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 The vibrant Drishti Dance Festival - Rajarathnam Sastry Photos courtesy: Drishti January 30, 2012
This year’s festival featured Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Kathak and Odissi. At the beginning of the program, renowned flautist Dwarki Krishnaswamy was felicitated for her contribution to the field of dance and music. This was followed by Pushpanjali presented by the Drishti ensemble, disciples of Anuradha Vikranth. It was perfectly coordinated and well choreographed and was a good start to the program. Anuradha stole the hearts of the audience with her performance in “Krishnam Vande Jagadguru,” a composition of Purandara Dasa in Ragamalika-adi tala. She portrayed three episodes from the Bhagavatha. In the first, she presented ‘Poothani Samhara.’ Her quick transformation from the loving mother Yashoda to the cruel Poothani in this piece was commendable. In Kalinga Mardhana, Krishna kills the dangerous serpent Kalinga. The final act of Mohini Bhasmasura was a treat to watch. The charis and karanas Anuradha used were beautiful. As a solo dancer, all the characters she played were well emoted. The next was a Kathak performance by Anuj Mishra and group. They presented ‘Krishnarang’ which included four breathtaking pieces. The first one was Raas and this depicted the playfulness of Krishna and his relationship with gopikas. The dancers with colorful costumes made beautiful formations. Then they presented ‘Dhruth le’ with some fine bandishes of the Lucknow gharana, characterized by graceful movements, elegance and natural poise. ‘Shyam Re’ and ‘Prem’ were a fusion of Kathak, flamenco, ballet and contemporary dance. The highlight was the 150 chakkars Anuj presented during his performance.
The next piece ‘Sangam - the Rhythm’ was presented by four well known dancers of Bangalore. Sangam was an attempt to highlight each segment of abhinaya through their solos in four distinct classical dance forms. Angika by BP Sweekruth presenting Kathak, Vachika by Shama Krishna presenting Kuchipudi, Aharya by Madhulita Mohapatra presenting Odissi, Sattvika by Seshadri Iyengar presenting Bharatanatyam. Each dancer was at their best.
Seshadri Iyengar performed for the kriti “Kadagola tharenna chinnave” bringing out the essence of Sathvika abhinaya effectively. His neat lines while delivering nritta was a treat to watch. Shama Krishna emphasized on Vachika, the use of speech in Kuchipudi. Sathyabhama refuses to take the name of her husband out of respect and describes his attributes without taking his name directly. Senior dance guru Veena Murthy Vijay as a suthradhara complemented this piece beautifully. Sweekruth presented highlights of Angikaabhinya through a composition called Mahadeva describing the Tandava aspect of Lord Shiva, with beautiful costume and lighting. Aharya also being one of the foremost aspects for all the classical styles was gracefully portrayed by Madhulita Mohapatra in Pallavi in Odissi style. The best part was when all the dance styles came together highlighting the rhythmic element of each style in Sangam.
We got to watch beautiful performances but it would have been nice if the stage function was held in between the three programs rather than the beginning of the program as the art lovers were getting restless to watch the dance. Instead of mostly Krishna items, the evening’s presentations could have been more varied had the artistes discussed earlier about what they would present and choose their dance items accordingly. Rajarathnam Sastry is a freelance journalist and ardent connoisseur of classical dance and music. |
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