“Abhinaya”, St.Louis, a non-profit organization devoted to promoting Indian classical dances presented a jugalbandi on 29th June, at the Chesterfield YMCA Theater, St.Louis, Missouri, USA. Smitha Rajan, of Nritya Kshetra, St.Louis danced in Mohiniyattam style and Indira Kadambi, of Ambalam, Madras, danced in Bharatanatyam style.  T V Ramprasadh was the singer, Ramesh Babu played the mridangam and maddalam, and Ravichandra Kulur played the flute. 

The first item was a Ganesha Vandanam, with Tulsidas’ bhajan "Gaayiye Ganapathi jagavandana…." sung in Valaji raga. Both the dancers made a beautiful entry to the stage - Indira Kadambi with sprightly, energetic adavus so typical of Bharatanatyam, and Smitha Rajan, with flowing, graceful steps so characteristic of Mohiniyattam.  In the background were swaras in Valaji, sung by TVR. The notes from Ravichandra's flute seemed to flutter around like butterflies.  The dancers described Lord Ganesha, with short episodes, and offered their prayers to Him. 

The second item was a solo Bharatanatyam piece by Indira – “Ananda Natanam aduvar” in Poorvi Kalyani. It was a pleasant item, and Indira made full use of the stage, executing her adavus neatly and completely. 

The third item was a “slokam” (traditionally the sixth item in the Mohiniyattam repertoire) by Smitha. The slokam was a composition of Adi Shankara, describing the eight moods of Goddess Parvathi. It started off with a very serene rendering of “Om…” by TVR, transporting the rasika to a meditative mood.  Smitha took off from there, with her description of Parvathi and her eight moods: Sringara, jugupsa, bheeta, veera, vismaya, rosha, hasya, karuna…. By the time the piece ended, I had the feeling that I had been led into a temple and witnessed the Goddess of the temple, and felt deeply prayerful and silent. 

The fourth piece was the grand big item for the day – the Dashaavataram, composed by Udumalaipettai Narayana Kavi, in raga malika and tala malika (beginning: “paarkadal alai mele, in Shanmukhapriya). Both the dancers had choreographed this very well, so that although there were two dancers dancing in two different styles on the stage, the piece as a whole was cohesive and woven beautifully. Indira’s portrayal of Vamana was very good, while Smitha’s portrayal of Narasimha brought out the roudra very well. Both their description of the birth of Sri Krishna, His being carried over by Vasudeva, and His pranks at Ayarpadi, were all very enjoyable. The Gitopadesham was very poignant. Smitha’s steps for the swaras immediately following this avataram were especially catchy – the dancer and the mridangam player seemed to be enjoying that bit! 

Finally, the description of a decadent people, full of evil, heralding the arrival of Kalki, was very real. The piece concluded with TVR singing “Ranganatha” 10 times, each in a different raga, while the dancers posed and froze into each avatara roopa. 
 

Next we had Smitha as the sakhi, bringing back her message from Krishna! This padam was a composition of her grandmother Kalamandalam Kalyanikuttiamma, in Kapi and Shankarabharanam. It was a very beautiful thought, when the sakhi comes back and says: “ I saw him! I saw him…I touched the sacred earth where He stood; I gathered the golden dust His feet had sanctified and I showered myself with that….”The sakhi cannot stop talking about what she saw, and this was brought out beautifully in the eyes of Smitha – the eyes of someone who had seen the Divine! The sakhi goes on to explain: “He was not angry with me, nor did he mock at me, rather, He turned his kind eyes towards me, and said “Go and tell your friend that her love is safe with me,” Oh my dear friend, are you happy now??” 

The evening concluded with a mangalam, and after that, all the five artistes received a standing ovation for a well-presented, lovely, memorable program.