Young, up-and-coming Kuchipudi dancers, Yamini and Bhavana Reddy, are the daughters and disciples of Raja, Radha and Kausalya Reddy. They presented ‘Adviteeyam-Advaitam’, a thematic programme on the metaphysical debate between followers of Vishnu and Siva, choreographed by their gurus. The sisters performed for Kartik Fine Arts.
Their style of Kuchipudi has fast, sharp movements with plenty of challenging poses that require suppleness. This is a more streamlined version of the female-dominated solo style developed by Vedantam Lakshminarayana Shastri, as an off-shoot of the all-male Kuchipudi Bhagavata Mela.
The sisters are confident masters of the stage — impeccable timing, precision in every pose, perfection in execution and complete identification with the role portrayed. The coordination between music and dance was also word perfect.
Leading the orchestra was the lovely, husky-voiced Kausalya (nattuvanar), who had the support of expert musicians: D.V. Ravikanth (vocal), Sai Kumar (violin), Ananthakrishnan (flute) and Bhaskar Rao (mridangam).
‘Adviteeyam-Advaitam’ signifying the One Absolute Reality took the rasika through a visual journey of well-known songs. They started and ended on the note of oneness, commencing with an Annamacharya kriti, ‘Entha Mathramu’ (ragamalika), where the poet says of Venkateshwara, ‘You are whatever others imagine you to be.’
Siva and Vishnu were platformed through their leelas, such as the Siva Tandava (‘Aadenamma, Paras, Adi, Pallavi Doraiswamy Iyer) and the Kalinga Narthana (‘Kalinga Narthana’ tillana, Gambhira Nattai, Adi, Oothukadu Venkata Subbaiyer)
Both Siva and Vishnu come together in, ‘Natavara Taruni Saha Rasavilasa’ (Kannadagaula, Adi, Otthukadu Venkata Subbaiyer), in which the legend about Siva dressing up as a gopi to participate in Krishna’s raas-leela was delineated. They ended with a bhajan that equated Hari and Hara, ‘Shambho Mahadeva Sada Shiva.’
‘Adviteeyam...’ was a production with rich music, costumes and lighting. The solos were executed with intense concentration, however, more exciting visualisation could have heightened the impact.
The other dancers were: Sivani Kuruvada, Manaal Soni, Aditi and Apoorva.
