas’ of a Nayika. For instance, the Nayika chides her hero, lord Vishnu, by saying “You promised to marry me. But now you are happily settled in your abode situated atop the seven hills. And, there you are looking at me like a thief, hiding your face behind those three namams …” Oh, what a lovely way to tease the lord. Recently, such fresh and varied interpretations of the traditional varnam and padam made Uma Ramesh’s performance appealing to the rasikas.
Uma commenced her recital with ‘Jaya Janaki Ramana’, a thodaya mangalam set in ragamalika and talamalika. It was a routine presentation. But she painted a vivid picture of the nayika longing for her beloved in padavarnam ‘Ma Moham Thane Meerudhe’. The varnam, composed by Dandayudhapani Pillai, was set in Nattakurinji and Adi tala. The artist successively portrayed the Nayika enamoured by the charm and magic of Vishnu who is in the form of Venkateswara. She pleads with her sakhi to take the message to her beloved. The charanam was rendered well. Uma’s abhinaya was convincing and striking. However, her teermanams lacked grace. The jathis were interspersed with diverse, and powerful adavus. If they had been a little more refined, the varnam would have looked classy.
In the next padam, ‘Yarukagilum Bhayama’ set in Begada, her abhinaya continued to be effective . The abhisarika nayika came out with confidence and stood her ground. But the next piece, ‘Yaro Ivar Yaro’ of Arunachala Kavirayar, in Bhairavi lacked impact. At the end of this piece, Rama, mischievously throwing the arrow behind him, just to get a glimpse of Sita’s face, was portrayed efficiently. Uma concluded her recital with the Khamas thillana set in Adi tala. The thillana brought out complex rhythmic patterns and had a catchy arudhi. She ably delineated several lateral and diagonal movements across the stage, except for the panchanadai, where she had difficulty in maintaining the rhythm.
The supporting orchestra included K.S. Balakrishna (vocal and nattuvangam), G. Vijaya Raghavan (mridangam), Mutthu Kumar (flute) and Satish Kumar (violin).
