Bharatanatyam exponent Baladevi Chandrasekhar is known for her performances and lec-dems abroad. She also runs a school in the US. Besides, her ability to present Bharatanatyam in margam, her thematic solo ballets too won admiration of audience. For solo ballets, she found epics as beehive of powerful themes. Latest is a theme woven on Karna. This solo ballet was presented, last week on the second day of SICA’s anniversary celebrations held at Ravindra Bharati.
Bala banked certain parts of Mahabharata sequences like Dharamaja losing his kingdom to Kauravas in a deceitful pawn game with Kauravas, Draupadi being subjected to ignominy by Dussasana who attempts to disrobe her. From then on the narration presented some prime parts of Karna’s journey and his death. Bala rightly applied dances to narrate the earlier part and when it was depiction of later part she rightly proportioned the scenes with drama and dance. Her physic was so impressive that her interpretation of acts of Karna till his unethical death to Arjuna’s arrows, gathered visual strength.
Baladevi wove the theme by leaving space for dance at appropriate situations. As to the narrative, she says she followed texts like ‘Vishnu Puranam’, ‘Mahabharatam’, ‘Veni Samharam’and ‘Karnadharam’. The text was in Sanskrit, rendered in lyrical format. The commentary was in English, keeping in view the multi-lingual audience.
As to the path of presentation she treads, it was balanced between drama and dance, with perfection in all areas of ballet presentation.
The concept and choreography was by Bala.
