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AMBIKA’S ANTARYAMINI - FINE BLEND OF HISTORY AND MYTHOLOGY

   

Dr. Ambika Kameshwar, the renowned Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi exponent staged ‘Antaryamini’, a thematic presentation depicting the power of a woman. She is depicted as the embodiment of power as well as surrender. Chosen lyrics from Lalitha Sahasranamam, Devi Mahatmeeyam and the songs of Subramanya Bharati were brilliantly inter-woven in the form of a dance ballet. She (the woman) is described as the personification of all rasas (expressions). The first half of the show dealt with mythological characters. The character of Sita in Ramayana was rightly chosen to highlight a women’s attitude of surrender. It is she, who is definitely the epitome of sacrifice. The life of Devi Meenakshi of Madurai was taken up to depict that a woman is all-powerful.

The second half of the show brought alive historical characters such as Olakkai Ammaiyar of Karnataka and Sharada Devi, the consort of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. Today when artistes have controversies with regard to banis even in the same style of dancing, Ambika surpasses all others by her broad outlook in combining different styles of dancing as Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi and other allied dance forms to suit the scene and situation. In addition to it, her talent of interspersing the show with dialogues to bring out the dramatic effect, make her performances openly accessible even to the common mass. Her recent performance at the Bharat Kalachar’s YGP Auditorium well brought out these extraordinary talents in her. Her students Sreethika, Sandhya, Swetha, Revathi, Srinivas, Nagesh and Ujwal took active participation. The orchestral ensemble included Babu Parameshwar (Nattuvangam), Bhama Vishweshwaran and Chitrambari (Vocal), SSR Krishnan (Mridangam), Ramana (Flute), Suganthi (Vina), and Venkata Subramanian (Keyboard) who extended marvellous support.

Lakshmi V N

       

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   Posted on 25th January 2001