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 Lila - Divinity with aesthetic quality - Vijay Shanker e-mail: vijaydance@gmail.com Photos courtesy: Ramya Ramnarayan January 29, 2024 Life is celebration of the arts and devotion to the eternal charmer Krishna. Thematic presentation 'Lila-The Divine Play' in Bharatanatyam was presented by New Jersey based exponent Ramya Ramnarayan and her talented team of dancers, as part of the series of programme organised by Kartik Fine Arts on 27th December at the auditorium of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mylapore, Chennai. While exploring the multi facets and the magnificence of the eternal flute charmer, it was interesting to observe how 'Lila' combined divinity with the aesthetic quality of the performance. 
Lila unfolds with joy, longing, ecstasy and surrender, invoking a deep sense of connection within the spiritual sphere in the margam format, commencing with the Mallari, followed with the Raas Leela from Bhagavata Puranam - Krishna Karnamrutam shlokam in Mallari ragam, Gambeeranattai set to kandajathi triputa, composed by mridangist Nagai Narayanan. Exploring the perspective of omnipresence of the Lord, every Gopi feels that Krishna is dancing with her, hence this is the dance of eternal bliss and joy, the most amazing aspect being the dance with 'joie-de-vivre' as the dancers danced extremely well, revealing their command over the dance form. The Husseini Swarajathi, a composition of Melattur Venkatarama Sastri, in which the nayika as the protagonist has a dialogue with her lover Lord Vishnu and asks, "Why are you ignoring me? Has anyone poisoned your thoughts to which you are carried away?" In this item two stories are interpreted that reveals the grace and kindness of the Lord, the first one being how Krishna rescues Rukmini from Sisupala and the second the affection of the lord showed to his childhood friend Kuchela. The nayika wonders when the Lord will shower his benevolent glance on her. The artistes danced with fine coordination and uniformity, creating a fine spectacle. The popular composition "Krishna nee begane baro" was performed by Ramya Ramnarayan that establishes the vatsalya bhava and the unique bonding of mother Yashoda with little Krishna, executed with commendable abhinaya that included the innocence and the charm of little Krishna.   The finale number was the complex Balamuralikrishna Thillana in Ahir Bhirav, the tremendous artistic ability of the dancers as they danced immaculately revealing their command over technique and the stylistic quality of the performance. Concept and choreography were by lead dancer Ramya Ramnarayan, ably supported by Sujatha Ramanathan, Rakshita Raghunathan, Ragini Iyer, Saisruti Sitaraman, Samyukta Neeraj and Shriya Arunkumar. The musical credits goes to Hariprasad Kanniyal for vocal, Kaushik Champakesan for nattuvangam, Nagai Narayanan for mridangam, Kalaiarasan for violin and Muthu for flute. Other credits include Sandhya Raman for costumes and Murugan for lights. On the whole, 'Lila' was a fine combination of both divinity and aesthetic quality.  Vijay Shankar is a Kuchipudi and Kathakali exponent, teacher, bilingual journalist, arts critic and actor. |
