‘Sapta Sapti', presented as a group dance, suggested creative thinking and planning. RUPA SRIKANTH
V eteran dancer-teacher Chitra Visveswaran presented ‘Sapta Sapti,' a Bharatanatyam recital, themed on the number seven. It was a re-worked choreography, a 16-year-old solo that was converted into a vibrant group presentation. Guru Chitra was accompanied by her students of the Chidambaram Dance Company.
The main body of the show was a narrative-heavy extract from the seven-book Ramayana, set to music in seven ragas and seven sooladi talas by violin maestro Lalgudi Jayaraman. The format alternated the energising nritta parts with the melodramatic storyline. So well practised were the musicians and the dancers that there were no lapses despite challenges of raga and tala switches in the glittering musical score.
In the dance presentation though, the crafting was not always uniform. The visualisation of the group choreographies far outdid the dramatic dialogue. The well-enunciated theermanams performed by a group of narrators, the narration that prefaced every kanda and the closing swara nritta sections suggested creative thinking and planning.
If you consider the Kaikeyi-Dasaratha showdown, Ravana's carrying Sita away or the conversation between Rama and Hanuman when they first meet; they did not have the same finesse. The flashback set to a tanam in which Sita re-lives happier times was an admirable idea that would have been more effective without the contrived romance in Chitrakoota.
Guru Chitra took up the roles of Kaikeyi, Ravana and Sita. While she is a mature dancer, her portrayals fell prey to the ‘standard way.' There was an inspiring moment in the Ravana-turned-sage scene though. In C. Rajagopalachari's retelling of the Ramayana, he says of Ravana, “... and his lips uttered beautiful Vedic hymns while in his heart was ugliest evil.” Guru Chitra did just that -- the internal evil and the external devout saint -- at the same time, alternating each side of her face with an evil look and a pious one. It pushed the boundaries of abhinaya, a brave thing to do.
The orchestra was a strong support with the stately mridangist Adyar K.Gopinath and the versatile nattuvanar, Aniruddhan Vasudevan, himself a student of Guru Chitra, who handled the rhythms with ease. B. Umasankar (vocal) had his moments but lost his way during some of the kalpanaswara sections, and one wished the senior instrumentalists, Tyagarajan (flute) and Mudicondan Ramesh (veena), could have taken over.
The other pieces presented were: Dikshitar's Navagraha kriti ‘Suryamurte' (Sourashtram, chatusra jathi Dhruva tala), and Appar's Thevaram hymn on the seven worlds, seven oceans and seven swaras that flowed into the Melakarta raga Rasikapriya in a thillana (Adi, R.Visweswaran). The dancers were: Sukanya, Umaa, Sindhu, Chindumathy, Jai Quehaeni and Meenu.
