For followers of classical dance in Thiruvananthapuram, the season starts in the initial weeks of October, as Soorya hosts its annual dance and music festival. It was no different this time and the dance segment of the 40th edition of the festival featured some fine soloists and group presentations across different classical dance streams.
Bharatanatyam
Rama Vaidyanathan
The focus being on the nine rasas, Rama once again shone in abhinaya segments. In 'Mukhathai Kattiye' and ‘Saddu Madalu’, she was flawless in presenting the heroines, who do not mind sarcastically questioning Tyagesa or playfully scolding Rangesa. However, she seemed to be not her usual self during the dance portions and had a restful approach, particularly in ‘Sivoham’, the final piece.
Meenakshi Srinivasan
Her recitals were an attraction of Soorya’s Parampara festival over the last few years and this time she found a place in the prime festival. The main heroine of her recital was from Dandayudapani Pillai’s varnam ‘Moham Aginen...’ (Kharaharapriya, Adi). Meenakshi presented her heroine in total submission to the deity.
The danseuse took some liberty to extend it further and presented an alternative case, which was also a possibility. She wondered what would happen if Kuchela returned and found his family still trying to make ends meet.
The dancer then speculated whether it would have made any difference in Kuchela. She realised that since Kuchela was a true devotee, a Karmayogi, he would have felt the same and it would make no dent in his devotion to Krishna.
Meenakshi also did two pure dance pieces at the beginning and at the end.
Priyadarshini Govind
The danseuse hinted that she was experiencing some personal grief during her concluding remarks, and it explained why she decided to do only abhinaya pieces, that too without a live orchestra.
Dakshina Vaidyanathan
Instantly grabbing the attention of the viewers with a vibrant and expressive Devi stuti, Dakshina moved on to Swati Tirunal’s ‘Pannagendra Sayana’. Varied emotions of passionate love and deep devotion were brought into the ashtaragamalika piece and the best part was when she portrayed the heroine dreaming of her beloved coming to meet her.
The recorded music, though not of the best quality, did not seem to bother her much and not only during the dance pieces, but also in abhinaya segments, Dakshina made it all in sync.
Lord Rama decides to leave for the forest without even thinking of Sita and in ‘Eppadi manam thunindado?’, the danseuse efficaciously conveyed the displeasure of Sita.
‘Lament to the birds’ had the nayika sharing her sentiments with her pet birds and Dakshina concluded with a cheerful thillana set to raga Murali, a composition of M. Balamuralikrishna.
Group presentations
‘Sookshma’
‘Sookshma’, an Odissi dance ballet, told the story of Chenni, a village girl who earns a magical boon from the goddess of Nature for her devotion. The dance production, conceived and choreographed by Sharmila Mukerjee and presented by her along with members of Sanjali Dance Ensemble, was based on the folktale ‘A Flowering Tree’ by A.K. Ramanujan.
The way the ballet unfolded made this metaphoric connection clear to the viewers.
Sharmila Mukerjee as Sookshma, the goddess, Abhaya Lakshmi as Chenni, and Srijita Sanyal, Suranjana Endow and Shubha Nagarajan in supporting roles were able to strike a rapport with the audience.
With some picturesque scenes and joyful dance sequences in between, the production had enough to make it a worthy watch.
Unfortunately, the stage setting and lighting left much to be desired.
Abhinayaa
Kathak
Madhumita Roy and her team of dancers of Ghungroo Dance Academy had a promising start with their Kathak group recital. It was a piece lauding Maheswar and another one packed with signature spins. However, the recital started to fall apart as they moved ahead, with the dancers failing to get their act together.
Manju Warrier made her entry on to the stage and a packed audience greeted her with delirious applause. The hall was full hours before her performance began. The danseuse responded to this by stepping up her dance, if not by leaps and bounds, at least to some extent . She herself introduced the pieces and tried out a few specially choreographed numbers.