Bhushan’s Academy of Performing Arts, Mysore, conducted Purusha Bhushana, an event of classical dance concerts exclusively committed to bring into lime light male dancers of appreciable learning, with an exhaustive repertoire.
Young duo, Vasanth Kiran and Vijay Shekar presented Kuchipudi. Focus of the concert was Thyagaraja’s pancharatna Kriti, “Jagadaanandakaaraka” (Naata). They presented it with every commitment that spoke of their confidence. If there was a sense of incompleteness, it was the absence of a live music ensemble.
Consequently, this shortcoming posed natural restrictions on spontaneity, which is the sine qua non in the process of assessing and establishing any artiste’s proficiency. Stage activities appeared mechanical – it was a faithful representation of what they had rehearsed.
Moreover, the pace of the audio track was not favourable for graceful completion of movements, and as such, many of the passages lost their crispness and appeared to have performed in a hurry. The concert comprised a short tharanga too.
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Vilasini Natyam was another performance that created interest in the spectators, and it was by Sanjay Kumar Joshi. The dance form is rich in delicate movements (laasya) which the dancer’s competence displayed with winning softness and appeal.
An overview of the concert revealed a content chiefly of a descriptive nature; the emotive content was missing though. Whereas one of the pallavis described the morning rituals observed in the temple of Ranganathaswami, the other elaborated on the evening rituals.
Two compositions, “Nanda Nandana Govinda” and “Bruhi Mukundethi” (Sadashiva Brahmendra), were other highlights of the concert. The show depended on pre-recorded audio track, and therefore could only provide an incomplete glimpse of the art form.
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Rakesh, another young dancer presented Bharatanatya on the same evening. He was graceful and expressive. Within the constraints posed by pre-recorded audio track, he proved himself an adept in abhinaya, which came to the fore in Kshetrayya’s pada: the dancer’s expressions convincingly displayed Rama’s pangs of separation.
The concert included a tillana (Hindola) of Tiru Gokarna Iyer.
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Odissi by Madulitha Mohapatra and her team was the best of the four, for the near completion or perfection the dancers achieved in placing before the spectators nuances of the art form. By virtue of the inherent grace nested in the dance form, merits of the performance glossed over much of the perceptible limitations posed by pre-recorded audio tracks.
The artistes materialised the grandeur of Odissi at all levels. Particularly in genres like Bajoji Sahi Baajore and Yaahi Madhava: melting expressions in consonance with the nature of the characters under interpretation irrefragably proved the artistes’ commitment in upholding the gravity of the art form they were professing.
