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Still new, still inspirational

LEELA VENKATARAMAN

Ananda Shankar Jayant's Panchatantra with mixed flavours of Kathakali, Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi was a rejuvenating experience.

FOREVER REFRESHING Tales of friendship, courage, leadership, vile and guile, Panchatantra dance performance in New Delhi, included all.

Of dancer-choreographer Ananda Shankar Jayant's many dance productions, her latest "Dancing Tales - Panchatantra" is by far the most enjoyable and aesthetically integrated in terms of dance calibre, music, stage layout and costumes. Tales for all seasons and for all ages, the Panchatantra stories regale, while underlining messages particularly relevant for an age at the moral crossroads.

Selecting danceable tales illustrating "friendship, courage and quick wittedness, foolishness, vile and guile, leadership and freedom", Ananda under her institution Shankaranand Kalakshetra has produced a clean winner - peppy, and full of humour. What must have been kinetically challenging, through a blend of movements, conventional and original, exuding the mixed flavours of Kathakali, Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi has evolved a dance collage, where ensemble scenes are most convincing in aesthetic terms and in creating typical characters.

Prema Ramamurthy's brilliantly evocative music relying entirely on melody without sahitya has provided the ideal foundation for movement designing, and with the combined choreographic inputs from Ananda, Narendra Kumar and Tiruchelvam, what has emerged is a production well-knit and enjoyable.

An entire forest scene rendered in typical Bharatanatyam movements to a Mallari, grieving deer to the moving strains of Charukesi, Tillanas in Kedar and Jog capturing movements of birds in flight, monkeys prancing to Western music notes and Kadanakutoohalam melody, ragas like Rasikapriya and Kanakangi cleverly used for scenes of crawling crocodiles and tortoises - here is a production where music composer and dance-visualiser have met and worked with one mind. And what fine costuming sense by designer Ganesh Nallari! The simple clothes do not hamper movement and are highly suggestive of different animals and birds. There is a delightful little sringar exchange between the male and female crocodile pair, the swishing tails with a corrugated look used Kuchipudi fashion like a plait in the hand, the "Rajadhiraja" announcement of the Lion King of the forest in typical Kuchipudi convention, the Kathakali ferocity to portray the lion - all showing how orthodox classical dance images can in a changed context speak just as effectively if intelligently used. It was a very wise move to include male guest artistes Rajesh, Prateesh, Sibi and Premnath, all excellent performers, to ensure a uniformly high level of dancing. Even though all the installed paraphernalia for lighting did not work , the evening was an unqualified success. It was a good feeling to hear the chuckles of kids in the audience.

Young Kathak talent

At the Habitat, Puneeta Sharma, a disciple of Jaikishen Maharaj took the stage in a Kathak recital. Her 12 matra chautal nritta, immediately after the "Kasturi Tilakam" invocation showed a bright, fluent dancer, moving with grace and fair technical command. The footwork was sure, except for one wobbly freeze on the sama and having to adjust the speed in between, thanks to having started at a fast pace. The swing of the body, general bearing and weight balancing spoke of good training. Not afraid to work on new themes, the dancer's "Aurat Sulaktheehui " had some bright patches though the voice dialogue superimposed on the music was plainly overdone, the plethora of words distracting, apart from making the dance insignificant. Body movement would have sufficed most of the time. Shakeel Ahmed (tabla), Ghanashyam Sisodia (sarod), Induprakash (harmonium and vocal) and Namata (parhant) did the honours as accompanying artistes.

Another young Kathak aspirant, a student of Lucknow's Arjun Misra, took the IIC stage. Epitome of grace and technical ability, Gunjan Khare needs more of the inner silence and `thehrao'. Her Paran Amad, tatkar, ladi were all very correct though the fleeting `thaat' section called for more internalisation of rhythm. The overly flower bedecked plait was too fussy.

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