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MAD and DIVINE women - Mystic saint poets of India and beyond Natya Darshan Seminar - Evening Performances Day 2: Bonding with beyond... - Pratima Sagar e-mail: pratima_sagar@yahoo.com Photos: Lalitha Venkat Dec 24, 2011 Sangeeta Isvaran’s ‘Karaikkal Ammaiyar’, Aditi Mangaldas’s ‘Seeking the beloved’ and Mythili Prakash’s ‘Aikya: in the voice of Akka Mahadevi’ was a wholesome palette for the second evening’s performances. Magical Meera... Aditi Mangaldas known for her swift and suave Kathak dance, takes the audiences of “Mad and divine women…” to the next level! Clad in black against a black backdrop, the danseuse gently shimmers under the play of light and shade as though emerging out of a night sky like a Dionysian intoxicated in love…she sees her bejeweled beloved and dances like a thunderbolt as though springing from the sparkle of His gems... loug kahe mohe bhattaki! In another poem, piya ki ankur, Aditi sensuously portrays the union of spaces - of the physical and metaphysical - titled Zero Moment; she gyrates in frenzy and gingerly furls to bond with the beyond. Music composed by Shuba Mudgal enhances the mood of madness and magic! Radical and renounced Mythili Prakash, a young Bharatanatyam dancer needs to be complimented for her thorough research and understanding of Akka Mahadevi, whose poetry, passion and perseverance depicts her radical thoughts to remember for generations now! With stunning stances, emotive expressions and telling grace, Mythili clad in white, weaves the saga of Akka Mahadevi, who ripens to realize her Oneness with Lord Mallikarjuna. As the poems sung by Aditya Prakash lilt across… Mythili rolls out the imageries on stage … Akka Mahadevi evolving into the divine, uniting into the existence of Siva! For becoming Siva’s Sakti Sangeeta Isvaran explores the Shaivite themes and chooses to epitomize Ammaiyar who danced, and danced to become Siva herself! With large rolling eyes and darting eyebrows, Sangeeta steps into the fiery form of Siva that seemed to symbolize the wild and windy yen of his devotee to realize him, sing for him and unshackle for him. Delving into Ammaiyar’s poetic phrases, Hariprasad sings to match the emotional mayhem which the dancer personifies until she surrenders into the calmness of being Sivam. Pratima Sagar is a cultural commentator and critic based in Hyderabad.