CHENNAI: Under lights, amid the intricate ragas and talas, the stages of Rasika Ranjani Sabha ebbed and flowed with emotions, dance, and music. At the bustling Margazhi season, Chicago-based Bharatanayam dancer and vocalist Kiran Prakash returned to the city stage, after her Arangetram in December 2023. She brought her best abhiniyas and adavus to the Kamakoti Triveni Hall on Tuesday evening.
In the backdrop of the beats of the tabla and tunes from the violin, the student of the Natya Dance Theatre ascended the stage gracefully for her varnam, depicting the story of goddess Parvathi and god Shiva. In dynamic movements, and sharp expressions, the stage told the timeless stories of longing, intoxicated love, anger, flights of fantasy.
“The varnam is close to my heart because Aunty (her guru Hema Rajagopalan) poured her soul into it. I liked the jugalbandi in the Shiva Parvathi part. The varnam was interesting, if you look at it, each jathi for the pallavi is choreographed for the pallavis’ emotion, it is very intricate and nuanced in the way the rasa the audience was supposed to be feeling,” says the 20-year-old dancer.
As for the javali, Kiran embodied a teenage girl, who is subjected to undue notoriety and attention for her friendship with a boy. The artiste comments that this unique portion was challenging owing to the sarcastic expressions. In a high-paced thillana, the dancer brought to the stage a piece choreographed by Krithika Rajagopalan.
The ensemble included mridangam artiste G Vijayaraghavan, vocal artiste Chitrambari Krishnakumar, violinist Kalaiarasan Ramanathan, and nattuvangam artiste Vijay Kumar S.
Asked about how the city audience varies from the one abroad, she highlights, “Here, it is a very discerning audience, they know what good dance is and it puts more pressure but it is fun to experience that.
The emotions choreographed for the Chennai stage and Chicago are very different; not just feeling hurt, but feeling love and longing and all of them need to be seen.” As the young dancer has just begun her career, she is set to bring more nuance and dynamic performances to more stages.