Young dancers excel
PROMISE Sneha performed the Kalyani varna with grace
This year's five-day Ankura-2005 dance festival held under the banner of the Karnataka Nritya Kala Parishath at Yavanika was a pointer to the status of Bharatanatya in the coming years. Though the general quality and standard of the young performers was up to the mark. It should be realised that the pada varna in Bharatanatya is not merely a nritta item. The combination of nritya and abhinaya should yield a rewarding experience. However, audience indiscipline, such as walking in at random is condemnable.
Aranya Narayan, a disciple of guru M.R. Krishnamurthy, upheld the tradition and traits of Kalakshetra of Rukmanidevi Arundale. In her performance, yearnings of a nayika through Tanjore Quartet's Shankarabharana varna on Lord Brihadeeshwara "Manavi chai konna", "Srivalli Devasenapathe" (Natabhairavi: addressed to the Lord Shanmuga), a Purandaradasa pada "Innudayabaarade" and a javali (Kalyani) vouched for her histrionic abilities. The Hindola tillana had varied nritta.
Mahalakshmi's negotiation of pure dance in the Todi varna ("Roopamu Joochi") was commendable, though one wished for a more perfect angashuddhi and ardhamandalis. Led by her guru Sheela Sridhar of Mysore on nattuvanga, Mahalakshmi depicted various Krishnaleelas with the lyrical support drawn from "Jaganmohanane Krishna". The Nathabhairavi tillana yielded mixed results.
The only male dancer of the festival Suryanarayanarao covered the entire stage in brisk movements and made the Charukeshi varna ("Innum en manam") a vibrant rendition. A few karanas, bhangis and charis which are made for a male dancer were presented with ease and poise. Dikshitar's "Sri Rama Saraswathi" was fruitfully delivered and the sketching of the attributes of Lakshmi, Saraswathi and Lalithe was artistic. The pancharagamalika tillana brought to the fore some fine aduvus and teermanas.
Sneha Devanandan, groomed by Ashok Kumar rendered the Kalyani varna with excellence. This was followed by the portrayal of Radha on the basis of Uttukkadu Venkatasubbaiyer's "Shringara rasollasa chature". The ragamalika tillana was delightful.
Roopasri was ably accompanied by her teacher Manjula Paramesh both on nattuvanga and vocal. Nattakuranji varna was met with success. But the depiction of a Purandaradasa pada "Jo jo" (Des) turned out to be redundant with a preface of Sanskrit shloka. Javali again in Khamach raga could have been avoided.
Kannika Kini's Ananda Tandava was done in a befitting manner, but there could have been more intensity and depth in presenting the virahotkhanthita nayika and also the nritta and nrithya portions of the Anandabhairavi varna.
M. SURYA PRASAD
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