The young dancer Manasvini Korukkai Ramachandran, chose to focus on Devi in her performance for Kalapradarshini festival held at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. Compiling a few verses from Shyamala Dandakam, Manasvini brought out the attributes and form of the goddess in a graceful visual representation. The main composition that she chose was the famous Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavatar’s Khamas Daru varnam, ‘Mathe Malayadhwaja’, which pays homage to the goddess and Krishna Rajendra, the Maharaja of Mysore.
The story of Siva beheading theboy guarding Parvati’s chamber and then attaching the head of an elephant to the body and bringing the boy to life as Ganesha was depicted in an interesting manner.
The sahityam ‘Shyame Sakalabhuvana Saarvabhowme’ was explored at length. The looming dark clouds, the flash of lightning, the experience of the first drop of rain and the heavy downpour were depicted in a poetic manner. From showing the beauty of the Devi, the majesty of the king and description of birds and animals, Manasvini revealed a mature approach to abhinaya.
That the dancer is on the threshold of chartering her own artistic course was evident with the involvement with which she danced and the joy that she exuded in the nritta segments. The adavu patterns were choreographed in an interesting manner, but she also needs to be aware of the importance of brevity in execution. While the first jathi was too long, the introduction of sollukattus to swara passages in the end felt a little out of place.
She concluded the performance with the song ‘Amma karunai purindhu ennai’. The joy of the dancer found resonance in the musical responses of K. Venkateshwaran on vocal, K. P. Nandhini on the violin and Sujit. S. Naik on the flute. Aadith Narayan’s nattuvangam and Guru Bharadwaj on the mridangam proved to be a dynamic duo on rhythm.
