The pillared mandapam with an ornate door in the background at the prakaram of the Kapaliswarar temple, where a devout air permeated the space, coupled with a receptive audience, was an ideal venue for the classical arts. It was in this setting that Amrita Lahiri and her group performed their Kuchipudi dance titled ‘Sharanam,’ as part of the Panguni music and dance festival.
Adi Sankara’s ‘Shivashtakam,’ tuned by Sudha Raghuraman in ragamalika, was an auspicious start to the evening, that followed the path of Bhakti margam.
Soft blue lighting (by Venkatesh) set the mood for this invocatory number and five dancers visualised the attributes of Siva, making interesting formations in varied permutations and combinations, in groups of twos and threes.
Amrita then performed a jatiswaram in Amritavarshini, choreographed by Swapnasundari. The swaras were used beautifully, bringing out the essence of the lilting raga and the choreography creatively incorporated the movements to align to the swara patterns. The resultant visualisation was a depiction of falling raindrops, very poetic.
Dikshitar’s ‘Kanchadalayadakshi,’ choreographed by Vempati Chinna Statyam, was the centrepiece of the show danced by Amrita and Shobha Korambil. The beauty of the physical form of the Devi was depicted in detail, interspersed with stories such as the burning of Manmatha, and it was heartening to see the synchrony of movements between the two dancers.
Shobha’s abhinaya skills came to the fore in her rendition of Periasami Thooran’s ‘Kaliyuga Varadan’ in Brindavana Saranga, Adi. The depiction of the peacock’s gait in varied ways and the story of Karthikeya’s birth were appealing, but an elongated depiction of Soorapadman’s vadam was an unnecessary addition.
No performance of Kuchipudi is complete without Tharangam. So a Tharangam from Narayana Tirtha’s ‘Krishna Leela Tharangini’ was presented by Amrita and Shobha. Once again, the noteworthy synchrony of talam and movements between the two on brass plates was evident.
Earlier, three young dancers -- Bhairavi Venkatesh, Simran Shivkumar and Mridula Shivakumar -- making their debut on stage, joined the two dancers to portray the five elements, five facets of Siva and the story of Bhaghiratha, which were interestingly choreographed by Kishore Mosalikanti.
Shrikanth’s evocative singing gained stature in the serene ambience, aided by Muthukumar (flute), Ram Shankar Babu (mridangam) and Guru Bharadwaj (cymbals). The commendable aspect of this show was the good coordination between the dancers revealing their technical skills.
More emphasis on the emotional content by way of intense abhinaya segments would have enhanced the show and elevated it to the realm of bhakti bhava.
