Rasikas of Thrissur were treated to a Mohiniyattam recital by Delhi-based danseuse Jayaprabha Menon. ‘Thouryathrikam’ (Geetha, Vadya and Nritta) assumed singular dimensions in the one-hour-and-a-half performance. Sopana Sangeetham and its rhythm patterns in the compositions contributed considerably towards this. The credit for the concept of each item goes to Kavalam Narayana Panicker. The philosophical overtones in the compositions made the performance stand out. Kavalam himself had scored music for all the numbers except the Ashtapadi.
Jayaprabha opened with ‘Rasa Ganapathy’, in Kuntalavarali and Adi, a composition of Kavalam. The danseuse’s artistry was evident as she delineated all the attributes of Ganapathy. The evocative invocation helped the danseuse strike a rapport with the audience.
The music for Adi Sankara’s ‘Bhaja Govindam’ was in the Sopanam style. Set in Navarasam, Yamunakalyani and Nathanamakriya ragas, the rendition began with ‘Akaara’, characteristic of Sopana music. The rhythm used was Chempada. The histrionic deftness of the danseuse was revealed as she enacted the innate arrogance of human beings. Each stage of a man’s life, as delineated in the verses, were portrayed with attention to detail.
Perhaps the most striking among the five numbers presented in the recital was the composition of Sree Narayana Guru’s, ‘Naga tatvam’.
‘Aaadu paampe’ describes the awakening of Kundalini, the form of feminine shakti that lies dormant. The delineation of this yogic philosophy was an eloquent testimony of Jayaprabha’s choreographic ingenuity.
The recital had a theatrical start in which the dancer entered playing a ‘makudi’ (snake-charmer’s pipe). She spots the snake, which is led to watch the ‘Ananda nritta’ of Siva. The nritta energises the snake. It begins its dance and it gradually picks up tempo reaching a crescendo, depicting the blissful journey of the human soul to salvation. Composed in Punnagavarali and Adi, the choreography embraced a surfeit of rhythm syllables, which added to the elegance of the nritta.
While movements of Kathakali were adopted for tandava, they never transgressed the lasya boundaries of Mohiniyattam. Even as the expressive eyes marked the quintessential dexterity of the dancer’s abhinaya, the body’s movement coupled with hand movements were an exposition of her terpsichorean talent.
It was soon followed by strains of Ashtapadi, ‘Rathi sukha saare gathamabhi saare/ Madana manohara vesham….’ Only the sloka and the first two charanas of the eleventh Ashtapadi were presented. Here, the Sakhi coaxes Radha to meet Krishna who is waiting for her in the bower on the banks of the Yamuna. Alluring was the portrayal of the lines ‘Gopi peena payodhara marddhana chanchala karayuga saalee’. Music in Kedaragoula and Adi was set by Kavalam Padmanabhan.
‘Jeeva’, performed to rhythmic syllables, was a fitting finale to the recital. It depicted the voyage of a devotee towards the sanctum of her favourite deity in the typical style of Kerala percussion of ascending tempos and finally reaching a crescendo. Interestingly, this was executed in Marma tala, also belonging to the Sopanam genre that had 14 beats. The complex structure of the rare talam that embraced all the jaathis such as tisram, chaturasram and khandam was performed by the dancer with ease. This was proof enough of her rhythmic sensibility.
Jayaprabha had an excellent team of musicians who contributed in no small measure to make her performance memorable. The programme was organised under the auspices of Bharatham, a cultural organisaiton in Thrissur.
