The Sooryakanti Festival 2024 at Thrissur’s Regional Theatre showcased the richness of Bharatanatyam
The four-day Sooryakanti Festival held at Regional Theatre, Thrissur recently was essentially a celebration of Bharatanatyam. The ‘arangettam’ of nine talents apart, the festival showcased two solo and two group performances that highlighted the intrinsic qualities of the dance form.
Indian classical dances often reveal their technical finesse in full through solo performances and the festival was quintessence of this axiom.
The young male dancer Pritam Das, a disciple of Rama Vaidyanathan, appeared the ‘masculine beauty’ of Bharatanatyam through his two-hour recital.
Evoking the Intensity of Virahotkantita Nayika
He opened with the classic varnam of Sivanandam of the Thanjavur Quartet, ‘Mohalahiri konden saami’, which left the audience spellbound. The varnam in Todi and adi delves deeply into the intense emotions of the ‘Virahotkantita nayika’ who pines for union with her love, Rajagopala. The multilayered lyrics blended the erotic and spiritual elements which Pritam exploited to the hilt. While interpreting them he seemed under intoxication (lahiri) of ‘moham’ (desire). His histrionic potential soared each moment he delineated them.
As for the nritta part, the jatis were not only intricate but aesthetically rich which he stamped to perfection. Pritam said they were coined by the late maestro Yamini Krishnamurthy. Exciting were the footwork which were brisk at times perfectly in sync with the angas and upangas. Admittedly, some of the adavus appeared strange and they spoke for his innovative urge. He revealed that they belonged to Odissi. Really a commendable and creative attempt. Appropriate sancharis added to the aesthetic appeal of the performance. The dancer’s utilization of space was further laudable.
The audience burst into a wild applause as the 70 minute varnam concluded.
‘Innu poi nale va’ (go now, return tomorrow) taken from Kamba Ramayana describes the pitiful predicament of Ravana who is asked by Rama to come the next day for continuing the fight. This is humiliating to Ravana who knows fully well abouthis fate next morning. He tells Sita, “My body burns, my broad shoulders have drooped and everyone has left me”.
A signature piece of his Guru, Pritam’s delineation of Ravana’s haunting emotions and mixed with his ego was really remarkable. Music composition was by Sudha Raghunathan.
The concluding number, a Tillana by Ramanathapuram Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar in praise of Lord Srinivasa where the devotee asks to remove his tapam in order. Especially noteworthy was it as composed in Kamavardhini and the rare tala Ragavardhana of 19 beats. Though complicated – Drutam Drutam Anudrutam Drutam and a Plutam – Pritam executed them with uncanny ease. Choreography was Pritam himself under the guidance of his Guru.
Devotion to Muruka
The 90 minute ‘Murukanubhooti’ conceptualized and staged by the young dancer Meera Sreenarayanan was a demonstration of how the margam from varnam to tillana could be strung together as a thematic presentation. The leitmotif is a bhaktha’s devotion to Muruka. Interestingly, it begins with Mallari which is conveyed through the dancer’s suggestions.
She switched to varnam thereafter composed in Kapi by Kunnaikkudi Venkatrama Iyer, in which she turned a Virahotkantita nayika, yearning for a look from Muruka. While the theermananmas, adavus and sancharis were highly praiseworthy, many were the occasions when her abhinaya rose to satwika thereby leaving a lasting impression on the audience.
Tagged to it was Irayimman Thampi’s padam, “Prana Nathan enikku nalkiya” in Kamboji in which she became a swadeenabhathruka, recapitulating the intimate moments of love-making. In the Javali that followed, she is full of fury over nayaka’s overtures with another woman. Kavadi attam with accompaniment of Nagaswaram and tavil thereafter brought the focus back on Muruka. The performance concluded with a tillana composed by C V Chadrasekhar in Simhendramadhyamam. Meera was successful in bringing out all attributes of Muruka.
The value addition to her performance was mainly the emotive vocal rendition by Bijeesh Krishna supported by Charudatt on the mridangam and other accompaniments. Nagaswaram by Nemmara Kannan and Tavil by Thidanadu Anu Venugopal contributed immensely for creating the temple ambience.
‘Aabha’, the world-renowned production by Punya Dance Company, Bengaluru, narrated the story of Ramayana by the group led by Parswanath Upadhye accompanied by Sruti Gopal and P V Adithya. A thematic presentation, the number showcased unparalleled artistry of the trio.
The duet by Manju V Nair and Jagadeeswar Sukumar, captioned ‘Neyam’ – a tale of amity – was composed in multilingual verses by the latter. The number was based on Vayalar’s poem that describes Thadaka, the demoness, as a beautiful passionate Dravidian princess. Manju’s depiction of Thadaka and her antics were superb and her terpsichorean talents were commendable. Jagdeeswar as Rama too proved his worth as a masculine dancer.
Trained under Kalakshetra Rakhi Satheesh, the debut performance of nine students was in the typical margam format. The synchronization among the dancers was especially noteworthy.
The festival honoured noted vainika A Ananthapadmanabhan and Mohiniyattam exponent Dr Kalamandalam Sugandhi.
