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 Triveni Shastriya Nritya Samaroha - Vijay Shanker e-mail: vijaydance@gmail.com May 14, 2021 Triveni Shastriya Nritya Samaroha was organised for three consecutive days, digitally, to commemorate the 100 birth anniversary of the legendary Acharya Parvati Kumar by Sarfojiraje Bhosale BNT and R Centre, Mumbai. The three festivals were Kinkini national youth festival, Kala Avishkar festival for children and Sanskruti festival featuring established dancers, from March 28 to 30, 2021. These three festivals are immensely popular and looked forward to by the artiste fraternity and organized by accomplished Bharatanatyam exponent Dr. Sandhya Purecha. Sanskruti festival featured dancers in three distinct classical dance styles of Bharatanatyam, Odissi and Kathak. Bharatanatyam exponent Sandhya Purecha interpreted five ashtapadis of poet Jayadeva from the immortal classic Geeta Govind in praise of Lord Krishna and is largely based on the inter-relationship between Radha and Krishna, also defining the relationship between the jeevatma (human soul) and paramatma (divine soul). The ashtapadis are vivid descriptions of the lord and also the varied emotional states of Radha, caught in different situations of love, commencing with "Sanchara dadhara sudha madhura dhvani", "Dheera sameere Yamuna teere", "Yahi Madhava yahi Keshava", "Priye charusheele" and "Kuru yadu Nandana" featuring the nayikas Virahotkanthita, Kalahantarita, Khanduri, Manini, Krishna pleasing Radha as Priye Charusheele and finally Swadhinabhatruka nayika. It was a pleasure to watch Sandhya in subtle expressions involving sancharis and angika abhinaya.  Sandhya Purecha  Deepak Mazumdar Leading Bharatanatyam exponent and acharya from Mumbai, Guru Deepak Mazumdar, enacted varied scenes from the Ramayana, particularly when Sita is attracted by the golden deer, Mareecha Vadha and the subsequent viraha of Rama, as Sita disappears from his life and he suffers from separation, anxiety and sorrow. With commendable mukhaja abhinaya and complete portrayal of the mental state of Rama, Deepak succeeded in creating a lasting impact. Dr. Ileana Citaristi is one of the most devoted Odissi exponents that I have ever met. In spite of being an Italian, the way she has adapted the Odissi culture and its sensibility is really amazing. Tall and slim, Ileana portrayed the powerful episode of Ekalavya, who in spite of not really having a mentor, became an expert archer. His sacrifice of his thumb as the dakshina is one of the most touching scenes of the Mahabharata. Ileana with commendable angika abhinaya and perfect characterization could do complete justice to the role.  Uma Dogra  Ileana Citaristi Leading Kathak exponent Uma Dogra interpreted the beautiful Meera Bhajan "Baso mere nainan may Nandalala". It has a symbolic definition wherein Meera pleads and tells Krishna, please do not go away, be in my eyes, which literally means the vision of the lord should always be there and not drift away. Uma with her captivating presence and natural expressions enhanced the divinity of the interpretation. Uma concluded with a complex and rhythmic Tarana. Kinkini youth festival featured the disciples of Sandhya Purecha, Ranjana Gauhar, Piyal Bhattacharya, Chourjeet Singh, Smita Shastri, Jagdish Gangani, Shruti Bandopadhyaya, Shobhana Bhalchandra, Priyadarshini Ghosh, Padma Sharma, Seityaban Singh, Gayatri Subramaniam, Ratheesh Babu, Paushali Chatterjee, Rekha Nadgauda, Aditi Panse, Jhelum Paranjape and Uma Dogra. It was interesting to watch different classical dance styles like Bharatanatyam, Mohiniattam, Kathak, Manipuri and Odissi being performed on the same platform. Prashila Surana, disciple of Smita Shastri, impressed with her traditional portrayal of Sandhya Tandavam in the Kuchipudi style.   Kala Avishkar is organized annually with the intention of promoting talent amidst children below the age of 15. It is really enjoyable to watch children perform with lot of enthusiasm, particularly Pung Cholom (Manipuri) in which six young dancers, dance with acrobatics of circular movements while playing the pung (drum) and maintaining perfect rhythm which is a rare spectacle, performed by the disciples of Chakpran Narendra Singha. Kathak by young disciples of Jitendra Maharaj and Nalini-Kamalini of New Delhi was the other attraction of the festival for children.  Vijay Shankar is a Kuchipudi and Kathakali exponent, teacher, bilingual journalist, arts critic and actor. |
