W hen P.T.Narendran appeared on stage, one was instantly reminded of the tall, broad-shouldered and personable young Rama in the Kalakshetra dance dramas. It is not easy to shake off those memories as his tenure as a star member of the Kalakshetra repertory and as Rama in particular, lasted about 28 years. With so much exposure to the stage and stage-craft, Narendran has a head start in his new avatar as a choreographer and a Bharatanatyam soloist.
Narendran’s performance titled, ‘Ananda- the Ultimate Bliss,’ for Kalakshetra Foundation’s festival on choreographic works, ‘Suvritti – Traversing Creative Energies,’ was a collection of his visualisations, performed solo. By his own admission, his creative energies are spontaneous and is the cumulative effect of his observations and feelings. The foundation for ‘Ananda...’ was bhakti and the endless joy that comes with it. He believes in structuring a programme as a arohanam-avarohanam, in which you start on a slow, quiet note, build up the tempo and bring it back again to quietude.
Verses from Sri Purusha Sukta brought in a meditative mood before the varnam (‘Devar munivar,’ Shanmukhapriya, Adi, Lalgudi Jayaraman). Without ado, he launched into the varnam keeping the mood in the trikala jati with poses of Srinivasa in the vilamba kala, nritta in the madhyama kala and the avataras in the dhurita kala. Not that introducing friezes is a new concept, it is just that it carried the devotional fervour through. Narendran has a matter-of-fact way of enacting the sancharis — he is brief, not dramatic.
Every jati composition (Narendran) in the varnam resonated as simple rhyming sollus, while all the time holding gati-bedams within. The ‘Tham thadeem’ jati in 5s and 4s and the pancha-nadai jati before the mukthayi swaras were particularly striking. Venkatakrishnan’s (nattuvangam) enunciation was masterly, adding to the impact.
Narendran has the same matter-of-fact manner in tackling nritta; he has a fount of energy to draw upon. Everything happened back to back with no breaks. There is of course space to polish technique, especially in emphasising the araimandi.
It was the Navarasa sloka, ‘Sringaaram kshitinandini’ from Sri Rama Karnaamritham that one had reservations about. Narendran had re-arranged the order of presentation, so that it would feel like a story narration. While there is room for multiple interpretations for such short Sanskrit phrases, the interpretation of ‘bhayam aghe’ could be fear of committing adharma and that of ‘Shringaaram kshitinandini’ would imply Rama falling in love watching Sita playing in the garden before the swayamvara or walking in the forest during the vanavasa.
The orchestra with K. Hariprasad (vocal) in fine form was a delight. He was supported by the melodious duo, T. Sashidhar (flute) and Ananthanarayanan (veena), and together, they created an inspiring base for the dancer. Prof. Anil Kumar (mridangam) aided the time-keeping with committed support and subtle sound effects.
Narendran finished with a Siva Stuthi presenting the Siva Tandava and a meditative sloka on Siva, ‘Shivam Shivakaram Shantham.’
This dynamic dancer is a welcome addition to the pantheon of good, male dancers in the country.
