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 Smitten by desire - Conversations with Cupid - Poornima Ramaprasad e-mail: poornima@sbcglobal.net Photos: Raju Photography August 28, 2024 एकं वस्तु द्विधा कर्तुं बहवः सन्ति धन्विनः। धन्वी स मार एवैको द्वयोरैक्यं करोति यः॥ There are a great many archers who can split one into two. But there is only one archer, Manmatha, who unites two into one. San Francisco Bay Area witnessed a unique concert called 'Conversations with Cupid' by Bharatanatyam artiste Ganesh Vasudeva on July 27, 2024 at the San Mateo performing arts auditorium in San Mateo, California. The concert aimed at personifying Kama, the desire and showcasing how desire and lust can cause emotions, some pleasant and some unbearable in humans and Gods alike. Ganesh's presentation was well curated with items that had different shades of love and lust leading to pleasant moments and happy endings. The birth of Kama or desire marked the beginning of the concert, aptly starting with Brahma creating Kama. The dance started in a meditative slow pace showing creation. As Kama was born, Ganesh used musical jathis with intricate combinations of steps and hand movements to illustrate how the Sun was shining, rivers were flowing, flowers were blooming, how Kama, the desire, rode his parrot chariot and created lust in men and women alike. He used sancharis to show how a desire-smitten person would react, the goosebumps, the coyness, the romance and created a good visual as to what sensuous desire means. The Sanskrit verses for this item were taken from the Atharva Veda and Kalidasa's Ritu Samhaara.  Ganesh Vasudeva This was followed by the padavarnam "Mohalahiri" in raga Thodi. In this item, Ganesh performed some crisp jathis with a lot of agility and precision. His athleticism, by itself, showed the youthfulness and the charming spirits of the heroine. The arrival of Rajagopala looked majestic. In the charanam (ettugade swara), Ganesh showed hundred emotions of the desire stricken damsel - the anger, the craving, the pining, the sadness, the disappointment, the eagerness and many more. That was the highlight of this item from the abhinaya angle. The next item was a Jayadeva ashtapadi and this time Ganesh chose to show the pangs of separation and the burning desire in the male domain and in the divine at the same time, when he danced to the verse where Lord Hari is struggling with Kama's attacks. Ganesh excelled in this item with his anga shuddhi and sharp mudras. Be it the upright thumb while holding a bow portraying an arrogant Manmatha, be it the umpteen ways of depicting Lord Shiva in his Nataraja form, with ardha chandra on his head and many more or be it Lord Krishna's lost and dejected poses, where he is requesting Manmatha to be kind on him and not think he is Lord Shiva who opened his third eye to burn Manmatha (desire) to ashes, Ganesh gracefully changed his stances and expressions and did complete justice to Jayadeva's graphic poetry. Easily this was the best item of the evening with the lyrical richness and a very appropriate raga (Vasanthi) for the mood. Continuing on the theme, the next item was to portray the love between the saint poetess Andal and Vishnu. The sanchari in this was unique with vivid storytelling as to how she was waiting for her beloved Vishnu for a whole month, decorating herself and her house every day. Finally, Ananga (Manmatha) did his part of shooting floral arrows and kindling desire in the Lord and the depiction culminated in the wedding of Andal and Vishnu where the music ensemble came together too, giving the wedding vibes on stage. Ganesh concluded the concert with a nritta heavy item in place of thillana. The piece narrated a well-known story where Shiva is meditating in the Himalayas. Parvati, who is seeking Shiva's love is also praying to succeed in winning his love. Lord Indra sends Kama to kindle the desire in Shiva and unite the two. Shiva disturbed by Kama's arrows opens his third eye and burns Kama. A verse from Skandapurana was used which describes this particular moment as Shiva's left eye was in meditation, his right eye was looking lovingly at Parvati and the third eye was burning Kama with anger. Ganesh assumed the 3 roles with poise, shifting between characters, with transitions marked by subtle changes in expression and posture. He showed a strong statured Shiva, lasya for Parvati and playfulness for Kama in the jathis as well as in the sahitya in a way even common audience would appreciate. The music for this item enhanced it with 3 ragas in Grahabheda, Kamavardhini for the meditative Shiva, Mohana for the love-stricken Parvati, Shuddha Dhanyasi for the happy Manmatha. The jathis were in 3 nadais, tisra-chatusra-khanda for the 3 characters finally taking it to a crescendo. The concert concluded with a mangalam in the form of the subhaashita: न कठोरं न वा तीक्ष्णमायुधं पुष्पधन्वनः । तथापि जितमेवासीदमुना भुवनत्रयम् ॥ which means "Manmatha's weapons, the flower arrows, are neither hard nor sharp. Yet, all the three worlds have been conquered by him with them."  Nattuvangam by Aishwarya Chandrashekhar was vibrant and enhanced the overall experience. Music by Snigdha Venkataramani and party was good. To bring some novelty and justification to the title, after each item, there was a short conversation between the emcee and the Cupid, which was somewhat informative. This was in loka-dharmi, so to say, and the same thing could have been done on the stage with a slightly stylized depiction like having a Sutradhara or other appropriate way rather than the dancer coming out of stage and talking to the emcee. Some parts of the concert felt repetitive as the scope of the theme is small. Overall, I'd give a good 4 stars for this challenging thematic production, definitely an evening well spent.  Poornima Ramaprasad follows Indian classical music and dance forms. She reviews Indian dance and drama events in the San Francisco Bay Area from time to time. |
