The Kinkini Dance Festival, to be held on January 30 at the J.S.S. Auditorium at 7.30 p.m., will feature ‘The Mysore Wadiyars’ — a thematic dance production directed, choreographed and presented by Bharatanatyam dancers Lakshmi Gopalaswamy and Satyanarayana Raju.
The production will reflect the historical and cultural heritage of Mysore, as well as the Wadiyars’ patronage of fine arts.
A challenge “The challenge was in using authentic compositions relevant to that period along with select shlokas, verses and texts and set them in dance format,” says Lakshmi Gopalaswamy.
“From author Vikram Sampath, who helped us with scholarly features for our formatting, to Srikantham Nagendra Shastri and Dr. Uma Gopalaswamy who assisted us in putting them across, the three-hour production has the Mysore chapters going back to King Yeduraya, who received the title Wodeyar, and the ‘blessing’ from Goddess Chamundeshwari,” she says.
While King Ranadheera Kanteerva in the mid-17 Century had streets for musicians and a dance school outside Srirangapatna, the text for the descriptive elements had to be taken from Govinda Vaidya’s Kanteerava Narasimharaja Vijayam, Ms. Lakshmi said.
Under King Chikka Devaraja, the Mysore School of Bharatanatyam originated, so a sloka of Rangadevate and Jathigalu from the repertoire of the Mysore school are taken.
The era of Mummudi Krishna Raja Wodeyar would be showcased by Mysore Sadashiva Rao’s Javali in Atana reiterating the King’s love for Javalis.
While the reigns of Nalvadi Krishna Raja Wodeyar (who was well-versed in eight instruments and who built the KRS dam), and that of Jayachamaraja Wodeyar as a composer and pianist are soulfully explained by Lakshmi and Satyanarayana’s steps, the finale would see the duo’s pick of a “Naada Geethe” the English-influenced composition by Basavappa Shastri, Band Master Bartil and Veene Seshanna. That this piece was Rabindranath Tagore’s inspiration for the National Anthem speaks of its melodic significance.
