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Photos: S. S. Kumar

Multi-layered: ‘Varanasi’ and (right) Ashwini Viswanathan.

‘Varanasi’ was the inaugural programme, conceptualised and choreographed by Jyotsna Shourie from Delhi and performed by her students — Nandita Kalaan, Aneesha Grover, Nitya Vaishnavi Singh, Ruchika Gupta, Meghna Majithia, Ravneet Kaur, Swati Mohan and Sahiba Singh.

Although ‘Varanasi’ was a well-researched many-layered show with music and dance, voice-overs and visuals put together slickly, one felt it did not live up to its full potential. There was a feeling of inadequacy in the almost too simple visualisation. There were many positives like the well-coordinated and well-timed dancers, the excellent stills and film footage (Anita Bhargav) and the good music (O.S.Arun) that were not made the best of.

Simplicity is a virtue no doubt and in the absence of melodrama, the production acquired a sheen of sophistication. There is the danger of being too simple and this is where the production lost its impact. What it needs is a more demanding movement vocabulary, more forceful theermanams, and some depth in bhava.

A case in point was the ‘River Dance.’ Set in a romantic misram, the lilting swaras of Shanmukhapriya unfurled creating a picture of undulating, swirling blue waters in the mind’s eye. But the dance movements were too prosaic to capture this whimsical beauty. Ditto for the Bengali folk tune, ‘Boat Song-He Pani’ set in tisram. The ‘Arathi’ scene on the other hand captured beautifully the evening ritual on the banks of the Ganga. The music had an unusual touch in the choice of percussion instruments used. Arun had used the tabla, mridangam, chenda, and duggi, the bass tabla as well. The devotional quotient and quietude were the hallmarks of the compositions, the most enjoyable renderings being the Viswanatha Ashtakam and Dikshitar’s ‘Annapoorne Visalakshi.’

The audio visuals (Arul Harris) and the music together brought the ethos of the sacred city alive in a rather powerful way, but it was not enough because one wanted to be moved by the dance as well.

From the authoritative opening syllables of the Nattai Pushpanjali, “Jum jum ta jum jum,” one could discern the professionalism of this orchestra. Headed by dancer-teacher Jayanthi Subramaniam (nattuvangam), the team worked well together with Kandadevi S. Vijayaraghavan (violin) anchoring the melody and enhancing Radha Badri’s mellifluous rendition. The dexterous Nellai D.Kannan (mridangam) surprised the rasika with his sensitive drumming that was lively and quiet as it was demanded. The group treated the rasikas to an hour of enjoyable classical music in Ashwini Viswanathan’s Bharatanatyam recital.

Dressed in bright summery colours of turquoise blue and sea green, the reed-thin Ashwini reflected the same energy and confidence in her performance. She is a talented dancer with a natural flair.

Ashwini’s chiselled movements give her nritta a sharp edge while her clear footwork stands proof to the good training she has had. But this time around, one was not impressed with the casual approach in the faster-paced adavus. She is maturing as a dancer and must show involvement in all aspects. In the abhinaya component too, she needs to rationalise her thoughts. For example, when Radha addresses Krishna in the Ashtapadi, the dancer should remember to maintain the same spot on stage where He might be standing unless she shows Him moving to the other side during the conversation. The choice of pieces in the short programme eschewed the varnam and went with pure nritta and pure abhinaya presentations. There were a few surprises in store — following the Pushpanjali, the invocatory Ganesha Pancharatnam Stothram was set in a peppy tisra gati (Adi) that was reflected in the movements and sollus as well. The thillana (Suruti-Tisra Adi, Oothukadu Venkatakavi) had a similar surprise element- a gati switch from tisram to chatusram and back again. These interesting touches enlivened the presentation and underlined the performer’ skills.

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