Sophistication at what cost?

Published - January 29, 2015 07:12 pm IST

Sandhya Raju Photo. M. Moorthy

Sandhya Raju Photo. M. Moorthy

Young, passionate dancers need to be nurtured as they are crucial in keeping our performing arts alive. Sri Sandhya Raju, a disciple of the Kuchipudi maestro, Vempati Chinna Satyam and ace-choreographer Kishore Mosalikanti, is one such dancer. Trained by the best, she teaches at her dance school Nishrinkala Dance Academy in Hyderabad.

Sandhya is fast maturing as a dancer. For one, she is loosening up on stage but more importantly, she is attempting brave and new choreography. Quite apart from the staging, which can be best described as a work-in-progress with room for more rhythmic sequences and better dramatic timing, was the idea behind it. ‘The Moment of Eternity,’ was not a narrative, but the capturing of a moment in time, when Siva’s eyes fell on Parvathy for the first time, when the cosmos stood still in suspended animation.

The soft musical score, mostly instrumental, by D.S.V. Sastry, played by Muthukumar (flute) and Sigamani (violin) and set off with mild, folksy rhythm by Guru Bharadwaj and with glorious melody from G. Srikanth (vocal), was beautifully reflective of the poetry in nature. Siva’s garden came alive as did Parvathy's devotion and Kama's mission. Succumbing to Kama’s love darts, Siva opens his eyes. Mesmerised by Parvathy’s beauty, he bursts into poetry expressing his admiration and sensuous intent (lyrics by Vedantam Ramalinga Sastry), when suddenly he turns angry that someone dared to disturb his penance. Maintaining Siva’s location before and after the outburst to give continuity to the action was a clever idea, as was the end with Siva’s anger, Parvathy’s distress and Kama’s fear coming through in quick succession. The big moment of Siva opening his eyes, was however, lost in the staging.

At this point, we need to pause. Today's Kuchipudi has come a long way from its roots- the Natya Mela dance tradition and the Yakshagana musical tradition in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh merging into the Kuchipudi Bhagavatamela under the guidance of Narayana Teertha and his disciple Siddhendra Yogi in the 17th or 18th century; the revolution in the 1950s when Guru Vedantam Lakshminarayana Sastry introduced the solo form, inducted women into the all-male bastion and added the technique of dancing on the brass-plate that is synonymous with Kuchipudi today.

Subsequently, Guru Vempati Chinna Satyam eliminated most folk elements and achieved classical status for the folk-oriented Kuchipudi and systematised its learning in tune with the Natya Shastra. He brought in more lines to the rounded style and introduced the mouthing of the sahitya or lyrics by the dancers. More recently, Kishore (nattuvangam), has in turn added a filmy touch to presentations with poses and other dramatic inputs.

In this context, when Sandhya aims for geometry, precision and sophistication in a style that has seen so many modifications, the basic characteristics of Kuchipudi as a lively, light-footed, rounded, graceful and dramatic-with a generous sprinkling of lokadharmi- performance art, are lost. The happy exuberance is what defines the style.

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