Nruthyaakshari, a dance ballet in Kuchipudi style singing paeans to the glory of Telugu language and culture, was staged at Kalabharati, Visakhapatnam. Scripted by Rallabandi Kavitaprasad and presented by K.V. Satyanarayana, who choreographed for a few Telugu films, and his troupe, the ballet focussed on the origin of letters and its syntax.
The ballet opened with the scene of Emperor Krishnadevaraya’s legendary court Bhuvana Vijayam, eulogising his unparalleled patronage of Telugu language and culture. An erudite talk in the royal court led to elucidation of the tale of Maheswara Sutras formulated by Panini in Sanskrit grammar. It aesthetically bore out how letters emanated from the cadenced sound of Lord Siva’s damarukam in response to Nandi’s plea for enduring vehicle of expression.
In well-choreographed sequences spreading out a spectrum of grace and grandeur of Kuchipudi as a dance drama, the performance captured each of Telugu alphabets in the matrix of alluring floor designs combined with expressional élan. The classification of vowels and consonants, particularly the nature of the consonants basing on the points of their articulation and their division into distinct sets such as bilabial, labio-dental, interdental, alveola, velar and nasals etc were given elaborate treatment and each of the letters stood delineated through fitting sanchari bhavas as an independent unit in the order of alphabets. It was a commendable effort to package the broad canvas of word lore in the one-hour visual treat.
With K.V. Satyanarayana in the lead as Krishnadevaraya, a team of 15 artistes took part and his celluloid experience was evident in each frame of the performance making it attractive. Loknaik Foundation hosted the ballet on the occasion of presenting its puraskar to US-based Vanguri Chittenraju in recognition of his yeoman service for Telugu language.
