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 Brilliant performances at NCPA - Vijay Shanker e-mail: vijaydance@gmail.com February 2, 2023 After the lockdown, Mumbai's leading organisation for performing arts, National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) is now throbbing with lot of performances that proves the point that life is a festival of dances, and the best medium to reach out to the Almighty is through Indian classical music and dance. Celebrating life in its varied colours and dimensions. December 8th was noted for its series of performances by young dancers and established professionals in two separate sessions in the afternoon and evening at the Experimental theatre and Tata theatre respectively. The performances were with the collaboration of Guru GV Ramani Natya Kala Foundation (Navi Mumbai).  Disciples of Gayatri Subramanian The afternoon session commenced with Guru Samarpanam, performed by seven senior disciples of Guru Gayatri Subramanian of Guru GV Ramani Natya Kala Foundation, namely Seema Rao, Sakshi Pujari, Snigdha Menon, Shyama Balachandran, Aarya Gatty, Sanjana Pillai and Krishnabhadra Namboothiri. As the title suggests, Guru Samarpanam portrays the significance of the Guru or mentor. "Matha Pitha Guru Deivam", undoubtedly your first mentor is your mother, then father, Guru and the Lord, this message was aptly portrayed through a beautiful dance sequence symbolizing bhakti and shraddha with the item in Bharatanatyam style performed exquisitely, conceptualized and choreographed by Gayatri Subramanian, composed by Rajkumar Bharati.  Keerthana Ravi The first solo presentation in the Bharatanatyam style was performed by Keerthana Ravi. An extract from Skanda Mahapurana is the immortal Arunachalanathan, a composition of Muthuswamy Dikshitar; it is one of the pancha linga sthala keertanams describing the Agni Lingam, thereby establishing the relation with fire, life and Lord Siva as the process of life, creation and liberation, Keerthana is a brilliant dancer, performing with complete sincerity and devotion.  Prachi Saathi, Aishwarya Harish, Nandini Ganesan, Sujata Nair, Chitra Dalvi It was amazing to watch five leading Bharatanatyam dancers of Mumbai coming together in "Mathrubhumi Namastubhyam" - salutations to mother earth, while seeking forgiveness for treading on her, as is customary to seek her blessings, before and after a performance is completed. This is a beautiful item of Rama Vaidyanathan, composed and sung by Sudha Raghuraman with jatis recited by late mridangist Karaikudi Shivakumar and performed with dexterity and flawless ease by Sujata Nair, Prachi Save Saathi, Aishwarya Harish, Nandini Ganesan and Chitra Dalvi.  Tarini Tripathi Tarini Tripathi was the only Kathak dancer to be featured in the afternoon session. Tarini is the granddaughter of Kathak Guru Padma Sharma and the daughter of accomplished dancer Gauri Sharma Tripathi. Tall and vibrant, Tarini flaunted her long skirts like the typical flamenco dancer while incorporating krishnavali through Haveli sangeet and dhrupad gayaki, traversing through various layers of Vishnu Sampradaya, as she unveils the Krishna Leelas, dancing in abundance in a unique blend of traditional compositions. The concept by Guru Padma Sharma was choreographed by Gauri Sharma Tripathi with music composition by Hiren Raghunath Chate.  Pavitra Bhat, Sachidanand Narayankar, Gautam Marathe The masculine vitality and vigour was refreshing as talented male dancers Pavitra Bhat, Gautam Marathe and Sachidanand Narayankar performed to "Shankara Srigiri" and Shivaranjini thillana with professional expertise, flawless technique and precision with the guidance of Vaibhav Arekar.  Naachiyaar Next Mumbaikars were excited to witness the unique and exquisite rendition along with vachika abhinaya of 'Naachiyaar Next' presented by Bharatanatyam exponent Dr Anita Ratnam as she revealed the interesting story of the mystic saint poetess Andal of the 8th century. Like Meera of the north or Akka Mahadevi of the Kannada region, Tamil poetess Andal who was born in Srivilliputhur was known for her unique rendition of Thiruppavai in which she boldly reveals her intense love for Lord Vishnu and asks for his embrace, his caress; she was devoted and audacious too. Presenting a slice of personal diary titled 'Andal and I,' Anita Ratnam delved into an engaging hour long presentation about her connection with the 8th century teenage poet Andal. Sharing memories of her childhood dancing days and the first exposure to Andal's poems, Anita wove a compelling narrative punctuated with beautiful dancing from her ensemble of 12 artistes. Arresting visuals like the teenage Andal admiring herself in the hall of mirrors, her obsession with Lord Krishna as her groom and even the echo of 'Govinda, Govinda' becoming a trigger for her final descent into a delirious madness was very movingly depicted. Even with so many decades on stage, Anita Ratnam has retained her charm and charisma. The appreciative audience delivered a fitting standing ovation for the presentation.  Srikanth Last but not the least was the lecture demonstration on Bhagavata Mela Natakam tradition by Srikanth Natarajan. After the invocatory Ganapati Daru, Srikanth performed 'Prahlada Charitram' incorporating the story of the young Prahlada who was a devotee of Narayana and the subsequent appearance of Lord Vishnu as Narasimha Avatara. Srikanth demonstrated the pancha jatis tala patterns which are similar to Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi. Besides the technical and stylistic differences in the presentation, Srikanth spoke about the contribution of veteran mentors like Guru Venkataramayya Sastri and the characteristic differences pertaining to the dramatization of various characters from Hindu mythology. It was interesting to watch him perform and listen to his varied experiences over the years of devotion to the selected art form.  Vijay Shankar is a Kuchipudi and Kathakali exponent, teacher, bilingual journalist, arts critic and actor. |
