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 Kanak Rele weaves magic at Vysakhi Nrityotsav - G Ulaganathan e-mail: ulag_nath@yahoo.com Photos: Paul Nicodemus November 3, 2019 'Age cannot wither her.....' said Shakespeare many years ago referring to the Egyptian queen Cleopatra. His words still ring a bell and are quite relevant today, especially when we look at some of our performing artistes who, despite their advancing age, retain their mesmerising ability to charm audiences all over the world. One such artiste is dancer, guru, teacher Kanak Rele who years ago crossed the geographical boundaries and learnt Mohiniattam in Kerala and popularised it all over the world. Now, in her eighties, she was able to brilliantly demonstrate the ashta rasas through her expressive eyes and facial expressions as well as hand mudras. She was seated on a raised platform and gave glimpses of her mastery for over an hour. The occasion was the Vysakhi Nrityotsav, the 12th all India dance festival organised by the Nataraj Music and Dance Academy, Visakhapatnam for three days in the last week of September. Dr. Kanak Rele, who received the Vysakhi Lifetime Achievement Award, was trained initially from a very young age in Kathakali under the late Guru 'Panchali' Karunakara Panikkar, who is regarded as one of the greats for "stree-vesham" in Kathakali. Dr Rele speaks very passionately about the commitment of Karunakara Panikkar and used the forum at Vizag to pay a unique tribute to him by presenting the various rasas. Then she went on to showcase her favourite piece Kubja from Mohiniattam, with brilliant display of abhinaya. She said she had been collaborating with scholar Kavalam Narayana Panikkar and revived old and almost forgotten dance items like this one.  Dr. Kanak Rele  Kumkum Mohanty She gave a wonderful insight into her theory on the 'Body Kinetics in Dance.' The three-day festival organised by the founder-president of NMDA, B.R. Vikram Kumar, included presentations from almost all the styles of Indian classical dances as well as the Manipuri martial arts, Thang-Ta. On the inaugural day, Odissi exponent Kumkum Mohanty was also presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award. She presented a captivating Odissi recital along with eight of her disciples. Her repertoire included Mangalacharan, Batu Nritya, a Pallavi, an abhinaya and a Moksha piece all in traditional style. It was vintage Odissi and was well presented. Next, S Geetha Narayan, a Vizag-based Kuchipudi dancer, held sway with some scintillating Kuchipudi items starting with a Vempati classic, Ananda Tandavam, followed by an Annamacharya krithi. Geetha, a housewife and a mother of a teenager, has resumed dancing after a long break, but her stage presence and perfect bhavas were a treat to watch. Another dancer who kept the audience spellbound was Odissi dancer Gaurie Dwivedi from Delhi. A journalist by profession, the tall, attractive Gaurie is trained in Bharatanatyam as well. She has learnt Odissi under Guru Ipsita Behoora in the Kelucharan Mohapatra style of Odissi and also from Sujata Mohapatra. She began with "Dhyaye Suvarna Varna," devi stuti in praise of the goddess who is a reservoir of knowledge, beauty and the slayer of demons. This was choreographed by Guru Gangadhar Pradhan. Then she went on to present a Hamsadhwani palllavi, which began on slower notes and vilambit taal and progressed to dhrut taal. This was one of the brilliant choreographed pieces of guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. Gaurie was elegant and used the stage efficiently and maintained the purity of the Odissi style throughout.  Gaurie Dwivedi  Nalini - Kamalini Guru Jithendra Maharaj, Kathak exponent from Delhi, was another Lifetime Achievement awardee and his disciples Nalini and Kamalini presented a few of his compositions which included 'Mahadeva stuthi,' a traditional dhrupad piece, and a Thumri. The duo also interacted with the audience while performing 'padasanyojn.' Though the sisters tried their best, there was obvious lack of coordination and discord with the musical accompaniment. One of the best shows of the festival was the Thang-Ta. Rosen Longjamba and his boys from Manipur kept the audience on their seats' edge with a thrilling display of martial arts with a combination of speed, artistry and perfection, which has not been witnessed in Visakhapatnam before. 'Bhageeratha Vilasam', a Kuchipudi dance drama depicting the story of Bhageeratha bringing Ganga to the earth was brilliantly presented with dramatic effect by the students of Nataraj Music and Dance Academy and was well choreographed by their guru K.V. Lakshmi. It had the rustic flavour of the Kuchipudi tradition and every dancer got into the character and did full justice to their roles. The three-day programme was compered excellently by Dr. Perala Balamuralikrishna who brought out the essence of each presentation with a lot of feeling, be it in Hindi, English or Telugu. His contribution was immense.  Thang-Ta  Bhageeratha Vilasam It is sad to see that the city of Visakhapatnam, a clean, well nurtured city in Andhra Pradesh, lacks a proper auditorium with acoustics and suitable infrastructure. Kalabharathi, venue for this festival, is badly maintained and even the seats were very old and worn out. Vikram made a blunt observation on this and requested the newly elected MP, M.V.V. Satyanarayana, who is also a reputed builder in the city, to construct a new auditorium so that many more festivals can be presented here. The MP promised to do the needful, and hopefully he should keep his promise. G Ulaganathan is a senior dance critic based in Bengaluru. |
