This bright-faced Bharatanatyam dancer, Anwesha Das, a disciple of Urmila Satyanarayanan, proved yet again what a good student she is. She is light on her feet, steady in her poses and meticulous in her execution ; she is, in addition, a fluent communicator.
The navaragamalika pada varnam by K.N. Dandayuthapani Pillai, ‘Samiyai Azhaithodi Vaa’ is a beautiful musical piece and has the most descriptive lyrics to give scope to the dancers’ interpretive skills. Senior vocalist G. Srikanth along with a participative master flautist T. Sashidhar delivered a memorable musical experience. However, the star performer on the orchestral dais was the young nattuvanar (Sai Krupa Prasanna), whose delivery was crisp, and handling of tala, dextrous. Guru Bharadwaj (mridangam) was quietly nimble. His occasional fillers were noteworthy.
Anwesha was a pining heroine, a besotted young woman who is not able to bear the pain of separation from Siva.
The meticulousness seen in the nritta was in the abhinaya as well, as each line was faithfully delineated. While most of the expressions had a text book correctness, there were a couple of instances when Anwesha showed depth — in the anupallavi, ‘Thamadham Yeno…’ the nayika questions the nayaka’s delay when she suddenly hears the flute and runs to the door in anticipation, only to turn back disappointed; she is on the verge of tears and suddenly a sad expression comes over her. The expression was abruptly cut because of the progression in music to the subsequent tisra jathi. Again in the charana sahitya, ‘Thedi Thedi’, an expression of anxiety came over her, which she broke abruptly. Perhaps she takes longer to dig deep? In which case one more avarthana of the song would allow her to hold those expressions longer. Either way, she seems to be maturing and that is a good thing.
‘Ghana Shyama aaya re’ a Hindi bhajan by Dinesh Nandini spoke about Krishna and a gopi’s amorous encounter. It was dealt with superficial engagement, expressive but not well-marinated.
Anwesha has the potential to deepen her immersion, but it is entirely up to her.
