This is the concluding part of the review of the annual thematic dance festival held at Narada Gana Sabha. The first part was published last week.
The Dasa Parampara segment with Praveen as a last-minute entry partnering Jyotsna Jagannathan (substituting for Kirti Ramgopal), got reduced to a largely solo format. Resource scholar R.K.Sriramkumar mentioned five main composers —Sreepadaraya, whose Ugabhago verse spells the entire bhakti margam of the dasas, Vyasaraya, the guru of both Purandardasa (the sangeeta pitamaha), Kanakadasa (accepted as disciple despite belonging to a shepherd community) and Vadiraja, a Hayagriva devotee.
Avoiding complicated choreography, Dasapadas were strung into a tapestry of fleeting glimpses. The two dancers interpreted passages from Purandaradasa’s ‘Jagadhodharana,’ ‘Chikkavane Ivanu’ and ‘Maneolage ado Govinda’ (Praveen as father persuading little Krishna to play indoors), Kanakadasa’s ‘Bagilannu teredu’, when the deity turns to give the devotee, who is forbidden to enter the temple, a darshan and ‘Ninyako’, a nindastutti (Jyotsna’s intense interpretation missed the hasya rasa), ‘That thaka dimithat aditaha’ and ‘Brindavanadolu aaduvadu yare’ all strung together with Vyasaraya’s ‘Krishna nee begane baro’ as the refrain — with brief punctuational interventions of a solfa passage in Mayamalava gowla and Kadanakutoohalam.
Music with Hariprasad (vocal), Sreelata (nattuvangam), G.Vijayaraghavan (mridangam), Srilakshmai Venkataraman (violin) and Sruti Sagar (flute), did not lack proficiency.
Given their Kalakshetra dance drama background, and Sheejith Krishna’s expertise in nattuvangam, Anjana Anand and Girish Madhu interpreting Narayana Tirtha’s poetic ecstasy, made the effort a neat, integrated presentation. Research person Girija Ramaswamy’s Harikatha-like introduction made for an inspiring start.
Treated in five segments, the dance began with the ‘aapath samsara’ (Yatindra) mantras when stricken by stomach ache, following a boar (well visualised in the dance) as specified by an oracle, led Narayana Tirtha to Bhoopatiraja at Tirupati, the discomforts vanishing as he sang ‘Jaya Jaya Ramanatha’.
‘Balagopala Maam’ (Mohanam) visualised Neelakalebara Krishna, with butter stealing (‘Pashyata Pashyata Bhagavantam’) escapades. As the Gopi, Anjana’s interpretative elan had Girish playing the elusive Krishna. Girish as the messenger bee interacted with Anjana pining for the ‘pranavallabha.’ Overcoming the fire asura, Chanura and other demons in the third part, had Sheejith’s nattuvangam harnessing just mnemonic syllables to create climaxes, including when Rukmini is carried away.
Jiminesh (the male singer) combined with Jyotishmati (the female voice) in mellifluous singing. The ball play to Bilahari, Kamas tones as Rukmini pens her agitated love letter and the ‘Gopala meva daivatam’ refrain as Rukmini is prized away, with the exchange of garlands concluding with ‘Alokaye Rukmini Kalyana Gopalam’ (Kamboji) – all succinctly different from the widespread Kuchipudi Narayana Tirtha representation.
The triumphant duo of Medha Hari and Bhavajan Kumar in the Oothukadu Venkata Kavi segment, attracted a packed auditorium — also in anticipation of resource person Ravikiran’s address. Pointing to Oothukadu’s multi-faceted genius remaining within family confines, but for Needamangalm Krishnamurti Bhagavatar bringing out these songs, Ravikiran spoke of these compositions yielding details about the poet’s biography — the vaggayekarar mentioning historical apart from mythological figures in his works. Unlike single unconnected songs, this poet-musician, in an operatic fashion composed songs posing questions answered in other songs. Inspired by poets such as Valmiki and Tulsidas, Oothukkadu was the only south Indian composer with songs on Radha, being influenced by Jayadeva.
Delightfully synchronised and complementing each other, Medha Hari and Bhavajan Kumar right from the ‘Marakatha manimaya’ in Arabhi, performed with a high energy level, their immaculate leg extensions and electrifying movement through racy teermanams, fully exploiting the duet form. In the excellently choreographed varnam-like Keerawani ‘Balakanaka murali’, each metaphorical statement followed by a quicksilver teermanam, Krishna’s qualities and ecstatic flute play got vividly communicated.
As for the padams with the ‘Illai illai amma’(Mohanam), Krishna’s response to the complaining gopis (with back references to ‘Taye Yashoda’), Bhavajan Kumar’s varied mukhabhinaya mapped out the quickly changing attitudes. ‘Ivandan evandane’ in Vasantha, ‘Peshade Pongaladi’ in Madhyamawati followed quickly.
The concluding tour de force of the famous Kalinga Nartanam in Gambheera Nattai was imaginatively choreographed and performed with aplomb.
Sharing the honours were Jayashree Ramanathan’s nattuvangam, Hariprasad’s singing, Vedakrishnan’s mridangam, Sruti Sagar’s flute and not the least,Vijayaraghavan’s violin for his solo raga preludes.
Shijith Nambiar and Parvathy, after Damal Ramakrishnan’s impassioned Narayaneeyam introduction, provided the finale, interpreting salient features from the Narayana Bhattadri’s Guruvayoorappan prayer. Habitually performing as a duo, the dancer couple cashed in on their long experience. The suggestive sringara choreography for the Krishna/Gopi raas kreeda was a high point. Another bhaav-filled moment was the Krishna/Sudhama meeting, Shijith’s innovative solo suggesting two characters in an exchange. Parvathy’s expressional intensity brought alive the moment when Krishna reveals himself in full to Bhattadaripad — the ecstasy of bhakti culminating in the silence of the ‘paramananda sandoha lakshmeem’ prayer.
Barring the panchavadyam-like percussion prelude, Rajkumar Bharati’s music was well-rendered by vocalist Jiminesh. Clarity of Uday Sankar Lal’s nattuvangam, Bharadwaj on mridangam and violin and flute by Nandini and Sruti Sagar respectively combined well.
Just a symbolic flute, peacock feather painted in the centre of the backdrop, with daily changes of the side painting reflecting art from the regions of the poet concerned were aesthetic. The sound, however, during video projections proved unreliable.
