The dance segment of the 10-day-long Soorya Dance and Music Festival 2014 in Thiruvananthapuram brought together dancers from various disciplines from all across the country.
Suman Sarawgi and troupe
A thematic group choreography titled ‘Leisem’, presented by Suman Sarawgi and her troupe, featured a collage of Manipuri classical dance, drum dance and martial arts. While the dancers could not do enough to make their performance profound, the drum dancers and the martial artistes impressed with their rapid rhythmic movements and acrobatic skills.
Lakshmi Gopalaswamy
Opening with a churnike in praise of the goddess of stage followed by Jatigadu, taken from Mysore bani, Lakshmi Gopalaswamy was evidently keen on bringing some freshness to her Bharatanatyam recital. Being more skilled in abhinaya, she was at her best in the role of a pestering but soft nayika in ‘Saramaina Mata Lentho...’ (Behag, Rupaka), a javali by Swati Tirunal, and in presenting ‘Jagadodharana...’, an oft-seen devaranama of Purandara Dasa. Footwork being evasive, she was unable to make that kind of an impression in the varnam ‘Maate Malayadvaja...’ (Kamas, Adi) or in the concluding Hamsanandi thillana.
Padma Subrahmanyam
Neither age nor fever could diminish her innate talent. Padma presented a pushpanjali varnam ‘Nee Indha Mayam... (Dhanyasi) and Annamacharya’s ‘Thandanana Ahi...’ while the rest of the slots were filled by her students – Mahati Kannan, Anugraha Sridhar and Vithya Arasu.
Orissa Dance Academy
The flawless execution of highly inventive choreography made the group Odissi performance of dancers from Orissa Dance Academy, mentored by Aruna Mohanty, a visual treat. Be it be the way they utilised the space, made those precisely aligned formations or danced those fast paced sequences, the dancers were on a high and maintained their momentum throughout. It all started with an action-packed mangalacharan based on Jayadeva’s ‘Sritha Kamala...’ in which the dancers wove a few stories of Lord Vishnu and Krishna. Pallavi in rag Khamoji, set to Ek tali, and the dance-drama exploring six rasas through different situations in the Ramayana added grandeur to the recital. A dance composition saluting the motherland, highlighting the cultural diversity, was awe-inspiring and a fitting finale to their brilliant performance.
Shobana
Shobana’s Bharatanatyam recital was performed to a packed audience.
Priyadarsini Govind
She began with a mallari blended with verses in praise of Garuda and Narayana. ‘Kannan mana nilayai thangame thangam...’, a ragamalika varnam choreographed by S.K. Rajarathnam Pillai, was the main piece in which Priyadarsini was seen as the lovelorn heroine, desperate to know why Krishna is not reciprocating her love. ‘Matada baradeno...’ - a javali (Kamas, Roopaka) had the nayika yearning for the attention of her beloved. For the next piece, she adopted the Sanskrit verse ‘Ramo Nama Babhuva...’ and portrayed mother Yashoda putting her son Lord Krishna to bed by telling the story of Rama. The sloka has a dramatic twist towards the end and Priyadarsini made it equally captivating through her able act. M. Balamuralikrishna’s Kadanakuthoohalam thillana was the concluding piece.
Manju Warrier
Manju Warrier instantly grabbed attention in her gold and saffron costume as she made her entry and presented the mallari (Gambheera Natta, Khanda Triputa) combined with Oothukkadu Venkatasubba Iyer’s ‘Ananda Narthana...’ (Natta, Adi) in praise of lord Ganesha. A few tales of Krishna was in store for the tarangam ‘Alokaye Sri Balakrishnam...’ (Ragamalika, Adi). The danseuse was at ease during the narration and the episode of Kubja turned out to be the best in the lot. She also displayed her skills in dancing on the brass plate towards the end of the piece. Manju continued playing the role of playful Krishna in Annamacharya’s ‘Bhavayami Gopalabalam...’ (Yamuna Kalyani, Khanda Chapu), but in a different costume this time.
She could have chosen another composition instead, as this piece made the recital monotonous and did not give her scope to explore the other rasas. Her Kuchipudi recital came to a close with Swati Tirunal’s Dhanasri thillana.
Jyotsna Jagannathan
On the concluding day of the festival, she made it a memorable Bharatanatyam recital for the rasikas. Be it the opening mallari (Gambheera Natta, Misra Triputa) or the jatis in the varnam ‘Innam En Manam...’ (Charukesi, Adi), her choreography was neat and her execution was flawless. Jyotsna’s abhinaya also had the finesse and, more importantly, she never lost her grip over her nayika, making those narratives evocative all the way. In the Thulsidas bhajan ‘Thumak Chalat Ramachandra...’ (Misra Kamas), Jyotsna efficaciously portrayed mother Kausalya fondling little Rama.
The danseuse could have added a javeli or a padam afterwards, setting the heroine in a different mood but she chose to wind up her recital with the Kuntalavarali thillana post scripted with ‘Asatoma Sadgamaya...’, the mantra of peace.
