Full of poise
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Shobana's dance was superb, but much of it was not Bahratanatyam.
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The dance performance of Shobana and her disciples was a mixed affair. After the invocation — "Jnanasabhesa Stotram" of the Vazhuvoor school — came Madurai Chockkanatha Kavuttuvam. `Anjali,' composed as swaras by violinists, Ganesh and Kumaresh, was neatly performed by disciples.
Shobana was full of poise and her interpretation of the lyric in "Kailasavasa," a ragamalika varnam in Malayalam, was very good. No doubt one should smile while dancing, but not while portraying pathos. The dancer smiled all through the lyrical line, "Madana Karangal" (depicting the pangs of separation). Radha Bhadri melodiously rendered the songs, to the violin accompaniment of Srinivasan. Percussion support came from Ramakrishnan and Kesavan. Revati Kumar did nattuvangam.
Shobana's students performed the Suddha Nruttam (chokkam of the ancient times) next. The movements in the Shobana solo, depicting Arjuna's dejection in the battlefield of Kurukshetra and Krishna's advice were superb. But, one question. From Suddha Nruttam to the Krishna-Arjuna samvadam, the dance was performed to Caribbean music, played from a disc. Was it an experiment? Was it not possible to compose music for these concepts in the Carnatic mode? Where is Vachika abhinaya? The pristine purity of Bharatanatyam should never be compromised. Luckily, this programme was billed only as `dance' and not as `Bharatanatyam.'
B. M. SUNDARAM
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