With Vempati Chinna Satyam’s highly codified Kuchipudi reaching out to a host of talented dancers, the Yakshagana tradition of the dance form has become a rarity in the current cultural scenario. Sreelakshmy Govardhanan, disciple of Pasumarthy Rattaiah Sarma and Vyjayanthi Kashi is one of the few dancers who strive to sustain the style with unalloyed devotion and involvement. In a Kuchipudi recital held at TDM Hall in Kochi, Sreelakshmy yet again proved that she is fully committed to preserving and promoting this dance tradition without resorting to any compromise.
Sreelakshmy began her performance with an item common in Kuchipudi, ‘Ganesha Kauthuvam’. The dancer succinctly portrayed the traits of Lord Ganesha blending pure and expressional dance. She then moved on to ‘Mandodarisabdam’ that underscored the substance of the Yakshagana tradition. The piece started with the Devadasi praising the emperor, Krishna Devaraya. Then she narrated the story of Mandodari, once a frog and later turned into a beautiful lady.
Sreelakshmy unravelled the theme harmonising angika and satwikabhinayas. The visual metaphors surrounding the pond where Mandodari resided revealed the imaginative skills of the dancer. The rasikas among the audience could feel the breeze, the fish, the birds and the bees through the neatly executed hand gestures, body movements and delicate expressions of the dancer. Her switching from the beautiful Mandodari to the mighty Ravana and back was theatrical yet not loud. Convincing was her presentation of king Ravana flying off to Lanka with Mandodari.
The succeeding item was from the famous ‘Bhamakalapam’ of Saint Sidhendra Yogi. ‘Bhamakalapam’ hinges on vachikabhinaya (verbal acting) off and on. The dancer presented ‘Bhama Praveshadharavu’ in which she, as Satyabhama, dwells on her beauty and her privileged status among the 16,008 wives of Lord Krishna. Sreelakshmy later shifted the mood to viraholkhanditha as Satyabhama is agonised by her separation from Lord Krishna. In the second dharavu the dancer fluently depicted the shyness of Satyabhama who finds it difficult to tell in public the name of her husband as tradition warrants that noble women never speak out the name of their husbands openly. The character of Satyabhama introducing herself at the outset was in tune with the tradition of the Kuchipudi dance-dramas. This was a novel experience to most of the spectators.
The Tharangam performed as the finale was a marked departure from the ones usually taken from the ‘Krishnaleelatharangini’ of Saint Narayanatheertha. The dancer enacted the initial shloka that speaks of the nine different basic emotions known as the Navarasas. ‘Poothanamoksham’ formed the sanchari (transitory) segment of the item beginning with ‘Yasoda Nandakishora’. Dramatic was Sreelakshmy’s delineation of Poothana disguising as Lalitha, her entry to Ambadi and encounter with child Krishna. The final portion in which she used the brass-plate for dancing was impressive yet too short. Relatively faster tempos, a characteristic of Kuchipudi, have had an energising impact on the beholders.
Vijesh Vallath handled the Nattuvankam. While his jathi renditions were compelling, the bits of vachikabhinaya he did in Telugu were fascinating. Bijesh Krishna was the vocalist and his music matched the vachika, angika and satwikabhinaya of Sreelakshmy. Charudatt on the mridangam and Murali Narayanan on the flute contributed in no small measure to the aesthetic minutiae of the recital.
The event was organised by BEAM, Ernakulam.
