Enchanting tales, her forte

With soft and graceful style, Gopika presented her new work ‘Bhama Kalapam,’ with élan.

Neat narration: Gopika Varma. Photo: S. S. Kumar

This year’s Nritya Choodamani awardee, Mohiniyattom dancer, Gopika Varma, has trained under stalwarts Kalyani Kuttyamma and Girija (Mohiniyattom), Kavalam Narayana Paniker (Sopana music) and Kalamandalam Krishnan Nair (Kathakali-abhinaya). She is a performer and a teacher and runs a school for Mohiniyattom called ‘Dasyam.’

Gopika opened with a ragamalika-talamalika Cholkattu (composed by vocalist Arun Gopinath) which was a slow unfurling of the soft and graceful dance style, identified by its trademark sways and ‘dip and lift’ bobbing. The dancer’s movements were graceful and painstaking, but she could be more flexible around the torso to get the deeper body

bends.

There was not much nritta that evening. Gopika had planned her recital around what she does best, and that is to enact stories. She conceptualised and premiered a new work, ‘Bhama Kalapam,’ a Kuchipudi favourite, that had been specially written in Malayalam (Sampreetha) and tuned in Sopana style (Arun) for Gopika.

Interesting characterisation

Sage Narada plays a prank with Krishna and his wives, Rukmini and Satyabhama, with the Parijatha flower. An annoyed Satyabhama tries to ‘weigh’ Krishna with her worldly possessions in the Tulabhara episode, and learns the value of devotion when Rukmini tilts the balance with one tulasi leaf. Gopika’s portrayals were sensitive and fresh, and it was interesting to see the dancer’s body language change with the characterisations. While Satyabhama stood tall and proud, even in a romantic scene with Krishna, Rukmini was always shy and retiring even when she is upset with Krishna. The Sopana music highlighted the mood and lyrics of the dramatic account.

Gopika’s well thought-out enactments were also in the Rasikapriya varnam in Adi talam, written and composed by Sampreetha and Arun respectively. The portrayals on the life of Lord Ayyappa, starting from His birth, His childhood with the Pandala Raja (Gopika is married to a descendant of the Pandala Raja) to Mahishi’s killing and the Sabarimala temple were handled with ease. Gopika’s abhinaya style, while effectively dramatic, needs to be more rooted in Mohiniyattom though.

The korvais in the varnam were composed by S. Nagarajan, who played the mridangam (three mridangams) that evening. There were some incidents like the Siva-Mohini scene and the one that portrays the viswaroopa darshana of Lord Ayyappa which were handled creatively by the instrumentalists, particularly the percussionists, including Kalamandalam Suresh Kumar (edakka). The other artists that evening were Rijesh Gopalakrishnan (violin), Sunil Kumar (flute) and Remya Ravi (nattuvangam).