Vibrant performance
T. K. GANAPATHY
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Italian Ileana Citaristi captured the hearts of the audience during her debut at Coimbatore recently.
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GENTLE GRACE: Ileana Citaristi.
She is tall, wiry, petite and poised. From the beginning to the end, serenity never left her. She is sprightly and vibrant on the stage.
With her form and supple movements, she danced her way to glory in her debut at the cotton city of Coimbatore. Yes, that was Ileana Citaristi.
In spite of the nattuvangam troupe not being able to make it to the venue due to floods in Andhra Pradesh, Ileana enthralled dance lovers, accompanied by the melodious voice of Ghanashyam Panda, Ramesh Das on the violin, Ravi Pradhan on the sitar and Kelucharan Mohapatra on the mardhala.
An Italian by birth, Ileana had her tutelage in Odissi dance style under guru Kelucharan Mohapatra besides the Chhau style of varied martial postures under the guidance of guru Hari Nayak.
Innovative
Her innovative choreography in the Chhau style of dance included Greek myths too, like The Wreck, Icarus and so on. Dressed in a green costume, Ileana presented abhinaya dance compositions in Odissi and Chhau under the auspices of G.V. Centre for Performing Arts at Mani High School.
Opening her recital with Mangal Charan, she effectively enacted the opening invocatory hymn of Jayadeva's Gita Govinda.
Her different kinds of movements as propitiating the Lord with flowers, destruction of Kalia snake and Ravana, and riding on Garuda were filled with gay abandon and verve.
In a distinctive pallavi item of Odissi dance in Khirvani raga set to Khemt taal, Ileana's dance, marked by pure nritta, flowed in harmony with lilting lyrical music. The rhythmic variations of the nritta-oriented item highlighted the unique character of the raga through bhava.
Intense
In the following abhinaya number, the artiste scored with an intense depiction of "Ahe Nila Saila," an Oriya song sung by Saalbaig in Arabhi raag set to Tripatha taal.
The poet afflicted with leprosy supplicates to Lord Jagannath for liberation.
The dancer's portrayal of the Lord's acts of mercy to Gajendra (when attacked by the crocodile), protection of Draupadi's modesty during her vastrapaharanam by the Kauravas and saving Prahlad from his demon-father, Hiranyakashipu captured the soul of the narration, and they were filled with rasanubhava.
In the succeeding number of ashtapadi, her depiction of the rapturous love of Radha to Krishna, their secret meeting and their experience of ecstatic moments at the height of passion compelled admiration.
The commingling of melody and sringara bhava created an experience of artistic beauty.
Subtle movements
After a short break for costume change, Ileana showcased her artistry in her choreography of Siva Nataraja of Mayurbhanji Chhau repertoire.
The cosmic dancer's Rudra thandava calls for plenty of subtle movements and agility.
The sharp movements explicating the qualities of Sathwa, Rajas and Tamas and their shift from one to the other to highlight Lord Siva's role as Creator, Preserver and Destroyer rightly complemented the dancer's gentle grace.
In sum, Ileana Citaristi showed her mettle in all the items she presented.
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