Sathyanarayana Raju, a disciple of gurus Narmada, Subhadra Prabhu and B. Bhanumathi, has been making a name for himself over the last few years. He is naturally talented with a good sense of timing and a flair for the dramatic and much was expected from his prime-time performance.
Despite some sterling abhinaya, a perceptible suppleness in the mandi and sarukkal adavus, clear footwork and a marathon pada varnam (‘Swami ninne korinanura,’ Ragamalika, rupaka, Ponniah Pillai), one was disappointed with the energy in the performance. At the cost of being gender biased, I think one looks forward to a certain level of energy from male dancers. Sathyanarayana’s nritta was heavy-footed and ground-bound and devoid of the jumps that are integral in execution.
The musical accompaniment on the other hand, was outstanding: experts such as D. S. Srivatsa (vocal) and Mahesh Swamy (flute) provided an inspirational soundscape. The musicians made room to showcase their melody much like a batsman at the crease. The sensitive mridangist, Lingaraju, reflected every nuance including a step that Sathanarayana executed on his toes in the varnam, while Shakuntala Prabhath (nattuvangam) was firm without being dominant.
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The repertoire was similarly faultless. He commenced with a Pushpanjali (Khatyotkanti, adi, Tirumalai Srinivas) and continued with a guru Narmada choreography (varnam). It was followed by a piece ostensibly on Rama, ‘Pitru vakya paripalanam’ (Ragamalika, D.S. Srivatsa), that turned out to be excerpts from the Ramayana, and a thillana (Brindavani, adi, M. Balamuralikrishna, choreography by Narmada).
The nayika bhava in the varnam was understated; Sathyanarayana as the nayika pining for Brihadeeshwara captured an intimate moment between the couple in the anupallavi, ‘Prema miraga Tanjapuri vaasa’- the idea was perhaps a bit filmy, but its enactment was soft and subtle. The entire Nandanar episode in the following line was enacted with minimal fuss, with the dancer seated on his haunches and using only his face and hand gestures.
The Rama piece stood out for both the evocative music (Abheri, Misra Sivaranjani, Kalyana Vasantham, adi) and the good acting as bits of Ahalya moksha, Sita Swayamvara, Manthara’s cunning and Dasaratha’s collapse were presented. The Manthara segment with its awe-inspiring opening swara passage tuned in Misra Sivaranjani, pictured the deceitful, hunch-backed woman who enters Kaikeyi's chambers with the inauspicious left leg and poisons the queen's mind, with amusing accuracy. But Dasaratha’s role required more histrionics as the king's happy frame of mind turns to shock and builds up to anger and profound sorrow when he hears Kaikeyi’s demands. Rama calmly accepts his father’s wishes, takes his blessings and walks away as the dirodhata nayaka (brave and magnanimous).
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Sathyanarayana dramatised the solemnity of the moment by walking from the back of the stage across to the front corner, staying silently on stage as the light faded thus underlining Rama's stoicism. Clever stuff this. The dancer was lively in the thillana, but it did not make up for the sluggishness noted earlier.