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 Graceful presentation by Sailakshmi - Chandra Anand e-mail: chandra6267@yahoo.co.in August 10, 2024 The Fine Arts Society, Chembur, Mumbai, which has been promoting cultural excellence for over six decades, in their Natyakalavardhini series that encourages upcoming dancers, presented a Mohiniattam recital by Sailakshmi Nair on 12th July 2024 at FAS RCF Academy Hall. Sailakshmi is a student of Guru Geetha Vijayshankar, who is a well-known teacher of Mohiniattam in Mumbai. Sailakshmi has various laurels to her credit and has performed under prestigious wings. She commenced her recital with a shlokam on Lord Ganesha, "ekadantam mahakavyam" and followed it by chollukettu in which the rhythmic syllable lines were interspersed with the verses "yakuntendu tushara hara davala" (ragamalika and talamalika) extolling Goddess Saraswati. It had a composed choreography with simple korvai combinations. Sailakshmi glided through the item in a soft, gentle manner. She then presented a padam, "Adimalarina thanne" (Mukhari, adi) composed by Irayimman Thampi. In order to impress upon the audience the grace of Lord Guruvayurappa, a form of Lord Vishnu, as protector of his devotees, the Draupadi vastraharanam episode was performed to express the pallavi of the padam. Then this led to presenting the "Dasha avataram" where all stories were enacted in brief. Sailakshmi held a poised self as she went through the narrative.  The varnam, the main item in the margam format, was infused with the story of Kannagi from 'Silapathikaram' written by Ilango Adigal. This piece "Jayadambe Pahimam" was set to ragam Vijayanagari and talam adi. The greed of Madhavi and the anger of Kannagi asking for justice and cursing of Madurai city to burn day and night was aptly performed. In Rama Saptham, audience saw Sailakshmi presenting episodes from the epic Ramayana. Sita swayamvaram, Sita apaharanam, Ravana vadham were delineated with verve. The song ended with salutations to Rama. This Rama Saptham (Ragamalika, adi) was conceptualized by Kalamandalam Kalyanikutty Amma. "Sreeman Narayana" (Bowli, adi), Annamacharya keerthanam, was performed to depict the bhakti bhava. The verses were interspersed with graceful nritta pieces. With vigor, Sailakshmi presented the full story of Narasimha avatar. All characters of the episode were delineated with precision. The terror of Narasimha over Hiranyakashipu was shown exceptionally well. The talent of Sailakshmi got accentuated with the performance of the shlokam "Shive shringaradra" (ragamalika), from Adi Shankaracharya's work 'Soundaryalahiri'. Here, the ashtarasa of Devi was depicted with aplomb, following which a thillana (Dhanashree, adi) was performed to simple choreography marked by graceful delineation of korvais. All items were choreographed by Guru Geetha Vijayshankar. The purely lasya dominant program was performed to recorded music.  Chandra Anand is a Bharatanatyam artiste and teacher. She has an MA in Bharatanatyam from Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth, and her series on 'Education in spiritual values through Bharatanatyam' is featured in narthaki.com. |
