Vyshnavie Sainath, daughter of renowned Bharatanatyam exponent Rajeswari Sainath, created her own place in the field of dance. She extended her repertoire to other forms of experimental and classical genres like ‘Odissi’, ‘Simhanandini’; folk forms ‘Kalaripayattu’ and ‘Attakkalari’. One should remember that for all her art forms rhythm is the common factor and guru mridangam maestro Karaikkudi Mani’s creative work adds to her strength. Her wish to put to view all her learning before the audience, at one go, materialised in ‘Nritya Panchakam’ she presented at Ravindra Bharati recently before houseful audience. This was presented under the aegis of Chaitanya Art Theatres and ICCR.
Vyshnavie opened this ‘Nritya Panchakam’ dancing to the theme of Goddess Meenakshi’s celestial wedding with Sundareswara. This was presented in Bharatanatyam style, backed by jatis composed by Karaikkudi Mani. Vyshnavie succeeded in moving through complex sets of jatis, with ease and poise.
The second segment was Odissi dance, known for statuesque Tribhanga postures found on the temple pantheon sculpture in Orissa. It was a high standard presentation, she learned from Durgacharan Ranbir of Bhubaneswar, a known name. The third segment in the schedule was ‘Simhanandini’, she learned from Voleti Rangamani. Music and jatis were composed in a way they synchronized with the movement of the artiste on a net spread with coloured powder, drawing a picture of lion on the canvas while moving to rhythm.
The most thrilling of these numbers was the fourth segment of ‘Kalariapayattu’, a martial art form, originated in Kerala. It includes strikes, kicks and fight with weaponry. This was 12th century art. Vyshnavie was joined by Raja, an expert in this power packed art, to combat with her holding sticks. They provided some stunning moments with their moves. This included catapults jumping over each other. The way Raja displayed his skills proved he is a master in this art. And Vyshnavie too proved a match to him. Their show made the audience stand up and applaud.
This show was closed with rural ‘rope- mallakhambh’ feats on a vertical rope. Vaishnavie displayed grace moving up and down the almost 20 ft high rope. Raja’s movement on the rope was mesmerising, audience applauding every moment.
