Senior disciples of noted Mohiniyattam exponents, belonging to different schools, presented their art at the recently concluded ‘Mohiniyattam Festival’ in the capital city.
The inaugural day featured Sunanda Nair along with her disciples Arathi Remesh, Divya Shanker, Sarita Warrier and Suja Pillai. Sunanda, who had her lessons under Kanak Rele, one of the major proponents of the Kavalam school of Mohiniyattam, adhered to that stream. Her students started with the oft-seen Ganapathi sthuti in raga Puraneeru. While they came together for the dance numbers, each of them seemed to be at different stages of their training. The main piece was ‘Ashtanayika’, featuring the eight heroines classified by Bharata in his treatise on classical dances. Each one appearing in succession, presenting one heroine at a time, tried their best to make it interesting.
In between Sunanda also took the stage, first with Swathi Thirunal's Theliviyalum mukhaminnu , a padam in raga Punnagavarali and later with an item titled Sabari , a work of her own.
Heroines longing for their lords, the former on account of their love and the latter, owing to bhakthi, being the theme of these pieces, Sunanda was able to portray the essence of each, with her depiction of Sabari's devotion for Rama being the best of the lot.
Mohiniyattam recital presented by Sreedevi Vakkekalam on the second day of 'Mohiniyattam Festival' organized by Soorya India as part of the 40th edition of annual Soorya Festival in Thiruvananthapuram.
Sreedevi Vakkekalam, a student of Kalamandalam Ajitha, followed a style that could be best referred to as a semi-classical variant of the dance-form. Oruneramengilum , a popular devotional in raga Dwijavanthi, appeared to be an apt choice for the style and Sreedevi's take on it was nice. Thapasendra vidhithamo , a varnam based on the tale of Vaishali, and Jayadeva’s Ashtapadi followed.
Sandra Pisharody and Parvathy Sreevallabhan, disciples of Nirmala Paniker, were on top of their form that evening and made quite an impression for themselves as well as the Mohiniyattam style that they represent. Their nearly two-hour-long performance, with each of them alternatively taking the stage, was brilliant in many ways. Parvathy opened the recital with a song in Madhyamavathi offering prayers to Bhagavathi. Elucidating different aspects of the goddess and earnestly appealing to her to save mankind from all troubles, Parvathy's presentation was noteworthy.
The main item that Sandra did was Gamgeya vasanadhara , a Swathi Thirunal keerthanam in Hamir Kalyani. The piece was introduced as a work of her own, which she did for a recent fellowship programme. The detailed display of a few of the deeds of Krishna was the highlight of the presentation. While her impeccable choreography made the ‘Kaliyamardanam’ segment attractive, ‘Govardhanodharanam’ part was a treat to watch because of her flawless abhinaya.
Parvathy appeared again, this time to present Natana nipuna viswanatham , a varnam in Reethigowla, composed and choreographed by Nirmala Paniker. Just like her stage colleague, she too impressed with her dancing skills and her firm grip over abhinaya. Perfection, precision and an eye for detail made the elaborate display of sequences within the piece – ‘Kamadahana’ and ‘Palazhimathana’ – a delightful experience. A thillana in raga Kapi, presented by Sandra, was the concluding piece.
Mohiniyattam recital presented by Rashmi Menon on the fourth day of 'Mohiniyattam Festival' organised by Soorya India as part of the 40th edition of annual Soorya Festival in Thiruvananthapuram.
Rashmi Menon, a disciple of Kalamandalam Kshemavathy, began her recital with a Ganapathi sthuthi in ragamalika and Adi tala. The audience saw a spirited Rashmi dancing with confidence and energy, with guru Kshemavathy herself supporting her in nattuvangam.
The central piece of her recital was Devaki vilapam , a varnam composed in raga Bageshri, penned by Thrissur Mohan Kumar and set to music by Vayala Rajendran. Incidents connected to Krishna’s birth, from the view of Devaki was the theme, Rashmi excelled in role-play and managed to make the narratives engaging. However, the character of Devaki and her laments - as the title suggests - didn't get much of prominence.
The same could be said about Kuchela , that she presented towards the end. Ajitha hare jaya , a padam from Kuchelavrutham Kathakali, was used as the text. The dancer went on describing how good a charioteer was Krishna to Arjuna, by giving the right advice at a moment of his struggle. While she did well in presenting the ‘Gitopadesham’ episode, perhaps giving the character of Kuchela a little more significance would have made it even better. She also presented Sreechakraraja , a keerthanam in praise of the goddess Bhuvaneswari.
Mohiniyattam recital presented by Vidyamol Pradeep on the last day of 'Mohiniyattam Festival' organised by Soorya India as part of the 40th edition of annual Soorya Festival in Thiruvananthapuram.
Being a danseuse who had her training under Neena Prasad for more than a decade, expectations were certainly high for Vidyamol Pradeep. She began well with a cholkettu set to Misra Jathi Triputa tala, followed by Ardhanareeswara , a dance interpretation of Sankaracharya’s ashtakam, extolling the androgynous form of Shiva and Parvathy. However, she couldn’t keep it going for the rest of her recital. Natanalathika Madhavi , a varnam in raga Surutti, fell short of being impressive. Sakhi he, an Ashtapadi from Jayadeva's Gita Govindam set to Charukesi and a thillana in raga Behag formed the rest of the recital.
The five-day long festival was organised by Soorya India as part of the 40th edition of the annual Soorya Festival.
