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 When shishyas shone - Shveta Arora e-mail: shwetananoop@gmail.com Pics: Anoop Arora April 27, 2013 The disciples of Guru Saroja Vaidyanathan performed at the Kamani Auditorium on the 12th of April under the aegis of Ganesha Natyalaya. The entrance to the venue was bedecked with colourful flower rangolis. The whole area was filled with the scent from the flowers. On the stage was an idol of Lord Shiva adorned by a rose garland. Saroja Vaidyanathan is a renowned choreographer, guru and exponent of Bharatanatyam. She has been conferred the Padma Shri in 2002 and the Padma Bhushan recently in 2013. She herself is the disciple of Guru Kattumannar Muthukumaran Pillai of Thanjavur. She established the Ganesha Natyalaya in 1974. She said that she was very impressed by the hard work and effort put in by her students.
The performance began with an invocation to Lord Ganesha. In the final formation, the dancers depicted his flapping ears, the mouse at his feet and his nose like an elephant’s trunk. This was followed by an invocation to the Devi in raga Janaranjani, “Paahi maam shri Raja Rajeshwari, kripa karo Shankari.” The Devi was depicted as the Goddess who rides on a lion and the vanquisher of the demons Chanda and Munda. The dancers showed the fight between the Devi and the demons and eventually her victory. This was followed by a Swaranjali and a pure dance piece Alarippu. Next was a varnam in Ragamalika, adi talam. Lord Muruga is the one who carries the sword. The nayika is craving for him, since she has been struck by an arrow from the bow of Manmatha. In “Swagatam Krishna, Sharanagatam Krishna, Mathurapuri Sadanam, Mriduvadanam, Madhusudana,” the dancers portrayed Krishna and the gopis. He breaks their matkis (pots) and steals their makhan (butter) and teases them. The gopis make chandan (sandal paste) for him and apply it on him. They make him wear ornaments made of flowers and adorn his forehead with kasturi tilakam. The next part was rendered very aesthetically. The dancers enacted the fight wherein Krishna emerges the winner, holding the tail of the serpent Kaliya and dancing on his hood. The piece ended with maharaas between the gopis and Krishna. Following that was a jatiswaram in raga Hemavati and then a tillana in Hindolam, adi talam. Finally, the senior disciples of Saroja performed. The group included Saroja’s granddaughter Dakshina Vaidyanathan. The piece in raga Hamsanandi, “Shankara Srigiri natha prabhu,” was a description of Lord Shankara as the one who has trinetra, “gale rund mala, bhootan sanga nachat, ghungroo baje dev muni sab gagan viraje, shruti rati raje.” The dancers executed the piece beautifully with some excellent footwork, meticulous abhinaya, choreography and formations. The performance ended with a dhwani “Omkar mangal, Om namah Shivaya,” where all the dancers walked on the stage. Their colourful costumes looked picture perfect. Vocals by Satya Krishnaswamy were quite powerful. The accompanying artists were VSK Chakrapani on the violin and Thanjavur R Kesavan on the mridangam. The students’ hard work and dedication showed. Each piece was beautifully choreographed, rehearsed and presented with group formations at the end. The whole performance was a befitting example of the guru’s calibre. Shveta Arora is a blogger based in Delhi. She writes about cultural events in the capital. |
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