I would like to give a very short, crisp note about the Dance Ballets, I happened to see during December Music and Dance season 2008.
Nowadays December season is witnessing Dance Ballets in the place of Solo dances by veterans.
The three of them which I have chosen are again choreographed by veterans and performed by their school students.
I start with Mrs. Chitra Visweswaran’s Chidambaram Academy of Performing Arts which presented ‘Nirantharaha’ meaning ‘the eternal cycle’.
It was told that old Tamil literature speaks of seven stages of woman. Nirantharaha depicts the seven stages of woman which go like this, the girl baby, the little girl, the sweet sixteen, the young woman, the mother, the widow and the released soul. As madam Chitra puts it ‘every moment that goes is a death; and every moment that is born is birth; thus the eternal cycle goes on’. Mrs. Chitra Visweswaran took the lead role and performed effortlessly, deftly accompanied by her students.
The first song of Tagore’s Gitanjali was translated into Tamil and there were many more of his compositions taken for research and formed the source, says Mrs.Chitra. Late Visweswaran had scored the music for the Ballet.
The Music, that had direct influence of Tagore’s Gitanjali , and scored by a santoor artiste, had the melody and softness which prevailed throughout the drama. Odissi style was very neatly adopted in Bharathanatyam, fitting to the melody of the songs. The costume of the dancers very much resembled that of odissi.
The next is ‘Pada Kavitha Pithamaha’ by Bharathanjali Trust headed by Mrs. Anitha Guha.Around 25 students of all stature from 2’ to 5’ took part in the dance ballet, based on the compositions of Annamacharya, mostly on Lord Venkateswara and Goddess Alamelumanga. The resource person was Sri. Pappu Venugopala Rao and choreography, madam Anitha. She is adept in handling students of different age groups and the audience always remains spell bound by their performance.
Pada Kavitha Pithamaha was another treat that way, with a special mention to be made about the Bhramotsavam scenes, where the Lord with his two consorts parade in different Vahanas on all 10 days.
In dance circle when we speak about spectacular, the one name that flashes is Smt. Krishnakumari Narendran of Abhinaya Natyalaya. This year Smt Nrithya Jagannathan and other students of madam Krishnakumari presented ‘Siva Swaroopa Thandava Lahari’ a celebration of Shiva and his multiple facets. The verses were taken from Sanskrit and Tamil poems like Thiruvachagam, Thirumandiram, Sivanandalahari, Shivapanchakshara Stotram, Siva Thandava Stotram and Charana Sringarahita Nataraja Stotram.
The two special items were the story of Ravana who sings Siva Thandava Stotram to get himself released from the crush by Mount Kailash and that of Padanjali, who composes Charana Sringarahita Nataraja Stotram on seeing Lord Nataraja’s Ananda Thandavam at Chidambaram.
Mrs. Nrithya Jagannathan was versatile in presenting the different facets of the cosmic dancer Lord Shiva.
The settings and lightings play a vital role in Krishnakumari’s dance dramas and invariably steal the heart of audience. These two aspects were exceptionally displayed in this production.
Krishnakumari Narendran is always passionate about her students, and Nrithya, her pet student for the last 25 years, learns, teaches and renders nattuvangam under Krishnakumari. She is also proud that her students do well in their schools/collages with a few pursuing professional courses like engineering/IT/medicine. She was thankful to the artiste who played Ravana, a student from abroad (Sri Lanka, I believe) who air dashed to Chennai, learnt in few days and danced. Of course her performance was quite laudable.
I have given a small tribute to the three great dance gurus of current time, who have established themselves by mere hardwork and untiring effort. It requires lot of patience, understanding and adjustment to plan, do research, choreograph, coordinate, rehearse and finally present a production with heterogeneous artistes and cope with their other important commitments in social life. Women dance gurus of our time are doing it extremely well.
I am happy to release this article on the eve of ‘International Women’s Day’, i.e.,March 8 th and dedicate to the women population all over the world who are adept in multitasking.
I am proud to be a woman and wish all ladies a very happy Women’s Day.
No comments:
Post a Comment