Numbers in mudhras
LEELA VENKATARAMAN
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Bharati Shivaji’s ‘Dashavataram’ and Ananda Shankar Jayant’s ‘Navarasa’ got a fresh treatment at the Yagnarama July Fest 2009.
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Photos: S.S. Kumar
EYE-CATCHING PRESENTATIONS: From Navarasa
It was the day of late Yagnaraman’s birth anniversary, when Mohiniyattom dancer Bharati Shivaji’s group creation, ‘Dashavataram,’ inaugurated ‘Sankhya,’ the festival of numbers, comprising the dance aspect of Yagn
araman July Fest 2009 mounted by Sri Krishna Gana Sabha.
Bharati’s dance visualisation of this much-rendered theme had a freshness and vivacity that enchanted the modestly filled auditorium. Stage spacing, group arrangements and dance narrative as rendered by five dancers led by Bharati and daughter Vijayalakshmi blended in a manner that was visually eye-catching and also dramatic.
The choreography drew inspiration from Kerala traditions such as Gita Govindam renditions in temples, and musical traditions such as Kottipati Seva (the musical offering at the sanctum to the accompaniment of edekka), Sopanam Sangeetam and Patayani.
Powerful images
The frozen images were theatrically powerful, and sequences such as Vamanavataram, Parasurama’s vengeance depicted to the accompaniment of the maddalam, Buddha’s ahimsa preaching and the concluding image of Kalki on a horse, were etched in memory.
Dashavataram.
Sadanam Radhakrishnan’s Sopanam style of singing provided the right fillip for the dance, the gait of the music matching the andolika grace of the dance. The well groomed dancers had expressive faces, and were able to switch roles with conviction.
The only drawback was when maddalam and edekka came together had the former drowning the musicality of the latter. These percussion instruments and also the veena, when given intervening spells of solo space in the music, bring out the individuality of the instrument better.
Traditional forms
Again emphasising the number 10 was another dance visualisation based on a Kerala tradition, Tiruvadira Kali, when women at this time of the year offer prayers to Lord Siva using 10 different types of flowers. This propitiation was through a Tyaani, a simple literary composition in eight lines having a metrical two-line structure paying obeisance to any deity of the Hindu pantheon.
Here again unlike the earlier rather repetitive version one had seen, was a lyrical item which despite the skeletal theme of women in a row offering flower after flower to the God, had not a dull moment. Glimpses of the Kaikottukali, one of the social female group traditions of Kerala, could be seen. The end was with the group frozen in an aesthetic angled formation – in a final homage to Chandramauli.
Different moods
The lyric with sahitya or myth has always provided fodder for abhinaya items evoking rasa.
‘Navarasa’, a group production conceived by Bharatanatyam dancer Ananda Shankar Jayant presented by Shankaranand Kalakshetra of Hyderabad, doing away with the conventional takeoff points of word or narrative for abhinaya, uses just Bharatanatyam movement to evoke mood. Along with seven other dancers, Ananda captured feelings through abstract dance.
Just as the masterful tread, leg stretches, veeshara adavus created a martial air, the half bent figure hesitantly moving forward cautiously shifting gaze from side to side, evoked fear, and the shrinking figures with hands held close to the body and feet circling the air finding it distasteful to ground them as if one were avoiding contact with a slush pool, built up a feel of revulsion (Bibhatsam). Finding individual movement vocabulary characteristic of a mood is not as tricky as building a whole sequence of events, evocative of a certain rasa. What the choreography had done was to think of an image or idea for each rasa and then work out adavus to communicate them, with the dancers relating to one another well. The male lead Prateesh, a Dhananjayan trained dancer, aided by seven strong dancers, performed with fine understanding and well rehearsed assurance, the production with each succeeding presentation growing in finish and ideas.
Creating the sense of merriment and fun (Hasya) was another well conceived sequence.
The accompanying music was a great help with the abstract score by Venu Madhav with ragas such as Latangi, Vasanta, Dvijavanti, Amritavarshini, Revati and Varali used to fine effect.
Again just raga alapana and solfa passages were used with Renuka Prasad providing zestful nattuvangam.
Costumes in white and red were wisely kept simple so as not to divert attention from movement per se. Movement for each rasa was introduced with a scarf of a particular colour signifying the mood – Ananda following what is prescribed in the Natya Sastra.
Words of praise
At the inaugural of the Yagnaraman July Fest 2009, V. Shankar, industrialist, and president, Shanmughananda Fine Arts, Mumbai, paid glowing tributes to Yagnaraman, whom he exemplified for his leadership and selfless service. 
