Love, Betrayal and Fulfilment - two depictions

[Rsachi]

Last two days, Indiranagar Sangeetha Sabha presented two of the finest dance ensembles of India.
Surupa Sen and Bijoyini Satpathy of Nrityagram, the foremost practitioners of Odissi, with exquisite music and dance inspired by the likes of Kelucharan Mohapatra and Raghunath Panigrahi, dedicated to their art for over 30 years, performed on 12th. But for a nasty bright light in the auditorium and the pottering audience, the experience was blemishless. The dancers used exquisite recorded music, and lights were done by Nrityagram director Lynn Fernandes.

Yesterday, on 13th, Alarmel Valli, who should be called a one-woman industry of Bhartanatyam, with decades of reputation and hordes of admirers, presented Bharatanatyam with a splendid live orchestra, good lighting, a more decorous, full house.

N'gram had five items, the first a nritta-based musical tribute to Vasantha ritu. Then came four Astapadis, Dheera sameere, Yaahi Madhava, Charu Sheele, Kisalaya Shayane. The dancers performed as if possessed, depicting the beauty of spring, Yamuna, Brindavana, Radha's anguish at Krishna's betrayal, Krishna's contrition and supplication, and finally their union which they described as Samyog. Surupa lived the part of Radha, Bijoyini was divine as Krishna. Their grace, movement, geometrical patterns, incredible suppleness of posture, statuesque poses, facial expressions, bursts of joy, mudras, and a meditativeness in the final moments made the whole journey of love, betrayal and fulfilment so tangible. Undoubtedly few dancers in India today can pull off such a dignified, elevating, graceful depiction of a much-handled theme with freshness and joy so well. A perfect ten.

As Valli emphasised several times during her recital, every item had her stamp of creativity in lyric, music and movement. In my personal opinion, her confidence in her stardom is deserved. She is unbelievably sprightly after so many decades. She is as perfect in nritya as in laksya. She almost conducts the music with her dance. She presented again five items, the first a tribute to Nature, culled from Sanskrit verses of Kalidasa. Then a Varnam, showing physical love as well as devotion to Chidambara Nataraja. Then two pieces, one of extreme loneliness of a pining lover caught in a rustic setting with bothersome flies and the disturbing tinkle of a bull's brass bell in the desolate night. The second, an extremely unhappy woman who in the Saveri Javali takes her lover to task as he returns from another woman. Finally a Swara-lahari, a kind of joyous finale. One couldn't fault the musicians or the dancer on any score for execution or imagination. Like most Bharatanatyam music, I found a lack of vallinam mellinam, except in one very beautiful instance. But the musicians combined well, with the male vocalist bringing vigour AND melody, mridangam and nattuvangam showing great precision, the violin and mridangam sounds extremely melodious.

Two similar presentations, two great ensembles. Finally, I did feel that the Bharatanatyam lacked the meditative, devotional quality the Odissi had. It was more 'mundane' perhaps, despite Valli's exquisite stage presence, costume and grace.

No disrespect to Bharatanatyam's foremost exponent of our times, but love is such a tough theme anyway. It may have more to do with the Bharatanatyam idiom, as I had a similar feeling watching Priyadarshini Govind and Mythili Prakash too, recently.

(Somehow I was reminded of Saidapet.)

[rajeshnat]

(Somehow I was reminded of Saidapet.)

What does that mean?

[kssr]

Thanks for the nice review. All Indian art forms whether it is Sanskrit/Tamil literature, sangeetham or naatyam, very few can understand and appreciate the content. We are able to however instinctively appreciate them based on our upbringing and personal taste. Personally, when it comes to dance my understanding aspect is meagre. I am able to appreciate themes connected with love when young artists perform and those connected with bhakthi when senior artists perform. When it is the reverse, it is amusing in the former and hollow in the latter case. Of course age is irrelavant in Kathakali which in most cases is "unpredictable but many"

Indiranagar is doing a good job promoting music and dance in a well balanced way.

In your comparison between the two artists, I could also feel the same situation in south and north indian forms in both music and dance. The north indian Hindustani/ odissi concentrate on the "art" side wheras the south indian carnatic and Bharatanatyam concentrate on the "science" portion.

[rshankar]

Sachi - thank you for the review!
For me, it is the opposite - I love the spareness of the bharatanATyam idiom - and the nATyadharmi abhinaya (with notable exceptions, of course) - where a glance, a rise of a single eyebrow, a downturned angle of the mouth, or a flick of the wrist conveys so much meaning, and Smt. Valli's abhinaya is entirely nATyadharmi....but you may be correct in that oDissi is more lAsya, which even the most feminine of bharatanATyam dancers can't achieve, and this lAsya may lend itself more for love/vAtsalya - for instance, vAtsalya in the idiom of mOhiniATTam is something else entirely!

KSSR - I agree with your view on the portrayal of love/bhakti, but would like to say that it is not age (or youth) that makes the themes believable, but rather, the dancer's physical form (which is related to, but not synonymous with, age)...And I have to pay tribute to present day dancers like Smts. Valli, Priyadarshini, Rama etc. for really treating us to visually pleasing performances.

Rajesh - I think 'Saidapet' is supposed to convey 'commonplace' or 'mundane'

[Rsachi]

Ravi,
Yes, you got it.
Kathakali and Mohiniattam have taken abhinaya to the next level...
I found in the past I could relate to the abhinaya of two dancers who chose themes well and displayed enormous emotive mastery: Krishnaveni and Vyjayantimala. I also found long back memorable moments in some Padma items. Sorry never saw Bala or Kamala at their best.
I think it's the best when they make you forget what idiom, what school, and who the dancer is...you are lost in the mood and the character they depict.
I am no expert, but ready with opinions!
Thx
Sachi R