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 Bharatha Pallavi: A delightful experience - Roopashree Madhusudan e-mail: nrityaganga@gmail.com October 25, 2019 Natyacharya Kiran Subrahmanyam recently presented a unique dance production titled Bharatha Pallavi, an offering to his mridangam master Guru K.N. Krishnamurthy, in association with K.N. Krishnamurthy Guruvandana committee. The program was presided over by eminent dance guru Bhanumathi and the present chairperson of Karnataka Sangeetha Nritya Academy, Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma. The program was flagged off by a brief report about the committee by Vyasa Vithala. The god of rhythms as he is known, Kiran Subrahmanyam who conceived, conceptualised and directed the show, wielded the cymbals accompanied by seasoned musicians and technicians -Raghuram on vocals, Lingaraju on mridangam, Mahesh Swamy on flute, Pradesh Acharya on violin, Shubha Santhosh on veena and Pranav Datt on rhythm pad, Sandhya Kiran guiding with costumes and coordination, and Nagaraj Marihonnaiah in charge of excellent light design and execution. The young group of dancers included Shivaranjini Harish, Rasika Kiran, Pavithra Krishnamurthy, Archana H.R. and Shraddha Srinivas.   The first presentation was the very well known pushpanjali set to raga Arabhi and adi tala, composed by Dr. Balamuralikrishna in which lord Ganesha was invoked with exquisite jathis and exotic rhythm patterns. The piece-de-resistance of the evening was Bharatha Pallavi that brilliantly displayed the artistic mastery of Kiran Subrahmanyam with the musicians. Bharatha Pallavi was conceptualized as a confluence of Bha - Bhava or emotion, Ra - raga or melody, and Tha- thala or rhythm, the three major components of Bharatanatyam with the technicality of Carnatic music, in specific, RTP. Ragam Tanam Pallavi is the most challenging aspect of Carnatic music that is a litmus test to the calibre of any musician. Learning, practice, spontaneity, and creativity are all tested at once in this masterly presentation. It is usually a single line of lyrics explored in several ways and technicalities such as neraval, kalpana swaram are all employed. The element of rhythmic beauty in RTP is the Thani Avartanam where mathematical intricacies prove to be exigent and intense. RTP is a common concept in Carnatic music concert but in a Bharatanatyam performance was a great delight. Many dancers have tried to paraphrase RTP to the genre of Bharatanatyam, and genius that he is, Kiran Subrahmanyam emerged victorious by blending technical concepts of the Varnam from the Bharatanatyam idiom - the trikala jathi, padaartha, storytelling as in sanchari bhava, laya vinyasam - in place of Thani Avartanam, amalgamating two consummate and glorious techniques with a narrative of the life and adventures, the leelas of Lord Krishna into the format of RTP in a scintillating presentation.  For this humungous task, Kiran Subrahmanyam selected Ragam Taanam Pallavi in raga Gamanashramam, and Raja Navamukhi Tala, a cycle of 28 beats, a composition of Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna. To understand the complex technicality of this legendary composition is itself a great achievement and on top of it, presenting it as a group choreography was an incredible challenge. The brilliant choreographic ideas and the immaculate presentation made it an audio-visual delight. The performance culminated in a brisk Thillana composed and directed by Kiran Subrahmanyam and aptly tuned by flute maestro Mahesh Swamy in raga Rasikapriya and adi tala. The visual geometry was interspersed with praise of Lord Subrahmanya, the embodiment of supreme knowledge. Roopashree Madhusudan, a disciple of Dr. Kripa Phadke and Guru Bhanumathi, is a Bharatanatyam teacher and proficiency holder in Sanskrit with five gold medals from University of Mysuru. She has authored text books on dance - Nrityankura, Nrityaveda and Nrityakalpa in Kannada and English languages. |
