Beguiling ballet
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The ballet deserves all kudos for being precise, focussed and innovative.
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PHOTOS: K. GAJENDRAN
OH LORD! Maddali Usha Gayatri as Yashoda gave a convincing performance along with the support of "Ashtagopikas".
Danseuse Maddali Usha Gayatri seems to be sensitive to the pulse of the Hyderabadi audience in keeping her dance drama Yashoda Krishna very focused and precise. Though culled out of the Bhagavatam, it touched upon Lord Krishna's infancy and childhood with his foster parents Yashoda and Nanda, with emphasis on the mother-child relationship. The choreography (by Usha Gayatri) incorporated minor but significant details like ahaarya (costume) in the Yadava style, to the number eight (Gopikas), aesthetics in group movements and real sized Krishna's (infant, toddler and child), which gave the ballet an air of authenticity.
Daring innovation
Kudos to Usha Gayatri who also donned the role of Yashoda for taking the risk of introducing absolute real life babies to represent Krishna in different stages and extract a response from them to her directions (especially the toddler and the child artistes). It was a wonderful sight to watch the toddler take unsteady steps towards his mother (here Yashoda) and the robust (the butter thief) child Krishna prance around in play with Yashoda. She looked convincing in the role of Yashoda, with emotion dominating most part of the ballet than dance, which was justifiable. The pravesha daruvulu could have been a little more prominent in terms of footwork to compensate the delineation of Yashoda's character through the rest of the dance drama. Certain sequences between the child Krishna and Yashoda were quite impressive more in artistic terms than emotional.
The revelation of Lord Krishna's birth by Sage Narada (Shanti Sharma) to the monk Garg (Sundari) could have been narrated backstage along with certain developments in the story given the potential of the dancers. Shanti Sharma as Narada wore a sphinx like expression and was unable to do any justice to the all-pervading yet colourful character. Among the other characters, Srivani Bhavani as Rohini was noticeable enough but her sermon on Bhakti tattva to the gopikas did not carry its full import.
The Ashta Gopikas dance was marked more by easy movements rather than any strong footwork but certain pieces like the dandiya (kolatam), the procession of musicians, which stood out. Some dancers in the group were obviously not up to the mark, hence glaring disparities in synch.
Realistic expressions
Talent can be discerned even in cluster dances- Sharavari priya and Srikaustubha displayed good body kinetics and realistic expressions even in cameo roles.
The decked cradle descending from the roof of the stage as Yashoda rocks her baby, the revelation of the universe by the divine Krishna to his mother were presented with a distinct beauty. Srivalli Sharma's vocal was loud and clear with melody in the lyrics like the lullaby and also Palukavela Balakrishna - Pasumarthy Seshubabu's nattuavangam was feeble as was the veena by Sudhakar. It was surprising to see the tabla (Srikanth) more pronounced than the mridangam (Sridharacharya). Venkatesh on the flute made his presence felt. The Yashoda Krishna ballet was staged under the aegis of Chaitanya Art Theatres at Ravindra Bharati in Hyderabad recently.
RANEE KUMAR
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