Kerala Sangeeta Nataka Akademi celebrated Mohiniyattam in their annual festival ‘Mohini Nrityathi’, which will also be held in 10 states in India. The Thiruvananthapuram edition of ‘Mohini Nrityathi’, organised in association with Soorya, featured four Mohiniyattam performers.
Gopika Varma
Beginning with a cholkettu piece, her central piece, ‘Dasyam’, had stories of Lord Krishna that had a connection to Kerala, like that of Vilvamangalam Swami, Kurooramma and Mahabali. The concept of the Lord himself being a dasa of his devotees was well imagined and deftly acted out in these narratives. The popular Thiruvathira song ‘Choothu Kalichidenam…’ was presented as a dialogue between Krishna and Rugmini over a game of dice. It had some lighter moments and was put together neatly.
The next piece, however, was a let down. A text adapted from Madhurashtakam was stretched too much. A Mand thillana by Lalgudi G. Jayaraman was the final piece. Being the only one who used a live orchestra in the festival, Gopika’s performance was enhanced by the ample support given by her team led by vocalist Arun Gopinath.
Deepti Omchery Bhalla
Deepti Omchery Bhalla brought in a lot of variety in her recital by using indigenous raga and tala combinations in her choreography. A short Ganesa stuti was presented as the opening piece and then she moved on to ‘Parinamathi Yamini...’, a composition in raga Puraneeru, wherein she illustrated familiar images of a village morning.
‘Dundubhi Natyam’, a unique dance piece set to Raja Vidyadhara tala, depicted a different dimension of the repertoire by creating charming movements that enchanted the audience. A dhandakam in praise of Lord Guruvayurappan was presented next. Unfortunately there was some confusion towards the end and the recital came to an abrupt end with ‘Thava Virahe…’, an Ashtapadi from Jayadeva’s ‘Gita Govindam’. The composition, which seemed inspired from the ‘kottippadi seva’ style of rendering Ashtapadis, also had syllables for which the danseuse explored the dancing possibilities along with the expressive part.
Irinjalakuda Krishnakumar
It is very rare to find male dancers in Mohiniyattam and Irinjalakuda Krishnakumar is a noted performer among them. He prefers the same costume used by ladies rather than going for a male version of it. He began with a cholkettu in ragamalika. Sugathakumari’s popular poem ‘Krishna Nee Enne Ariyilla...’ was presented from the perspective of a gopi who did little of those things that gopis used to do to get the attention of Krishna. Krishnakumar then presented the story of Manjula, an ardent devotee of Lord Guruvayurappan, in the varnam set to raga Saramukhi, Adi tala. Krishnakumar did well in both the nritha and nrithya aspects here.
The emotions of a mother towards her child came alive in Irayimman Thampi’s famous lullaby ‘Omana Thingal...’, aptly set to raga Neelambari. Swati Tirunal’s bhajan ‘Aaj Aaye Shaam Mohan...’ in Yamuna Kalyani was the final piece and the dancer presented a gopi dreaming of Krishna coming to her while she got ready to welcome him.
Anusri S. Nair
On the final day of the fete, it was Anusri S. Nair who took the stage. She opened with ‘Thuyilunarthu’, presenting Lord Ganesha dealing with a romantic dispute between his parents. She presented a cholkettu piece in ragamalika as the next item and then moved on to the main piece based on the story of Kuchela, using the padam ‘Ajithahare...’ in Sree raga from ‘Kuchelavrutham’ play in Kathakali as the text. While she did her best in the acting part of the incorporated narratives, the way they were interpreted went a bit off at times and the bhakthi aspect hardly got the gravity that it could have.
The joy of a spring evening came alive in the next padam in raga Vasantha and Swati Tirunal’s Dhanasri thillana was then presented in all its splendour, bringing the curtain down on her performance and the fete.
