It is a feat alright to decide where to be on a given day during the Margazhi Season in Chennai. A dance festival curated by veteran dancer, Malavika Sarukkai, is a definite pick. Kalavaahini Trust in association with Kartik Fine Arts presented the ‘Dance for Dance’ Festival that featured six performances over three days at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. The festival began with Odissi by Arushi Mudgal and Bharatanatyam by Jyotsna Jagannathan.
The opening performance by Arushi set the bar for the festival. The invocatory piece on Ganesha created beautiful motifs of his many names and forms. This was followed by a Pallavi in Raag Bageshri. A prelude on the flute to the pallavi, turned one’s attention to the orchestra for the evening. The brief harmonising with the male and female vocals delicately layered the picture-perfect nritta.
The third piece ‘Advaitha’ was a farewell conversation between the body and the soul as the nayaka and nayika, at the time of death. Metaphorically choreographed, the body asks the soul, “If we were to part, what would I tell you...Stay? or Go!”. “Would I come in your way if I say I’ll die without you or sound indifferent if I let you go”, the body contemplates.
The next piece ‘Prana Sangini’ by poet Banamali in Odiya, was a playful episode narrated by Radha to her sakhi. Krishna disguises himself as a woman and offers to apply alta on Radha’s feet. Radha alarmed at Krishna’s name on her sole, forces the disguised woman to leave, when Krishna’s false braid falls off.
Radha cheekily checks if it is her braid, a choreographic touch by Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, was followed by a sweet tussle of Krishna wanting to hold Radha’s feet. The final piece of the repertoire, ‘Neelakantam Bhaje’, from Adi Sankara’s Sivananda Lahari, drew an analogy between Siva with a blue-throat, after swallowing the deadly poison from the churning of the oceans, and the dazzling blue peacock. The brilliant blue colour, the taming of the snakes and the dancing visions of both that bring down the rain, the overwhelmed tears of the devotees in the case of Siva’s Tandava, were portrayed.
It is in nature that the male bird dances and serenades and this was interestingly set as a contrast against Siva’s Tandava. There was a quality in Arushi’s gaze, not thrown to a dramatic distance but waiting at a realistic proximity, that often created an illusion of engaging in a one-to-one communication with the audience. The repertoire however lacked a piece or that moment in choreography that sets apart a dancer. Having said that, the mark of an artiste steeped in her art form, a certain effortless fluidity that masks the many complex ideas that blend in performance, was apparent in Arushi’s dancing. The same comment could be extended to the second performance of the evening by Jyotsna Jagannathan.
Jyotsna Jagannathan
Jyotsna’s performance begun with a brisk ‘Tisratriputa Nandi chol’, composed by mridangist Ramesh Babu, choreographed as a musical conversation between Siva and Nandi, challenging and enjoying each other’s prowess and even exchanging their damaru and mridangam momentarily.
The pièce de résistance, the varnam, was certainly testimonial to the dancer’s craft and conviction, what with the demanding nritta and the mature and understated abhinaya. It, however, lacked an individuality in the narrative, coming from a dancer of her calibre. The following piece on Rama’s viraha in Surdas’s poetry, set to music by Aditya Prakash, was a rare choice, that portrayed the delicate emotions in the conversation, where Rama confides in Lakshmana. The sequencing of this piece after the heavy Varnam, left one without a respite in terms of the choice of ragam, until the tillana in Sankarabaranam. This probably was what came in the way of an otherwise high quality performance by Jyotsna, studded with drops of sweat that fell ke night jasmine at the flick of her shoulders, on the beautifully lit stage.
The following two days of the festival hosted performances by Kapila Venu and Sreelakshmy Govardhanan and ensemble productions ‘Vivartana’ by Rama Vaidyanathan and ‘Samyoga’ by Shijith & Parvathy.
