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Many shades of creativity

LEELA VENKATARAMAN

The week just gone by witnessed outstanding dance performances from Uma Sharma and the redoubtable Rama Vaidyanathan, besides Harish Gangani's rhythmic flair.

DAZZLING Veteran Kathak exponent Uma Sharma.

Reminding art lovers that Kathak is more than the sum total of its gloriously rich rhythmic canvas playing with time in all its fractional intervals, Uma Sharma's recital at the Sri Satya Sai auditorium evoked the old world, now fading, glory of the dance in interpreting the poetic word. Performing under the aegis of her own Bharatiya Sangeet Sadan which mounted the Swami Haridas Sangeet and Nritya Mahotsava, Uma's recital while centred round her old favourites of Vallabhacharya's Madhurashtakam and Meera's "Wari Wari Shyam" was ever fresh in its unstructured on-the-spot poetic interpretation. The interventions based on Raskhan's description of Krishna's mukut ("Chiraki Chatakhlatak navakundalke") and the countlessly nuanced eye glances and head movements (grace of the Shambhu Maharaj training) going into the danced expression glowed with the dancer's poetic sensitivity. Meera's besotted love for Krishna along with the piercingly jealous curiosity about the nayika with whom he dallied "Kaun Sakhi sanga tum Rang Rate" portrayed with Uma's usual abhinaya flair, was appreciated by the likes of Girija Devi in the packed auditorium. Interpreting Ghalib, Meera, Kaifi Azmi, Harivansh Rai Bachhan, Surdas, Tulsidas or Kalidas, Uma has few equals in abhinaya. The interspersed nritta passages were rendered to Mubarak Khan's tabla. Uma Sharma's highly researched Nritya Ras in the Brindavan Natawari Nritya tradition, as presented by students needed more group discipline in dance and music. Imran Khan and Jwala Prasad provided vocal support.

Rama scintillates

Bharatanatyam dancer Rama Vaidyanathan.

Rama Vaidyanathan's Bharatanatyam in its joyous vitality is audience-friendly with an ability to marry the dance to the performance context, without diluting one whit the classical anchoring. Performing the first evening for the "City Stories" of Katha Asia International Utsav, at the Habitat Centre, Rama's dance performance profiled two cities Brindavan and Benares, both tailored to riverine culture being fed by the Jamuna and the Ganga respectively. Predictably abounding in images from the Krishna myth, Brindavan, based on Swati Tirunal's "Jamuna Kinare Pyare Kadamb" in raga Bhimpalasi, concluding with tagged-on bits of the Dhanashree Tillana, in all the Krishna/Gopi cavorting was full of joy. More reflectively varied were the Benares images described in Brijendra Rahi's verses set to G.S. Rajan's score in Misra Kalyan, evocatively sung by Vidya Srinivasan. The early morning poetic musings at the Ganga bank "Jeevan Ka Hai Darpan Ganga" to the frenetic mid-day activities round the river, to the moon-reflecting placid evening waters with lovers' quickening desires, saw moods portrayed sensitively. The concluding joy of the Behag Tillana imaging in the last segment the leap and flow of the Ganga, followed by a salutation to the amritdhari river, were all imaginatively conceived. It was a dancer in fine fettle right from the Pushpanjali and the intricate arithmetic of the Mayur Allaripu with Lalgudi Ganesh's taut nattuvangam.

Fine rhythmic control

Taking the Stein auditorium stage in Habitat's HCL Concert Series was Harish Gangani, son of the Jaipur gharana's late Guru Kundanlal Gangani, trained under his older brother Rajendra Gangani. The central part in the Teen tala nritta component showed all the rhythmic virtuosity and neat line whether in a Jailalji Paran, Sunderprasad's Ganesh Paran or in his own guru's `Dhina Dhi Dhina" arrangement. The upaj and tatkar improvisations with Akram Khan's tabla accompaniment providing special fillip, showed fine laya control. The rhythmic control was further proven in the rare 10-3/4 matra tala (unnamed) imbibed from a holy guru, the theka in a measured one to seven count with a sudden changed cadence of a fast five-count `takatakita' repeated three times, very unusual in its flow. Upaj, Parans and Ginti bandishes were rendered to perfect tala, with Vijay Parihar's nagma on the harmonium very suited to the gait and arrangement of bols. What the dancer lacks is that still centre, cutting out the restless quality of the dance. And, the bhajan as token abhinaya offered little beyond outward movement and gesture.

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