The classical dance performance of Divya Kasturi for Chennai Cultural Academy, a student of Udupi Lakshminarayana, who upheld the Kancheepuram style of Bharathanatyam, was certainly a humble tribute to the invaluable knowledge and tutorship of her guru, particularly when she presented her programme with a sacrosanct approach.
When the dancer, a doctorate holder, commenced the performance with a ‘Pushpanjali’ involving the deities that govern the eight cardinal directions Ashta Dikpalakas, with jatis composed by her illustrious guru, known for his wide knowledge in the Vedas and shastras, she did her guru proud. When she took up next, an item titled ‘Darshan’, glorifying our unique and much celebrated sentiment of Bhakthi, with the famous verses of Adi Shankaracharya, which incorporated a suggestive presence of Lord Shiva, her poetic expressions,illustrating a range of five segments sequentially, each of the poetic verse beginning with the five syllable existing in the divine mantra ‘Namashivaya’, we were exhilarated.
She enacted briefly the birth of Lord Muruga in the first segment from the third eye of Lord Shiva. This was followed by the second segment depicting the Ganges, being interlocked in the matted hair locks of Shiva, the third segment, revealing the churning of the divine milky ocean and consumption of poison by Shiva, followed by the cosmic dance and finally culminating with the story of Daksha’s sacrifice, that evokes the fury of Shiva (Rudra Thandavam), we were thrilled.
Undoubtedly her admirable abhinaya skill, lively and spirited was a superb explication, and the rendition was a series of artistic interpretation, where classicism and tradition reigned supreme. In ‘Abirami Pathigam’, extolling ‘Shakthi’ the verses of Abhirami Bhattar, who lived in the 18th century, was taken up which was set to four different tunes in Khanda Chapu talam, tuned by her guru, she was able to create a spell of tour-de-force.
The thillana composed by Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer, the final part of this presentation, was executed when rhythmic cadences, creating the impact, that we can reasonably expect, as the dancer herself says, that this thillana, is special to her as it identifies and charts her, in the dance tradition of teachers, the original choreography emanating from her guru Kancheepuram Ellappa Nattuvanar. On the whole, her performance was imbued with divinity and a visually scintillating performance.