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 Dance festival 2024 of Sri Shanmukhananda Fine Arts and Sangeeta Sabha - Chandra Anand e-mail: chandra6267@yahoo.co.in November 27, 2024 A four day dance festival in which prominent dance schools of Mumbai got to present their dance productions was held at the Sri Shanmukhananda Chandrashekarendra Saraswathi Auditorium, Mumbai, from 8th - 11th November 2024. It was organized by Sri Shanmukhananda Fine Arts and Sangeeta Sabha, Mumbai, the eminent institution which is known for propagating cultural activities in Mumbai and also known for its community services. On 8th November 2024, the first day, was Kathak presentation 'Naman' - a musical tribute to Sitara Devi by Kalakriti Kendra Dance Academy run by Jayantimala Mishra, daughter of Sitara Devi. In one and half hour display, rendering majorly traditions of the Banaras gharana as adapted by Sukhdev Maharaj and dance choreographies of other stalwarts of Kathak, they gave a mini crash course in nuances of Kathak dance and honored Sitara Devi.  Jayantimala Mishra  Rishika Mishra The beginning, a prayer performance by Jayantimala with her students, on Lord Ganesha with the shloka 'Vakratunda mahakaya' and dohas composed by Tulsidas "Gayiye Ganapati"; provided a suitable warm-up for the audience to get focusing on the following parts where they showcased various techniques of Kathak style. Rishika Mishra, daughter of Jayantimala Mishra, a carbon copy of her grandmother Sitara Devi, performed pure Kathak. She presented a thaat, a cheez choreographed by Birju Maharaj, a ghat that showed stances of sword fighting, toda, bandish with the ghungat opening and closing, and finally a paran of Sukhdev Maharaj where she moved three ways to the same padhant - hand extension movements done forward facing, turning right and left with back towards the audience and did chakkars while moving in a circle. This was truly elating. Jayantimala performed two pieces to the phrase "da ta ka tungga" bol which were a creation of Tara Devi, sister of Sitara Devi. These were nicely done pieces in sitting manner where she moved her eyebrows to the above padhant and then followed it with the movement of eyeballs to the same padhant. She continued enthralling the audience with other interesting technical pieces like ghanik bhav pradhan, bijli ghat, and Radha-Krishna ched chad wherein audience got transported to sense the other worldly experience of bliss. She later demonstrated with the way gungroos could be made to give sharp, medium and melodic sounds and also could walk around without making a sound from the gungroos. Saurav Mishra, student of Jayantimala, presented Om Namah Shivaya. Elegantly dressed in red and white, he performed this salutation to Nataraja very energetically encompassing his attributes; and presented some important tihais. Vaibhav Mankad sang very evocatively and Alka Gujjar gave melodious sitar support with Fazal Qureshi on tabla. This was an aural and visual treat to the audience.  Lava and Kusha (courtesy: Shanmukhananda Sabha) On 9th November 2024, a dance drama was presented by Pavitra Bhat and Aparna Sastry Bhat showcasing 'Para - the voices of Ramayana.' It was a premier presentation featuring "a story inside a story" - that is Uttarakandam- seventh sarga of Ramayana as written by Valmiki, wherein the story of Rama was told through voices of Lava and Kusha. Captivating the spectators' senses with a picturesque scene of Pattabhishekam with the Lord and his consort blessing their subjects, the scene moved on to the village where a folk dance was being performed. The dhobi scene ensued and the story was taken forward in a concise manner. The scenes of how the twins of Rama (Pavitra) and Sita (Aparna) were brought up by Sita with help of the ashramites and gratitude she feels as Rishi Valmiki takes over the education of the princes was well brought out. The story of Rama is taught to the children and their reaction to enjoying the story at different growth ages was really worth watching. After becoming adept to sing songs of Ramayana, Lava and Kusha move towards reaching out the story of Rama through namasankeertan to the public. This is where scenes from the earlier sargas of Ramayana was enacted briefly. The scenes were interspersed between the lyrical passages to sustain the sthayi bhava of namasankeertan. Finally, the children got to narrate the story to Rama himself. Their desire to see Sita and Rama's despair was well delineated. Once Lava-Kusha know about Sita's fate they are so hurt that they vow never to sing Ramayana again. The scene surely brought the teary eyed effect in all. With the decision to perform the Ashwamedha yagna taken, Lava and Kusha captured the horse and we come to the finale of the story where Sita joins with Mother Earth. They ended with a picturesque scene of Lord Vishnu and Sri Lakshmi united in Vaikunta.  Pavitra Bhat & Aparna Sastry Bhat (Photo: Madhumita Srivatsan) This hour-long production was well appreciated and one could hear applause whenever there was an invigorating experience. Surely one felt many of the effects of rasa like emotional reactions as the story progressed. The costumes were apt, with well-chosen colors and designs. The dance was perfectly synced to the music. The lyrics were in Sanskrit and Hindi languages from Valmiki Ramayana and Ramcharitamanas by Tulsidas. Some lyrics were also penned according to the requirement of the script by Vasudev Iyengar. The presentation shone with excellent dance choreography by Pavitra Bhat and Aparna Shastry Bhat, exquisite music composed by Vasudev Iyengar, perceptive rendition of vocals by NS Abhishek, and judicious mridangam and rhythmic inputs by Satish Krishnamoorthy. Giving elevating instrumental support to the recorded music was Jayaram on the flute, on violin was Shrinidhi Mathur, on sitar was Suma Rani, on extra effects for music was DV Prasanna Kumar and appropriate lighting effects was arranged by Keerthi Kumar. Pavitra and Aparna were well supported in this endeavor by the students of their dance school Pavitra Art Visual Institute.  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. |
