Excellent
body movements and coordination
- Usha Venkateswaran
May 24, 2007
 It
was indeed a pleasure to attend Nritarutya's performance at Smriti Nandan,
Bangalore, on April 27, 2007. It is one of the best programs I have seen
in Bangalore. I was impressed by the sincerity, enthusiasm and discipline
shown by the group. All the dancers were well trained and well matched.
The opening
sequence of the evening, Dashavathar, which depicted the ten avatars of
lord Vishnu had various beautiful poses. But to establish such complicated
concepts they should have given a few more movements to convey the meaning
of each Avatar.
The consequent
sequence 'Three sides of the coin' was impressive with its costuming and
the well integrated movements, performed with precision. In this sequence,
the movements transmit from contemporary to the starkly contrasting classical
mode and were juxtaposed against each other to enhance the distinction
of each form and at the same time discover the similarities previously
hidden.
'Tha' was very
good too except the stage was small for it. The company should try to use
Sollukattu which has interesting syncopation in its rhythmic syllables.
The sequence starts off with Bharatanatyam 'bols' and move on to fast paced
movements of the dancers.
'Five minutes
with my innerself' was very unique and very well executed. The good and
the bad, the ugly and the beautiful, the yin and the yang, the black and
the white - This sequence discovers the co-existence of opposition. The
commentary in the beginning of it was a bit long. It may be better to keep
a sense of mysticism in it.
'Kali' - the
concept itself was very esoteric and I think there are more angles to it
than what is generally believed. Kali, the dark and negative force, who
exposes the emptiness of the so called greatness of powerful beings; she
is the force which brings back the balance to the world as we know it.
Finally, I
feel the focus of the company could be more on modern themes and in exploration
and extension of Indian classical dance movements and western dance movements.
As they have excellent body movements and coordination, simple themes with
a suggestion of Indian culture would be a good exploring field for them.
I am sure they would be able to choreograph successfully to Western Music,
both classical and modern too.
There is no
substitute for hard work and dedicated rehearsals. The Bolshoi Ballet group
with which I have worked, rehearse for a minimum of four to six hours a
day, whether they have a performance or not. The young group of dancers
showed the same enthusiasm and sincerity which is admirable, and they are
sure to blossom into excellent dancers too.
Choreographer
and dance critic, Usha Venkateswaran is the Director of Natyalakshana. |
