A Bharatanatyam solo shaped by devotion and lineage
The drizzly, calm evening of Bangalore’s Jayanagar was colourfully lit with the celebrations of the Tharangutsav hosted by Aparna Menon. Performing her debut solo in the culturally-thriving city of Bangalore was Dr Jagyaseni Chatterjee, a Bharatanatyam dancer hailing from Kolkata having found her calling under the guidance of Kalaimamani Dr Lakshmi Ramaswamy. Jagyaseni Chatterjee is a recipient of many prestigious awards including the Nadanamamani from Kartik Fine Arts, Natya Ratna from Trinity Arts.
Repertoire and resonance
She opened with a power-packed Mayil Viruttam, describing the vibrant peacock as a vahana of Lord Muruga. The verses (viruttam) were beautifully woven into a kavuttuvam format with movements mimicking the grand feathers of the peacock which was executed with grace and beauty. She then moved to an evergreen, Karnataka crowd- favourite – the Yamanelli by Purandara Dasa where he uniquely compares Rama to Yama – the vanquisher with a lotus like softness.
The choice of the piece was apt and highly resonated with the audience as she went on to narrate and portray various shades of Vishnu as a annihilator of all evil.
Journey of rasa
Jagyaseni continued with a famous Kshetrayya padam – Nanne penladu, centring a young, innocent girl who claims Krishna for herself and demands that he does the same. The piece tugged at the contrasting emotions of how light hearted yet intense it was, by way of the dancer’s portrayal of experiencing ‘young love’.
She then concluded with a Thillana composed by the doyen of Carnatic music G. N Balasubramaniam in Hamsanandi Ragam which revered Goddess Tripurasundari. The ensemble of musicians who were behind the recorded music were phenomenal in a sense that the music stuck with the crowd long after the piece was over.
