Artistic celebration

Eclectic performances marked the dance and music fete at Sree Vadakkunnathan Temple held in connection with Sivarathri

March 14, 2019 10:47 am | Updated 10:48 am IST - Thrissur

Pallavi Krishnan’s Mohiniyattam at Sree Vadakkunnathan Temple

Pallavi Krishnan’s Mohiniyattam at Sree Vadakkunnathan Temple

The eight-day festival in connection with the Sivarathri celebrations at Sree Vadakkunnathan Temple, Thrissur, featured established names as well as young talents.

Pallavi Krishnan

The fete began with Mohiniyattam recital by Pallavi Krishnan. Composed in ragas Saveri, Reetigowla and Revathy, the dancer gave a picturesque narration of Siva, which was anchored on Sankaracharya’s Panchakshari stothram, ‘Nagendra haaraaya, trilokachanaya’. Her abhinaya was commendable as each line was interspersed with alluring nritta. The piece was based on the Kerala’s tala panchari of six beats, as against the conventional Carnatic ones.

Her choreographic skill was showcased in ‘Shivangi’, excerpted from Kalidasa’s Kumarasambhavam . The piece narrated Kamadeva’s incineration by Siva when he disturbs his penance with the help of his wife, Rathi and friend Vasantha, so that Siva can be united with Parvathy. Later, Siva accepts Parvathy as half his body.

Parvathy’s entry, her disenchantment, the description of Vasantha and the final union of Siva and Parvathy were well delineated by Pallavi. She wound up with an abhinaya piece. Vayalar Rama Varma’s lyrics from the film Chembarathi , ‘Ambadi thannilorunni’, received a neat portrayal of baby Krishna.

Sonu Satheeshkumar’s Kuchipudi recital at Sree Vadakkunnathan Temple

Sonu Satheeshkumar’s Kuchipudi recital at Sree Vadakkunnathan Temple

Sonu Satheeshkumar

The vibrancy of Kuchipudi was discernible in the recital by Sonu Satheeshkumar. She struck myriad poses of Siva in the opening sloka composed in Kapi. ‘Chandrasekharam’, a composition of the Bellary Brothers in praise of Siva, entailed varied adavus executed with a rapid fire of jatis.

Swathi Thirunal’s javali ‘Saramaina mateleutho’ in Behag and Roopakam depicted the Uthama Nayika who is devoted to the lord, despite his lack of concern for her. Sonu’s depiction of the nayika as manifestations of bhakthi and sringara was striking. The portrayal of Padmanabha at the end was impressive.

A composition of Tanjavur Sankara Iyer, ‘Ranjini mrudu pankaja lochini’ described the beauty of the female deities. The piece demonstrated how the ragas Ranjini, Sriranjini, Megharanjini and Janranjini blended with nritta. They were part of the lyrics of the composition. Delineation of ‘Samagana vinodini’ was enchanting. Kshetrayya’s padam, ‘Indedu vachithivira’ in Suruti portrayed a khanditha nayika.

Sonu was able to maintain the sthayi bhava of the character. The concluding thillana in Desh, in praise of Nataraja, was vivacious.

The repertoire as a whole would have been more attractive if the dancer had staged the javali as the last but one item, as against taking it immediately after the first. All pieces were choreographed by her guru, Deepa Narayanan Sashindran.

Sikkil Mala Chandrasekharan in concert

Sikkil Mala Chandrasekharan in concert

Sikkil Mala Chandrasekharan

Sikkil Mala Chandrasekharan’s flute recital was the only music concert at the festival. A demarcating feature of the concert was that she selected popular compositions. The opening number ‘Vathapi’ of Muthuswami Dikshitar in Hamsadwani had a surfeit of sangatis. She followed it up with three compositions of Tyagaraja — ‘Entharo Mhanubhavulu’ in Sree, ‘Siva Siva ena radha’ in Panthuvrali, prefixed with a short alap and ‘Nagumomu’ in Arabhi, the main raga. The elaboration of Arabhi was crisp and short. The manodharma of the flautist was more pronounced in this number. CS Anurup’s violin was delectable, especially during the tani that followed. Kovai Prakash on the mridangam and Kovai Suresh on the ghatam presented a tani in the right measure. Dayananda Saraswathy’s ‘Bho sambho Siva sambho’ in Revathy and Swathi’s ‘Viswesra Darshana’ in Sindhubhairavi were the concluding numbers.

Payal Ramchandani’s Kuchipudi performance at Sree Vadakkunnathan Temple

Payal Ramchandani’s Kuchipudi performance at Sree Vadakkunnathan Temple

Payal Ramchandani

Her Kuchipudi recital began with an invocation to Ganesha, a composition of Oothukkadu Venkata Subbaiyer. The Arabhi composition in Adi received multiple portrayals of the deity’s attributes. ‘Ardhanareeswara’ in ragamalika and talamalika could evoke gracefully the tandava and lasya of Siva and Parvathy respectively. Description of Siva with all his ornaments was vivid.

The sixth Ashtapadi, ‘Sakhi he kesimadhanamudaram’ rendered in Pilu and Misra chap described the plight of Radha who is desperate to meet Krishna. The narrative of the obstacles as she ventured to meet him in the woods in the past stood out.

‘Rusli Radha’, Payal’s own choreography was anchored on a Marathi poem by Rangeswar, the mainstay of which was a spat between Radha and Krishna. The poet explains how nature is withering away as a result of this. The peacocks have stopped their dance, the flowers are dying and the creepers on the trees are falling in despair. Chandani’s histrionic talent was in full bloom in this number. Music set to Misra Yaman suited the mood. ‘Aarati’, based on Purandaradasa’s composition on Dasavatara exhorted all the ‘lotus-faced women’ to seek the blessings of the Dasavatara. All the 10 incarnations were presented in an appealing manner.

She could have avoided performing the two Krishna-based numbers, Ashtapadi and Rusli Radha, in succession. Also, tarangam, so peculiar to Kuchipudi was conspicuous by its absence in the two recitals.

Vineeth’s Bharatanatyam performance at Sree Vadakkunnathan Temple

Vineeth’s Bharatanatyam performance at Sree Vadakkunnathan Temple

Vineeth

Bharatanatyam by actor Vineeth opened with Swami Haridas’ ‘Nandisa Kauthuvam’, an invocation to Nandi. The poorvaranga had an array of simple but alluring jatis which Vineeth presented in varied adavus. Portrayal of Nandi appeared repeatedly in the presentation. The highlight of his recital was Papanasam Sivan’s classic varnam in Nattakurinji, ‘Swamy nan undan adimai’. Choreographed by his guru Padma Subrahmanyam, the piece kept a laudable balance between nritta and nrithya. While poses of Siva were many, elaboration of ‘Nataraja sachidananda’ was remarkable. Sankaracharya’s ‘Siva Panchakshari’ was the last number. One felt Vineeth’s movements could have been more dynamic as was in the past.

Other performances at the fete were Bharatanatyam by Sruthy Jayan, Devi Chandana, Kalakshetra Theertha Poduval and Manju V Nair and Mohiniyattam by Eva Pavithran and Anumol. Rugmagada charitham Kathakali presented by Thrissur Kathakali Club had renowned artistes like Peesappilly Rajeevan and Kalamandalam Shanmukhan.

The festival was organised by Sree Vadakkunnathan Kshetra Upadesaka Samithy.

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