‘Shivaloga Nathanai Kandu,’ the name of Gopalakrishna Bharati’s Nandanar Charitram kriti in Mayamalavagowla and the name of the temple in Tiruppungur where Nandikeswara moved to allow Nandanar a glimpse of Siva, was the title of dancer-teacher-choreographer Shobana’s ensemble Bharatanatyam recital.
With movement choreography that defied predictability and teased the viewer, dramatic konakkol and sollus rendered at break-neck speed, sharp timing, excellent coordination and good music, the show was a blitzkrieg of sound and motion. Shobana and her students from Kalarpana turned a margam into a colourful, fast-paced tableau that was aesthetically mounted and timed to perfection. There was drama everywhere, be it in the recitation of the korvai or in the treatment of the descriptive word captured in a series of deft friezes.
In this session of fireworks, there was, however, one rider; that one must not wear glasses or peer into the nitty-gritty of the composition of adavus or the completeness of every adavu performed. Because that is not what you come to see Shobana’s dance for. Her style is visually exciting and beautiful, only at the macro level.
Shobana and her students (Srividya, Seethalakshmi, Revathi Kumar, Anuroopita, Chitra, Asha and the Mallari dancers- Aparajita, Shivani, Archana, Tulasi) were spot-on in terms of timing and role play. Complicated choreography requires high precision in execution. Even as the dancers took on fluid roles -- once Siva, once a bhaktha, once a rishi and once a snake -- they were dramatic yet restrained. Some of them were versatile. Revathi’s rendition of Thevaram (‘Thodudaiya Seviyan’) and Srividya’s nattuvangam were both outstanding.
As the younger dancers filled the stage in the opening Mallari (khanda jathi triputa), Shobana set the ball rolling with a solo rhythmic conversation between the nimble mridangist (Ramakrishnan) reciting the konakkol and the dancer’s bells, the latter responding in slower speeds at times and with totally different beats at others.
The varnam ‘Kailayavasa’ (ragamalika, Rupaka, Dr. Hrydaya) included stories of Dakshayani’s Swayamvara, the Tharukavanam rishis who wanted to kill the ‘handsome mendicant’ Siva and Dakshayani’s self immolation. Sophisticated imagery accompanied every tale.
Nandanar’s trilogy with ‘Vazhi Maraittirukkude’ (Nattakurinji), ‘Pullai Pirandalum’ (viruttam- Nadanamakriya), ‘Ayye Mettakadinam’ (Punnagavarali, Chenchurutti) and ‘Sivaloka Nathane Kandu’ (Mayamalavagowla) was not as effective. Shobana was expressive but she got lost in the abstract spiritual content.
The wonderful support group consisted of Radha Badri (vocal), Suma Mani (nattuvangam), Venkatasubramaniam (violin) and Taake (morsing). The grand finale was an Anandabhairavi thillana (misra chapu, Swati Tirunal).
