Madhulita Mohapatra along with her Nrityantar Ensemble (S ahana R Maiya , Banashree Mahapatra , Sonali Mohanty , Swati Prasad , Paridhi Joshi & Madhulita Mohapatra) presented an Odissi recital at Jagriti Theatre, last week. Structured carefully, the beginning, middle and the concluding piece lead the audience through the evening at an engaging pace. The event began with an invocatory piece on Shiva called “Shivam Dhimahi”. Grasping the audience’s attention with a rhythmic staccato, this piece finds the dancers stepping to Stotra like Sanskrit music that is high on energy. This performance is marked by some fast paced movements, especially while depicting the Shiva playing the Damaru, as he produced sounds that created the whole universe. The piece depicts the lord of dance in all his physical and celestial glory. One comes across some interesting portrayals of popular images of Shiva, such as wearing crescent moon on a head full of matted locks or riding the bull. In the context of the evening this performative invocation grabbed the audience’s attention preparing them for more complex pieces.
In a welcome contrast to the fast paced number on a popular dance theme, Madhulita presented a slow paced abhinaya based on Oriya music and poetry called “Barabadhu”. Bringing the focus to the human from the godly, this piece depicts the thoughts and emotions of a young man for his bride. Choregraphed by her teacher Aruna Mohanty, in this piece the dancer embodies the voice of the young man who is searching for a response for his question from his bride. This folk flavoured performance stands out for its fresh interpretation of a hero as an everyday man who is trying to negotiate a conversation with his wife. The central feeling that runs through the piece is that of a search for love in the other for oneself. The portrayal of the man in this piece calls our attention for neither being patronizing nor overly masculine. However, the overall charm of this piece is diluted by the moments of woman’s portrayal where she becomes a stereotypically coquettish bride refusing to yield into any conversation.
Taking the evening to its crescendo was the event’s full length performance titled “Jatayu Moksham”. The piece leads the audience through the landmark events of the Ramayana – Sita’s Swayamvara till Jatayu’s battle with Ravana. Though the performance began on a slow note, it gained momentum as it progressed and in due course spilled some extraordinary moments on stage. The portrayal of the two animal characters – the golden deer and Jatayu and the imagination of Pushpaka Vimana in the sky took the performance a notch above the other pieces. Long drawn chase of the golden deer by both Sita and Rama was choreographed like an enticing play. The movement of the golden deer which is often visualized with short hops was choreographed with long prance as the dancer leapt across the stage gracefully batting her eyelids like an innocent animal. The whole play of deceiving Sita and leading Rama into deep forest away from his abode brought alive the imagination of the Panchavati forest.
The final scene of the battle of Jatayu with Ravana, was the show stealer of the evening. The characterization of Jatayu as a bird with majestic wings was represented only through the slow movement of the dancer’s limbs and the up and down motion of her body.
The complex imagery of the battle in the sky was crafted with just movement and music without any dependence on props, making it a work of creative imagination. More than its imaginative appeal this scene left a lasting impression for its emotionally evocative performance. The audience is made aware of the pain of Jatayu’s chopped wings as he continues to fight with whatever is left of his battered body.
However, for a piece named after this particular scene one does feel like it gets over much sooner than anticipated. Though the story from Sita Swayamvara onwards offers a build up to the final scene, the performance would have benefited if the narrative spent a longer time in drawing out the scene of Jatayu’s battle with Ravana even if it implied assuming that the audience knows the back story.
