Recreating age-old art
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Swapna Sundari staged the Andhra Bharatam of Devadasi tradition in memory of late poet Arudra.
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Photo: P.V. Sivakumar
Amazing agility Swapna Sundari executes a jati.
Recreating an ancient dance structure as it had existed then, calls for both courage and conviction; especially so, if such an art has its origin in the Devadasi tradition. An ardent revivalist of this art form with its periodical modifications, Swap
na Sundari chose to present the then regional variations within Andhra on the occasion of Telugu poet Arudra’s memorial concert at Ravindra Bharati. Though she rechristened this dance as Vilasini Natyam, it was originally called ‘Andhra Bharatam,’ as proclaimed by the poet who also was a culture historian.
Strictly adhering to the tradition of those times, Swapna Sundari opened with a ‘Pushpanjali’ in Vaishnava sampradayam to which the southern Andhra Devadasis are said to have belonged. This was followed by ‘Todaya
Mangalam’, a popular piece that paid salutation to Lord Vishnu. The well-laid out jatis were the dancer’s contribution to the song and dance. Swapna Sundari moved on to a lengthy, ancient ‘swarajati’in Husseini ragam supposed to have been presented by a court dancer for the king of Achyutapuram and dedicates itself to the Lord of that place. This winding shringara piece representing the
Madhyamakanditha naayika
had all the elaborate abhinaya with a sprinkling of vigorous jatis and could have held the audience to their seats but for lack of coordination between the orchestra.
Certain unique features in this style are worth a mention. For instance, the usual pataaka mudra adopted for the ‘muktaimpu/teermanam’ (salutation after a jati sequence) is replaced by the tripataka mudra. The dancer also sang certain lines between the dance rather to lend the authentic Devadasi flavour. Swapna Sundari sonorous voice was her asset.
Though the song had a lot of innuendos which may sound a little crass to the present day viewer, the artiste was able to balance the erotic without losing out on the rusticity of expression considering this was done by a court dancer!
Coming to the uttara/ thoorpu (north/east) Andhra tradition, she presented the popular Parijatam with the original ‘ganyam’ (adornments) which is similar to the ‘Bhama kalapam’ of Kuchipudi
tradition. The customary cloth screen (parda) with Vaishanava emblems unveil Satyabhama who does an introduction of herself to the audience. The sakhi-Madhavi (vocalist) just lends her voice and Satyabhama goes on with the epistle episode, etc. Here the shikara mudra is notably while executing the jatis. And the interlacing of folk to a fast beat seemed patchy and unable to merge with the ragas. Raghunandan on the nattuvangam, Chandar Rao on the vocal either lacked enough rehearsals with the artiste or were not able to keep in tune with her. Sudhakar on the veena was pronounced while Sreedharacharya on the mridangam and Shiva on the violin fell in place.
R.K.
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