Keeping tradition alive offshore

Anjana Dasu's Bharatanatyam recital was true to tradition.

Anjana Dasu

For all those sagging spirits that are crest-fallen seeing youngsters gyrating to film music in the name of dance, there dawned a ray of hope from our Indian diaspora.

The urge to maintain our traditions on foreign soil in order to preserve our cultural identity is the guiding factor for many NRI youngsters to take up classical music and dance. Anjana Dasu's Bharatanatyam recital is a case in point.

This young dancer, who is in India for Christmas vacation, gave a solo presentation in ‘margam' which was like a reiteration of our rich heritage in art and culture.

Ananda Nartana Ganapatim had the dancer swaying and miming like the elephant headed God who is the remover of all hurdles.

Her briefing prior to each piece she chose to present, showed her knowledge of the genre she was handling.

The hasthabhinaya and the heavy rocking footwork depicted the symbol and gait of Ganapati with clarity in expression and discipline in movement. Every avarthanam, every move, be it a quick swirl or a lengthy adavu, was absolutely in tune to the beat. Nothing was loosely structured and there was no scope for a slipshod presentation.

The varnam, a Thanjavur quartet composition, in Anandabhairavi (

Sakhiye inda velayil ) seemed tailor-made for dance. Her footwork was well laid out to the jatis as she scaled through the three cycles of speed.

The adavus to pure percussion were pronounced and there was clarity in the sancharis. The teermanam at one point which closed the cycle with a tala like hastabhinaya was very appealing. Depicting the peacock (mayil) in varied stances had a special effect on the viewers. The last verse which was full of lyrical beauty was further enhanced by Anjana's definition.

The varnam and the concluding tillana in Mohana Kalyani established the artiste as one of calibre and someone to watch out.

On the abhinaya front, however, the dancer needs to mature in order to internalise and portray the emotions required of the lyric. Facial expressions were more put on than natural. The popular javali ( Apadooru ku lonaithine ) was handled with gestures and moves but what actually was required was to transfer them seamlessly to the face and eyes and say it all!

The Ardhanareeswara stotram depicting the male and female principle, so crucial to creation, was depicted with apt abhinaya and footwork but the potency was not up to the mark.

A rigorous dance to a more fast track song with ragas evoking the veera and shringara or karunya rasa would have brought out the intrinsic power of this verse.

Mavalla kaadamma , a Chittoor Subramanya Pillai composition in Mand, also went the way of the javali. But for minute lapses, Anjana came out as an artiste of excellence. The performance was held at PS Telugu University auditorium.