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 Sphurita: A festival for budding artistes - Chandra Anand e-mail: chandra6267@yahoo.co.in Photos courtesy: Nrithyodaya September 26, 2024 Nrithyodaya, the Academy of Performing Arts, Mumbai, held a dance festival Sphurita, for the "budding artistes". This event was created for youngsters to feel enthused about their practice, get experience and confidence for further stage performances. It catered as a platform for all classical dance forms. Held for two Saturdays in Mumbai, the event was co-sponsored by 'Fusion Kaapi' and 'Multiples'. The first day was held on 24th August 2024 at Mysore Association, Mumbai. Six slots of 30 minutes each was presented to cater to overwhelming response from applicants. The program commenced with the lighting of the lamp by dignitaries and an invocatory piece performed by Shravani Pawar and Ankita Kotkar, students of Nrithyodaya, in Bharatanrityam genre.  Shravani Pawar and Ankita Kotkar  Ananya Iyer Ananya Iyer, student of Dr Lata Surendra, presented three Bharatanatyam items without a break. She commenced with an innovative Alarippu piece in Sankeerna jathi triputa talam, wherein the movements were infused with all characteristics of the Lord Nataraja, Ardhanareeshwara and with stories presenting his attributes of Nirguna and Saguna capturing the rapt attention of the audience. Her sync to the sollukattus of the Alarippu was good and expressions were brief. Continuing with a verse from Kulashekara Alwar's Mukunda Mala Stotram which mentions Hara and Hari, connected to a truncated varnam wherein keeping non-South Indian audiences in mind, "Nee inda maayam" (Dhanyasi, adi) penned by Papanasam Sivan (19th century Tamil poet) was interwoven with padavalis of Sant Surdas (16th century Hindi poet) that had the same connotations as the sahitya of the varnam expressing viraha from Lord Krishna. Thus a jugalbandi of Carnatic and Hindustani music sung by Keertana Krishnamurthy. Though Ananya danced with grace and confidence, her execution of china teermanam and periya teermanam were a bit off the mark, considering these adavus were abundantly used in the choreography. She was unable to do the spinal twist, very much a characteristic feature of the teermanam adavus. Sailakshmi Ravikumar, student of Geeta Vijayshankar, performed Mohiniattam. With apt gestures and expressions she depicted padartha bhava of Shiva Panchakshari composed by Shankaracharya (Ragamalika, adi talam). This was followed by varnam, "Jagadambe pahimam" (Vijaynagari, adi). This varnam, based on Silapathikaram (meaning jewel anklet) by Elango Adikal portrays man's ruin due to lust and indiscretion. Graceful nritta seemed too soft, was done to swara patterns and abhinaya to the sahityam where the story of Kovalan and Kannagi was presented in a touching and evocative manner. The expressions showing infatuation of Kovalan, the greed of Madhavi and the anger of Kannagi at the beheading of her husband was on the mark.  Sailakshmi Ravikumar  Jidnyasa Girade and Shreyas Joshi Jidnyasa Girade and Shreyas Joshi, students of Pavithra Bhat, presented Bharatanatyam starting with a traditional Pushpanjali and Shiv Shakti (Brindavanasarang, adi), a composition of MS Sukhi. Cadences of dance movements performed were in sync with music, done with aplomb and verve. Jidnyasa performed a padam, "Aduvum solluvaal" (Saurashtram, adi), a composition of Subbarama Iyer. Here the heroine is visibly disturbed in her work of painting an art piece by the girls gossiping around her. She enters into conversation with the sakhis telling it's not that lady's fault she speaks so much and that too rotten words. She avers that the said lady is encouraged by her marriage to the nayaka and her sudden rise to riches to behave in this manner. One could see Jidnyasa didn't have language problem as she navigated through syncing with the sahityam with appropriate gestures and good abhinaya. Shreyas Joshi rendered a viruttam, "Kunitta puruvamum" and a Nataraja padam, "Idadhu padam thooki aadum" (Khamas, adi). "I bow with my utmost devotion to the feet of Nataraja, who is dancing by lifting his left foot". Shreyas presented the padharta bhava of the viruttam with apt gestures and expressions. He performed in a relaxed and calm manner presenting the attributes of Lord Shiva with neat lines to Saraswati Subramanian's divine singing filling the ambience with shanta rasa. Paromita Dolui, student of Archita Mehta and Priya Srinivasan, presented "Daari juchu chunnadi" (Shankarabharanam, triputa talam) with adequate abhinaya, where the sakhi tells Lord Krishna how her young friend, the nayika is waiting for him and is completely immersed in his thoughts. She gets a promise from him to arrive quickly and attend to her friend. A thillana (Hindolam, khanda eka), a joyous crescendo of music and movement in praise of Goddess Kamakshi of Kanchipuram was performed with clean lines, smiling face and showed good stamina. But her nritta was sometimes not in sync with the music.  Paromita Dolui  Sharanya Sanjay Sharanya Sanjay, student of Jayashree Nair, presented the Bharatanatyam genre. She began with a Mallari (Gambheeranattai, adi) followed by a shloka praising Lord Vishwanatha. In the Mallari, Sharanya brought forth the characteristics of Lord Shiva with élan. Some Bharatanrityam movements were also interspersed in the Mallari choreography. She clearly depicted the stories mentioned in the various phrases of the shloka "Ganga Tarangini" with apt angika and mukhaja abhinaya. In the Tamil padam, "Yenna naan saithu vitteyn" (Ragamalika, mishra chapu), little Krishna on getting caught stealing butter puts forth arguments and excuses as to why he was found in the Gopi's house eating butter, and asks that he be let off freely. With engaging abhinaya, she presented the character of Krishna who is mischievous, sensitive, yet vexing to the Gopis.  Diya and Risa D'Souza Diya and Risa D'Souza, students of Mitali Raul, presented an Odissi duet. They first regaled the audience with a Hamsadhwani Pallavi - taal ektaali. Dashavatar (Kalyan, jhampa taal), penned by Jayadeva, depicting the 10 incarnations of Lord Vishnu with nritta pieces interspersed between the verses. They alternately enacted each avatar in brief showing the padartha bhava with confidence and were expressive. The nritta part could be improved. The event was well attended and graced by well-known connoisseurs of art and the gurus of Mumbai.  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. |
