Commendable group work
"Aiyigiri Nandhini" ... well choreographed.
PAYING HOMAGE TO the late Krishnaveni Lakshmanan of Kalakshetra, her daughter and disciple Gayatri Balagurunathan and V. Balagurunathan presented "Ayigiri Nandhini" under their home banner of the Krishnanjali Performing Group at the Bharata Kalakshetra auditorium at the advent of the New Year.
A sincere and bold effort, it brought out the choreographic skills of Gayatri, involving dancers trained by different teachers. The ensemble, which linked the five episodes from the stories of Devi, was well choreographied by Gayatri and the dancers, Vidyalakshmi, Lavanya, Shobitha, Sinduja, Anuja, Ashwini and Upasana, made their mentor proud by their neat renderings and group co-ordination.
The episodes were of Devi as Kayilai Nayaki, Mylai Nayaki, Madurai Meenakshi, Thirukkadaiyur Abhirami and Mysore Chamundeshwari, performed respectively by Aishwarya, Gayatri, Bhavya, Nandhini and Pavethra.
Aishwarya, trained by Anita Guha, was unable to portray the poise and dignity of Parvathi though her movements were neat. The veil hanging down at the back remained a hindrance to the dancer. Gayatri as Mylai Nayaki was petite with her neat dancing though one could see the strain on the face of the captain of the ship. The movements of the peacock were beautiful and thoughtfully fashioned.
Vivacious
Bhavya, a disciple of Sreekala Bharath, as Madurai Nayaki, stole the show with her vivacious dancing. One could see her sincerity and involvement by the way she handled the silambam and the sword. Nandhini, a student of Adyar Lakshman and Nagamani Srinivas, danced with poise and ιclat though her costume and crown made her look bulkier. Pavethra of Parvathy Ghantasala's Kalapradarshini, used her eyes well to enact the role of Chamundi but her dancing was lacklustre, needing to understand her basics.
But the dancer who added dignity and charm to the whole performance was Aadith Narayan as Shiva. With his towering personality, neat lines, excellent rhythm sense and subdued abhinaya, he proved to be a real asset to the production. Balagurunathan as the sutradhar was very good but his microphone kept playing hide and seek throughout. The final sequence of all the Devis revolving in a circle was well conceived by Gayatri. The aharyabhinaya could have been made suggestive discarding theatrical accessories of a mythological.
Prof. Va.Ve.Su's Lyrics were of high poetic value. The musical score was composed by the sensitive O. S. Arun but the singers — Sashidharan and Meera Ramesh could not bring out that sensitivity probably due to lack of rehearsals.
Ramesh Babu on the mridangam, as always, gave strength to the production. Neela Srinivas, T.K. Padmanabhan, Muthukumar and Bhavani Prasad provided able support. Merits and demerits apart, Gayatri and Balagurunathan deserve full compliments for bringing together dancers from various schools and presenting them along with their own bright students in this production.
C. V. CHANDRASHEKAR
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