Winner of the ‘Best Dancer’ award in the Music Academy Spirit of Youth Festival 2017, K. Sarveshan has set himself up as one of the bright young stars of tomorrow. He started learning Bharatanatyam early under Savithri Naidoo in Cape Town, South Africa, and following his passion, moved to Chennai, where he came under the tutelage of Natyacharyas Shantha and V.P. Dhananjayan.
His recital under the HCL Concert Series was well-attended by an encouraging dance fraternity. He had the privilege of Guru Shantha guiding the expert orchestra, consisting of K. Hariprasad (vocal), Nellai D. Kannan (mridangam), Easwar Ramakrishnan (violin) and Anirudh Bharadwaj (flute).
Sarveshan’s exposure is not restricted to Bharatnatyam; he is conversant with Indian folk dances, African dances and contemporary dance forms. He has also been touring with many dance groups. Recently, he has joined well-known dancer Leela Samson’s Spanda Dance Company. Given this background, his easy presence and understanding of body dynamics, energy and agility, come as no surprise. Every adavu and expression brimmed with confidence.
Join the dots
While there is no doubt about Sarveshan’s skill, one felt a little more preparedness was necessary. As he ‘moves up,’ expectations increase. There were a couple of ambiguous finishes in the varnam that could have been avoided. As for abhinaya, care may be taken to join the dots. If we take the Nandanar Charitram excerpt, ‘Vazhi maraittirukkude’ (Todi, Adi, Gopalakrishna Bharati, tuned by Papanasam Sivan), the devotee’s happy anticipation turns to shock as he realises a big bull (Nandi) is blocking his vision of Shiva; this was very well done as he set the scene for the song. But when the song begins, the devotee is crying. There was no transition. For continuity, the transition is important. Again in the end, when the Nandi does move and Nandanar is able to see Shiva, one would have liked Sarveshan to hold onto the surprise, joy and gratitude for a bit longer to emphasise the enormity of the moment, instead of walking away. These little things mark the progress of a dancer.
Besides Sarveshan’s bright dancing, another aspect that drew attention was Natyacharya Dhananjayan’s choreography — the Nrithyopaharam especially. ‘Vaarana mukha vaa’ (Nattakurinji, Adi, T.V. Gopalakrishnan) dedicated to Ganesha, was punctuated with rhythmic surprises. Most interesting was the prelude to the jatis, ‘Dhimi kita dhimi kita dhi dhalangu thaka dhi tom dhimi tom kitathaka tomdhi tomdhi Ganapati, dhi dhalangu tom dhalangu tom dhalangu tom’ that lasted one avarthana of the 2-kalai Adi tala, inspired from a phrase ‘dhimi kita dhimi kita vadhya mridanga’ in a Marathi bhajan, ‘Tandava nrithya karee Gajaanana’. Note the ‘tomdhi’ syllables that play on Ganesha's big stomach ‘tondhi.’
The sollus of the jatis were as rhythmic — the jati in tisram with the phrase ‘thadikku didikku didikku nanakku’ was applauded for the sollus, the delivery and the energetic execution. Natyacharya Dhananjayan says he took uncommon syllables from Nandikeshwara’s Bharatarnavam, but there was some resemblance to the late K.J. Sarasa’s jathis. The composition of adavus with elephant-like movements, one-legged waddling etc., were aesthetic departures from the usual.
The varied fare had in addition a khanda Alarippu (Adyar K. Lakshman), a padam ‘Chitika vesithey’ (Kalyani, Adi, Sarangapani, guidance by Dr. Anita Vallabh) and a Kanada Nrittangahaaram-thillana (Sankeerna chapu, T. Gopalakrishnan AIR Delhi, visualisation by V.P. Dhananjayan).
