Seventy and going strong
LEELA VENKATARAMAN
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Gandharva Mahavidyalaya’s festival saw both seasoned and young dancers in excellent form.
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Photos: Deepak Mudgal
Rhythmic Alarmel Valli and (below) Arushi Mudgal in performance.
Marking 70 years of unstinting service to classical music, Gandharva Mahavidyalaya’s festival at the Kamani featured both music and dance. The institution has also had Odissi and Kathak training as part of its curriculum.
Now part of the faculty, the two young sisters, Monisha Nayak and Mou-Mala Nayak, presented independent Kathak recitals representing two different schools — with one as the disciple of Rajendra Gangani of the Jaipur gharana, and the other the student of Pandit Birju Maharaj of the Lucknow gharana. A breezy dancer with clean lines, Monika’s 10-and-a-half matra nritta in upaj, paran amad and jugalbandi with Yogesh Gangani the tabla artiste in full cry, was a delight. The dancer’s succinctly communicative Dhrupad in Kalavati “Moti to agamanire Jo khoje sohi pave” portrayed the will to succeed finding a way (using the analogy of Ekalavya’s story).
Mou Mala in her 13-matra nritta displayed all the neatness in Lucknow gharana profile, presenting some rare kavits, but spoilt her copybook by a seasonal Hori start rendered to badly taped music with poor singing — sticking out like a sore thumb on a platform where the best of classical music is being showcased.
Yamini Reddy’s Kuchipudi recital began with a Suryakant Tripathi ‘Nirala’ composition to Veenavadhini Saraswati, after which graciousness came a contrasting Narasimhavataram portrayal in Kamalamanohari set to Khanda Triputa tala. While the ferocity of man-lion Vishnu was well sustained by the dancer, an item very appropriately fitting in a dance drama production becomes somewhat repetitive in movement when presented as an independent item. The mood again changed to the romantic in the Krishna sabdam. The finale was a Swati Tirunal tillana in Dhanashri, performed in Yamini’s known rhythmic clarity. Kaushalya Reddy’s assertive nattuvangam and Sudha Raghuraman’s vocal support had Bhaskar Rao on mridangam and Annadorai on the violin.
Winsome abhinaya
Arushi Mudgal is developing into a charming and very proficient Odissi dancer. The clarity of her rhythm and movement came into full play in the Ardhanareeswaram item, choreographed for Sanjukta many years ago by Kelucharan Mohapatra with Raghunath Panigrahi’s music. With a beautifully centred body, Arushi holds freezes with total stillness. Ritu Samhar with Madhup Mudgal’s music sung by Arushi’s sister Sawani with Jitendra Kumar Swain’s evocative mardal accompaniment saw Arushi catching the beauty of spring, humming bees, water and birds with winsome abhinaya. Srinivas’s flute and Yaar Mohammad’s sitar made a wonderful twosome.
The Oriya song “Kede Chanda Janilo Sahi” dilating on little Krishna’s exploits was performed with great involvement by Arushi. The nritta conclusion choreographed by the dancer herself based on Madhup Mudgal’s composition in Sahana needed more work, to uniformly sustain audience interest.
Madhavi Mudgal was in great form starting with Mayadhar Mansingh’s composition on Natraj set to wonderful music in Natabhairav. What a few months back was just a dance movement shell by Madhavi of the poem has now blossomed to evolve into a delightful piece with variety of expressional and nritta flourishes. But sadly the instruments, playing together, drowned the singer’s voice and not a word of the sahitya could be heard. The same malady confronted the next Oriya song of Banamali “Dinena dekhibu” wherein Radha, while acknowledging Krishna’s flute as first drawing her to Krishna, is jealous of it threatening to destroy it by floating it down the river.
The slick pallavi based on Madhup Mudgal’s music was followed by one of the best renditions of the Gita Govind by Madhavi, wherein a verse from an ashtapadi was strung together to evoke the entire Radha/Krishna love saga. At last the lowered decibel level made the music and sahitya audible and Madhavi’s abhinaya had conviction.
Alarmel Valli’s Bharatanatyam has a flavour all its own. Valli’s Shakti vandana blended the “benign with the horrific” and the “sensual with the sublime” in an invocation to Devi in whom all creation is contained. The quintessential Tanjore Quartet pada varnam “Mohamana en meedu” had the nayika entreating Shiva not to torment her with his resistance, when nature’s woven magic was igniting her love pangs. Valli’s jaunty gait (nadai) response to jati syllables is her trade mark. Where she scores is in her impeccable rhythmic sense, her clean hand movements and a communicative ability which draws the audience to her. The best item was from old Tamil literature of Nattrinai, with a demonstrative couple being persuaded by village maidens to use a yonder bower with greater privacy, for their amorous dalliance. The Kalyani javali “Entati kuluke” was forcefully mimed.
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