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OOZING GRACE Prerana Shrimali.

With the open sky above, amidst the verdant setting of the fountain lawns, performances during the IIC Experience, now an annual cultural landmark to reckon with, can be unique. Unlike its solitary status in most other festivals, dance here shares performance space with other art forms in a holistic canvas. The Monasteries of Rinchen Zangpo in Tibet and India Photo exhibition, the uplifting music of T.M. Krishna particularly evoked glimpses of that transcendental state all arts aspire for.

Before a packed lawn, Nrityagram Ensemble’s Odissi ‘Ansh’ began with Namaskriti, an invocation to Lord Ganesha presented by the whole group comprising Bijayini Satpathy and choreographer Surupa Sen. The starting odd wobbling one-legged freeze notwithstanding, the meticulously rehearsed group exhibited excellent body control and discipline. Glimpses of Ganesha’s extraordinary birth and revival with the surrogate elephant head, his lovable qualities and his power as an obstacle remover were all communicated in the neat rendition. Raghunath Panigrahi’s musical scores rendered by a coordinated music team was a feature. ‘Aakriti’, where movement with slow beginnings blossom in variety and complexity, while cleverly conceived and designed through Surupa Sen’s highly imaginative choreographic ideas, in the broad chauka and leg extensions and leaps, had not enough built around the tribhanga (sans the hip deflection), the other central concern of the Odissi form.

Living far from other Odissi influences, Nrityagram has been evolving an approach of its own to the dance, which is all to the good, provided it does not unconsciously patent an individualistic style dimming the core identity in the extensions.

Superimposed rhythmic patterns woven into the musical refrain, the constant surprise element in the choreographic geometry of floor coverage, and the incredible dancing synchronicity were noteworthy features. The best of the recital was Shiva-Ashtakam, visualising the contrasting attitudes of the supreme ascetic/lover Siva the cosmic dancer, benevolent and awe inspiring presiding over the Universe with the five elements. The collectively evoked mood was by the trio of Surupa, Bijayini and Pavithra.

The Gita Govinda ending was not the best idea. Right from the English translation of the verses read out as introduction, the feel of sublime divine/secular union going beyond the physical, was not conveyed. The Ashtapadi “Dheera Sameere” rendered in group form was without focus. Surupa’s “Yamihe kamiha sharanam” had quietude. “Kishalaya shayana tale” by both Surupa and Bijayini again remained at the purely physical level.

Prerana Shrimali gave a Kathak recital, the like of which one rarely experiences in dance today. From the starting point using a Dhrupad composition in Chautala “Bansidhara-Pinakadhara” in raga Sohoni, it was Kathak in a class of its own. Instead of the usual tandava/lasya tones embodied in the male and female, Prerana used two male deities Krishna and Siva to bring out qualities of softness and beauty on the one hand and vigour and power on the other. What was amazing was the way both attitudes were incorporated in the same sequences instead of being visualised in segregated compartments. And through it all the nritta interludes were characterised by the dancer’s immaculate feel for rhythm and its intricacies.

The masterpiece of the recital was “The Witness of Water” where Prerana’s creativity was in full flow. Invoking the blessings of the rain god and water in all its manifestations small and big through Parjanya Sukta and Ap Sukta in the Rig Veda, the dancer wove a whole saga round water as sustainer all life through Persian Tarana, traditional Bols and Kavits of Kathak. Amazing was the dance flow like water, with not one sharp-edged moment, images from daily life and from nature appearing and disappearing in silken smoothness. The internalised abhinaya, never overdone had the same ease as the nritta, which in Prerana’s case becomes a natural expression and never a gimmick in virtuosity. The permutations improvised round the six-matra footwork at the beginning, and later the misra combination in the teentala part, in the unusual shift in syllabic accenting and clarity were unmatched.

The “Na Dhin Dhin Na” woven into the dance, the Parans, the metaphor of the “Pranapakheru” (soul as a flying bird held tight in this life till it flies away from the mortal coil with death, as ashes are consigned to the waters) in the dance, were moments one will long remember. The aesthetically conceived music in Pooryadhanashree, Malkauns and Rageshri in Samirullaah Khan’s vocal support lacked bhav through modulation and cues were missed though Fateh Singh Gangani’s tabla and Prerana’s own brilliant form, held the recital.

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