CHENNAI: Heavy rain would have mitigated audiences’ participation in most events that were conducted on Saturday. But, it could deter neither the enthusiasm of dance enthusiasts to come to see the authentic Bharatanatyam performances of Niveditha Parthasarathy, nor the dedication of the dancers.
‘Parampara’ Natya Nivedanam celebrated the dance school’s silver jubilee on Saturday at the Mylapore Fine Arts Club, in memory of Padmashree KN Dandayudhapanipillai, who is better known as Natya Chakravarthy. The programme presented three generations of dancers both guru sishya and vamsa parampara.
The programme began with a short film of Nivedanam over the years, the dance school run by Niveditha Parthasarathy, followed by the dance ballet Andal Thirukalyanam. The dancers elucidated the story of goddess Andal, who is known as the Meerabai of South.
Three generations of guru-sishya and vamsa parampara included Niveditha’s teacher and her niece, Niveditha and her son Prathyumnan Parthasarathy who did nattuvangam for the dance ballet, her disciple Rekha Shanmugham, her daughter Latika Shanmugham and her daughter who played little Andal.
Niveditha, who has been in the field for 30 years, runs three schools in Adyar, Velachery and Triplicane, training around 40 students. She has also performed in Indonesia and Bali for the Indian External Affairs Ministry.
Niveditha feels blessed to carry on the legacy of the legend Dandayudhapanipillai. She says, “Although I have not seen him, I have seen him through my guru. The legacy has to go on like a river, flowing on and on.”
Around 15 of her students teamed up with Niveditha to deliver the mesmerising dance performance Andal Thirukalyanam. It gave the audience, a glimpse into the age of Andal. The aura amid the audience was so enchanting that people were tapping their hands and it seemed that most were familiar with the Thirupavai, the collection of 30 stanzas written by Andal.
Speaking about the reason why she chose Andal’s life for her performance, she says, “Many years ago, among the Vaishnavite saints, she was the only lady saint who was called the Azhwar. Her language, literature and the divinity in it was so intense and potent with meaning, that I thought Andal should be our protagonist.”
The evening had recitals of Nachiyar Thirumozhi and part of it was also from Vaaranamaiyiram. Niveditha says that the lyrics for the songs were penned by her mother Padmini. She adds, “We saw to it that we retained the authenticity of the works by Andal and Periya Azhwar’s songs, while making nuances to it for the performance.” The long forgotten pinnal kolattam and bomma dance were one of the elements in the performance. Niveditha says, “The bomma dance played by kids in the ballet was actually composited by Dandapanipillai.
Pinnal Kolattam
This was one of the highlights of the performance. Pinnal Kolattam is a dance form with one side of the coloured rope tied to one’s hands and the other side of it tied to a pole. The dancers move in such way that the coloured ropes almost look like a braid and then unfold the braid through their graceful steps.
Niveditha says, “Pinnal Kolattam is completely forgotten today and not many know about it. I had been longing to do it for some time now. With the workshop of Dr Ranganayaki Jayaraman, I was able to preserve this art. I could not have portrayed it through any other story as Andal’s.”