BANGALORE: The rasikas of dance had the wonderful opportunity of seeing the senior most dancers at their best during the Nrithya Vaibhava held at the Chowdiah Memorial Hall. Imposing in appearance and impressive in action Manju Bhargavi, renowned icon of Kuchipudi provided a pure and an unalloyed delight and brought the house down with her expressiveness and refined distinction between the look that summons and the look that banishes, the look that flirts and the one that expresses the helplessness. She beautifully profiled Bhama, the most beautiful heroine of the Bhama Kalapamu. It is a well-known fact that Bhama Kalapamu, created by Siddhendra Yogi who was one of the great pioneers of the Kuchipudi natya, is all about the egoistic, possessive and beautiful queen of Lord Krishna. Her fluctuating traits and eelings are admirably sketched in the work.
Sporting a long flowing plait, that symbolises Sathyabhama, Manju Bhargavi was an epitome of the racy Kuchipudi natyastyle in line and profile of dance while presenting an abridged version of the great work. The sweet and impactful lyrical inputs were artistically explored. The darus like the opening ‘Bhaamane Sathyabhamane’ and ‘Siggaayanamma’ were delineated with ease and positive effect. It would be no exaggeration to say that Manju became one with Sathyabhama. Her excellent abhinaya overshadowed the discrepancy in the musical support.
Colour and gaiety
A new stress of virtuoso nritta, on tayyari and on mathematical mutation and permutation of the tala drew the special attention of the lovers of dance along with the elegance of Kathak, artistry of the contemporary dance and the discipline in the group renditions in the program entitled Kathak ki ta thom executed by the seasoned dancer-couple Nirupama and Rajendra. Though the costumes seemed to be traditional to bizarre yielding mixed results Nirupama and Rajendra along with their disciples created a world of colour and gaiety. Niru as Shakuntala and Raju as Dushshantha stole the show.
In Utsaha, their tatkaars and nritta was lively. Their marvelous mastery over laya was reflected in the concluding item of Kathak ki ta thom.
Effortless
Young R Padmini, a disciple of Guru Radha Sridhar gave good account of herself in dealing with Mamavathu Saraswathi (Hindola) at Ravindra Kalakshetra.
The nritta portions in Jathiswara (Vasantha) and the Varna (Enithu anukampa, Kamavardhini, Dwaraki) were marked by effortless delivery and elegance.
Vigorous movements and graceful abhinaya made the Bho Shambho and Mogadochchi an artistic experience. Baagilanu teradu was on traditional lines and yet impressive.
Dhanasri tillana was the appropriate finale. Prasannakumar’s nattuvanga was taut. Ramesh Chadaga(vocal), Nataramurthy (violin), Chandrasekhar (mridanga), Karthik S (flute) and Karthik Datar (rhythm pads) were the able accompanists.
Competent
Bharatanatyam
There was a lot of competence, dedication and more of the spark of a genius that set experienced exponent of Bharatanatya Vani Ganapthi’s performance apart. One was happy to see vachika also in tact. The elasticity of her nritta, its accuracy and flow were quite out of the ordinary. She had an assortment of different compositions in lieu of the traditional format.
The Ganesha suprabhatha (Kannu tere, Dwaraki Krishnaswamy) was successfully used to describe the Lord of Obstacles. The Radha-Krishna abandon was portrayed through Rom jhoom ke bajayi, Madhuvanthi. Vigorous movements meaningfully adored the composition Mahadeva Shivashambho.
Niceties of vilambakala
Quiet and capable Guru Suma Nagesh presented her disciple Sharada in a neat Bharatanatya recital at the Kuvempu Kalakshetra. It was a delight to savour the niceties of vilambakala. Crisp trishra alarippu was followed by Khamach Jathiswara. The Shabda in praise of Krishna (ragamalika) was artistically portrayed by Sharada. Her nritta, nrithya and abhinaya in the Bhairavi varna (Mohamaman) underlined the traditional excellence.
Swami Vivekhananda’s popular bhajan (That ho nacho) was adapted abhinaya and Sharada enacted it triumphantly. The interspersed jathis had variety with matching aduvus. The Ashtapadi (Dheera sameere) brought out the abhinaya artistry of Sharada. Hamsanandi tillana was crisp.
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