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Colours of a fete: Hyderabad sisters Lalitha and Haripriya

Four stories from the text were choreographed and transformed into a theatrical-dance expression.

Ananda Shankar Jayant and her troupe

Dancers recreated the forest with props, light and superb performances. The lyric-free demonstration coupled with suitable music and narration was effective in communicating the allegories with clarity.

The crocodile’s greed for the monkey’s heart and the flight of the birds in unison from the hunters’ trap were all staged with perfect coordination and mastery of expression. While the male dancers brought to life ferocious lions and mischievous monkeys, the female dancers were all agility and grace as deer and doves.

The dance-drama on the first day was followed by a concert on the second day. Hyderabad sisters Lalitha and Haripriya charmed music lovers with their manodharma. Their music had the stamp of the Althur bhani.

The concert, which started with ‘Sreemahaganapathe’ in Natta, included melodic songs such as ‘Brochevarevarura’ in Khamas and ‘Sankarasreegiri nadaprabho’ in Hamsanandi.

The Poorvakalyani alaapana of Haripriya had patterned phrases. The neraval at ‘Paripoorna nishkalanka’ for the kriti ‘Jnanamusagarada’ fared well with its tricky starts and rhythm. Lalitha was marvellous in her Kharaharapriya alaapana with its lightning brigas and exposition in the high ranges for the kriti ‘Pakkalanilabadi.’

Up-and-coming danseuse Mythili Prakash’s Bharatanatyam performance on the third day had a misram alarippu followed by the famous Khamas varnam ‘Mathe’ by Muthayya Bhagavathar. While expanding the episode on ‘Mahishasuramardini,’ Mythili introduced the sthrothram ‘Ayigiri nandini,’ portraying the grandeur and valour of the goddess. The dancer displayed her style of abhinaya again in ‘Thaye Yasoda.’

The nagaswaram duo Sheikh Mehboob Subhani and Kelishabi Mehboob piped their way into the audience’s hearts with ‘Pahiparvatha nandini’ in Arabhi raga. The couple followed a druta madhyamakala in their kriti rendition.

Kelishabi’s Abheri alaapana had brisk brigas ending in abrupt stops and the kriti chosen was Mysore Vasudevachar’s ‘Bhajare Manasa.’ In the same vein, for the Tyagaraja kriti ‘Etavunara,’ the Kalyani alaapana too had brigas, which bore semblance to the swift taans in Hindustani khayal alaaps.

Rajendra Gangani’s troupe performed on the final day of the festival. Rajendra could not perform, but he gave vocal accompaniment and directed the dancers. Most of the pieces were nritta oriented. As ‘Taalmala’ unfolded various rhythmic patterns and footwork in Japtaal, dhamar and teental came.

Sheikh Mehboob Subhani and Kelishabi Mehboob

The popular Rajasthani ‘Mand’ ‘Kesariya balma’ was a good attempt at abhinaya and ‘Mehfil e tarang’ brought out the courtly grandeur of the dance with Urdu poetry.

On all three days, there was a slot for young dancing talent, and sopana sangeetham performed by Ambalappuzha Vijayakumar.

Mythili Prakash were some of the performers who participated in Dharani Kalotsav.

Aishwarya Naranaswamy’s Bharatanatyam performance was characterised by clarity of postures and mudras in her varnam.

Shanti Bijibal’s Mohiniyattam had a Dwijavanti varnam composed by the late Hyderali.

She depicted a lovelorn nayika. The festival was organised by Dharani society.

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