YOUNG dancers who exhibit a certain degree of involvement and commitment to the art form, are always a pleasure to watch, and one such artiste is Deepa Raghavan, a disciple of Padma Shri Kanaka Srinivasan, the ace dancer from Delhi.
Deepa Raghavan’s performance for Brahma Gana Sabha was marked by her nonchalant execution of, and familiarity with the ideals of Bharathanatyam.
Beginning her performance with Siddhi Vinayagam in raga Mohana Kalyani, an invocation to Lord Ganesha, she went on to present Charukesi raga varnam, a composition of Lalgudi Jayaraman. Without doubt she was able to sustain the mood, where in the nayika requests Krishna not to feign ignorance, of her feeling and to come and relieve her of the feeling. I felt the chosen Varnam is too simple with uncomplicated jatis - could be a suitable exercise for youngsters, but not for an artist of her standing.
In the composition of Papanasam Sivan (Ananda Natana Aduvar) in raga Poorvi Kalyani set to Rupakam and a Kshetragner Padam in raga Sahana (misra Chapu talam), I found that she has a strong understanding of the various aspects of abhinaya, though at times a little precocious.
I have an opinion that such a graded artiste should assess her own understanding of the bhava of the composition and exhibit it, as it would lend some originality to her abhinaya.
A word of praise for the mentor Kanaka Srinivasan, for her excellent jatis (though simple, of course) and the accompanying orchestra lent support of an excellent order.
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