Clean nritta, fluid abhinaya
RUPA SRIKANTH
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With understanding Sangeeta Iswaran captured the emotions.
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Photos: K. N. Muralidharan
EXPRESSIVE: Sangeeta Iswaran
Sangeeta Iswaran's interest in dance is multi-dimensional. Besides being a long time student of Bharatanatyam under gurus Kalanidhi Narayanan, Savithri Jagannatha Rao and C.V.Chandrasekar, she is also a scholar with a special interest in the influence of Indian culture in South-East Asian dance and theatre. And she is a social activist. This background did not in anyway dilute the flavour of tradition in her programme for Karthik Fine Arts, where contemporary poetry was the only deviation. . The rest were old favourites that gurus Kalanidhi, seated in the first row, and Savithri, on the nattuvangam, had taught her.
Sangeeta's nritta is clean, abhinaya is fluid and there is maturity in her style. Yet one felt the outcome was a shade below expectations.
Effective portrayal
Sangeeta scored highest in the emotive sections. The interpretations in the Lathangi (Adi) composition by Andavan Pichai bespoke her intelligence. Her portrayal of a saddened woman and a materialistic heroine in `Ayyayo Vegatayane,' (Kshetrayya, Nadanamakriya) and in `Kadhavai Sathadi' (Atana), respectively, were effective, but one felt the intensity of sorrow could have been captured better in the former.
The most poignant moments of the programme belonged to the helpless girl child in Vairamuthu's poem (written for the NGO Desh) and tuned in ragamalika by vocalist Hariprasad. This was intelligently contrasted with the optimism of Rajaji's `Kurai Ondrum Illai' in ragamalika. The nritta portions in the varnam and in the tillana by T.N.Seshagopalan in Amirkalyani (Adi), could have done with more vibrancy and lightness of movement.
Hariprasad (vocal) with Kandadevi S. Vijayaraghavan on the violin gave a fine performance of melody and bhava while Guru Savithri (nattuvangam,) and Ramesh Babu (mridangam) anchored the dancer and the musicians with accurate and dignified rhythm.
Priyanka Chandrasekhar
The first impression of Priyanka Chandrasekhar is a very flattering one. This confident teenager from Bangalore, a disciple of Revathi Narasimhan, makes a pretty impressive picture on stage. Her carriage is dignified and mature, and the geometry of her arm movements is alluring. But on further observation, one realised that the technique is not that perfect after all. Priyanka's footwork is her greatest drawback. There is no araimandi and there is no vigour.
Priyanka navigated through the lilting Valachi ragam, Adi talam varnam, `Anname Aruginil Vaa' composed by Subbudu with well-practised ease guided by the soft, but controlled hand of her guru. She maintained the stayi bhava throughout getting into the mood well in advance during the arudi of the nritta portions itself.
The nritta consisted of simple rhythms set in fairly simple steps, the very simplicity adding charm. Unfortunately the vocalist, Balasubramanya Sharma, got carried away and overstepped his brief on many an occasion.
It was a tactical mistake to present four abhinaya pieces before the final tillana, Swati Tirunal (Dhanashree, Adi) in this case.
For one, it overshot the time limit, which is unwise. And overcrowding means minimal time spent on each. `Aananda Thandaveswara..' (Nagaswarawali, Adi) composed by Dwaraki Krishnaswamy, was the pick of the lot. Narasimha Murthy proved most tuneful on the flute during these bhava portions, while Sri Hari on the mridangam was consistently involved all evening.
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