Met department’s warning of heavy rains and flooding did not deter the dance fraternity and other art enthusiasts from marking their presence at the Marathi Sahitya Mandir auditorium, Vashi, for the day-long dance festival aptly called Utsav, hosted annually by Gayatri Subramanian, director of Guru G.V. Ramani’s Natya Kala Foundation. “Our aim is to provide a stage for promising dancers, besides hosting senior performers,” says Gayatri.
The guests were greeted by students of the institution . A photo booth was set up in honour of legendary Balasaraswati and Guru Rajee Narayan.
Chief Guest, Manipuri exponent Darshana Jhaveri and guest of honour, Shailesh Srivastava, producer and director, Mumbai Doordarshan, inaugurated the festival and were joined by veteran Bharatanatyam dancer-scholar Nandini Ramani and Kathak exponent Uma Dogra.
Aditi Kamath’s was the opening performance. Supported by Guru Padmini Radhakrishnan on nattuvangam and vocal, Satish Krishnamurthy on the mridangam and B. Anantharaman on violin, Aditi began her recital with a Ganesha invocation (Ragamalika, Khanda chapu, Rajee Narayan). The evergreen ‘Krishna Nee Begane’ (Yaman Kalyani, Misra Chapu) and an abridged varnam in Ragamalika on Lord Krishna completed her neat performance.
This was followed by the graceful Odissi performance of Namrata Mehta, disciple of Daksha Mashruwala. She began with a Kishori Pallavi, elaborating two ragas — Abhogi and Rageshree — aesthetically interlinked and interwoven with two talas - Khemta and Tripata. The pallavi, choreographed by Daksha Mashruwala, unfolded the playful exuberance that eventually evolves into feminine restraint, through dance movements, set to music composed by Jateen Sahu. The next abhinaya piece Leela Nidhi, choreographed by Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, was a romantic interaction between Radha and Krishna, performed to an Oriya Champu, a combination of prose and poetry.
The next was a lively performance by Uma Dogra’s senior disciples, Indrayanee Mukherjee and Akhila Sasidhar. They were ably supported by the guru on Padant, Vaibhav Mankad on vocal, Vinayak Netke on tabla, Sandeep Mishra on sarangi and Jayprakash Misra on pakhawaj. A Siva stotra, an Ashtapadi (Sakhi Hey) and Kreeda, a composition in taal Pancham Sawari, cycle of 15 beats, was the riveting catalogue. The spirited performance was heightened by the guru’s energy and enthusiasm.
The final performance in the morning slot was a Bharatanatyam recital by Mala Murli from New Delhi, senior disciple of Guru Rajee Narayan. Varnam in ragam Sankarabharanam, Chatusra Matya talam, depicted Krishna as the love interest of the Nayika. ‘Paripalayamam’ and a thillana in Brindavana Saranga completed the recital. It was a fitting tribute to her guru, whose compositions she had presented.
Balamma style
Post-lunch session featured Dr. Rakesh Nair, knee surgeon, the special guest, who shared useful tips on protecting the knees especially for the dancers.
It was also announced on the occasion that the ‘Utsava Sahridaya,’ title, instituted by GVR Natya Kala Foundation, will be given to the dance school that attends the maximum performances at Utsav, with maximum students.
This was followed by an erudite lecture demonstration by Nandini Ramani, who highlighted the nuances of Balamma style of dancing with a korvai and an abhinaya piece. She shared a documentary film on her guru the Late Balasaraswati, with limited photographs and videos that were available from her time.
Mohiniyattom exponent Madhavi Chandran from Thiruvananthapuram, daughter and disciple of Girija Chandran, presented a captivating recital. Beginning with a kriti, penned by Kavalam Narayana Panicker on Ganesha, she moved on to ‘Yashodhara.’ The desolate wife of Buddha laments that her husband is compassionate towards all and has sought salvation for himself, forsaking his dharma patni. In the anupallavi, she avers that men are not trustworthy — Rama left Sita, Krishna - Radha, Nala left Damayanti, and Buddha left her. Though she was not proud to be his wife, her love for him makes her collect the sand he walked on, to be kept as her sole possession. Niram in Sindhu Bhairavi described the image of Goddess as in the kalam (a ritualistic kolam of Kerala). A depiction of Darika Vadham, where the Goddess is praised as the first mother, was interesting.
Eesha Pinglay, disciple of Vaibhav Arekar, rendered a brisk varnam ‘Mohamaginen’ in Karaharapriya set to Adi talam. Neat body lines, finely formed poses and body control made for visual appeal.
The last performance for the day was a fitting finale by the Kathak trio — Vaidehi Parashurami, Bhakti Bhatwadekar and Parinita Shah, disciples of Late Asha Joglekar. They began with a Ram Stuti, choreographed by Archana Joglekar, followed by Teen taal. In the Abhinay paksha, they presented a bandish, choreographed by themselves. It was all about Saawan, various types of Nayikas, enjoying Saawan with their partners.
With this the curtains came down on the dance utsav that stood out for variety.
