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An American stumble
LEELA VENKATARAMAN
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While Sankriti, the programme staged in New York and repeated here to celebrate 60 years of Independence, dished out pedestrian fare, Kuchipudi-Bharatanatyam exponent Amrita Lahiri was in form.
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Photo: Deepak Mudgal
Deft work Amrita Lahiri performing at the HCL Concert Series in New Delhi.
It is strange that India with an over 2000 year historyshould celebrate 60 years of independent nationhood in New York through a cultural extravaganza, Sankriti. Composed under the guidance of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, the time allowed after the dec
ision of the government was conveyed, would seem to have been too short to allow anything but a production comprising only Delhi dancers. Surely a country’s heralding of such a significant landmark demanded a pan-Indian representation. The logic of just one show in the U.S. is again inexplicable, the event from all accounts being witnessed largely by the Indian immigrants and not eliciting even a brief mention in the local dailies.
Repeated at the Delhi’s Central park before a mammoth crowd, under the aegis of Sahitya Kala Parishad to mark the birthday of the Mahatma, Sankriti fell short of expectations. In an integration of classical dance forms, put together by dancer Madhavi Mudgal, conspicuously absent were Mohiniattam, Kuchipudi, and Sattriya. Madhavi’s choreographic vision notwithstanding, sticking out like a sore thumb, not fitting into the rest of the musical framework scored by Madhup Mudgal, the kingly art of Kathakali, in an apology for Narakasura Vadham suffered. Even Manipuri was flat. The fusion at the end lacked tidiness. Even making allowances for the limitations of the space, and the makeshift set and lights, and going by a few accounts of the stunning light facilities and impact in New York, diplomacy through art seems to come at very high cost.
Lahiri’s Madhurayan
A Kuchipudi-cum-Bharatanatyam dancer, Amrita Lahiri’s inner composure is reflected in her dancing body, the Kuchipudi training under several teachers rather than creating a confused technique resulting in her imbibing the best from her gurus – each adding a dimension to her dance. Performing at the India Habitat Centre, Amrita began with a Saraswati Vandana in Arabhi, choreographed by Kishor Musulikanthi. Swapnasundari’s choreography of a sequence from the Usha Parinayam, wherein the daughter of Banasura, princess Usha, awakening from love dreams with the romantic Aniruddha, is confused by the budding signs of adulthood and desire, had nothing skittish about the portrayal. Right from the Shankarabharanam start to the finale in Kapi ragam, Amrita’s dignified enactment retained grace and understatement.
The Kamakshi stuti in Kamalamanohari raga (dance composition by Vempati Chinnasatyam) showed the same introverted strength. Lending weight to the concert was the musical team from Kalakshetra, Sheejith Krishna’s nattuvangam and cymbal playing a class by itself with Jyotishmati’s soft singing, never overawing the dancer, combining melody with clarity of diction. Mahesh Somasundaram’s quiet mridangam mastery was another asset. Rounding off a major Kuchipudi recital with a brief Bharatanatyam finale is not a bright idea, for the kind of energy in the two dance forms is different and one sensed this in the starting stages of the Madhuvanti Tillana, the dancer’s body taking time to adjust to the austere torso and linear dimensions of Bharatanatyam. Throwing in one Padam like the Begada “Yarukkagilum Bhayama?” was neither here nor there. The margam has a logic in the sequential arrangement, and a lone genre presented in isolation is inconsequential.
Asavari’s performance
Asavari Pawar’s Kathak recital at Stein auditorium, with its informality seemed largely addressed to the students of the school she is teaching in. Dancing well within herself, Asawari, with a full-throated singer in Rajesh Panda and tabla support from Subhash Nirvan began with a prayer for peace, “Ek Deepak….” Familiar with dancing to London audiences, Asawari’s repertoire in terms of nritta substance has a different tone to the virtuosity and ambit of the Indian Kathak dancers.
In the ghazal, her joyous enthusiasm communicated though her very straight forward mukhabhinaya has yet to evolve in interpretative subtleties.
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Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
|
