|
News - Views - Reviews |
|
|
Learning Indian Art in Foreign Land |
|
|
Yet another young danseuse was recently staged in Chennai. She was Swetha Krishnan who underwent training in this art form at Dubai. Her Guru Geetha Krishnan is well known in the Middle East for her innovative and thematic presentations. Swetha began with the Guru Vandanam. The symmetry and geometry of the dancing stances were well brought out in the Tisra Alarippu. The Kalyani jatiswaram gave ample scope to display the dancer's understanding of the nritta or pure dance sequences. The main piece of the day was the Poorvikalyani Varnam in which the birth of Muruga was extended in the form of a beautiful sanchari. The jatis were crisp and enticing. In the next half of the programme, Swetha presented three items which included two thematic presentations and a Tillana. The first thematic presentation was about the trinity goddesses, Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati. The lyrics and music scores for the presentations on Lakshmi and Saraswati were done by Anil David. These presentations were staged with recorded music. The novelty in it was that song was accompanied only with keyboard rhythms, and no Indian percussions were used. They were set to Misra Chapu and Adi Talas. To elaborate on the incarnation of Durga, Mahishasura Mardhini was rendered. The programme was rounded off with Krishna leela followed by Maharaja Swati Tirunal’s Dhanasri Tillana. Though it was a nice attempt, Swetha needs to work more on her nritta. The perfect hand positioning and aramandi postures demand little more hard work from her end. She was accompanied on the Nattuvangam by Geetha Krishnan, Visalakshi Shankar (Vocal), Palghat Shekar (Mridangam), Kumudha (Violin), Saravanan (Flute) and Balaji (Vina). |
Swetha Krishnan |
| Noteworthy
performance by youngster
Gone are those days where the Guru imparted the knowledge in his Gurukulam to all his disciples without any discrimination. In the present dance scenario, one is sorry to note that this art form cannot be learnt and performed by the middle class. Amidst all the money makers in the field, guru Kanchana Janardhanan stands out as a Guru who is silently trying to revive the Gurukula tradition by giving her student that motherly touch. Her Mayura School today has become another home to all her students, says Vaishnavi who was recently staged at the Mylapore Fine Arts Club, Chennai. |
|
|
Vaishnavi |
Commencing with the Mallari in
raga Nata set to Roopaka tala, she swiftly glided to the Ganeshanjali ‘Sankaran
Maindane’ in
praise of Vinayaka. The Dasavatara Varnam specially written and choreographed
for the day by P R Venkata Subramanian remained the nucleus of the day. The
elaborate presentation of the incarnations Koorma, Narasimha, Vamana and Krishna
avataras mirrored the choreographic genius of guru Kanchana Janardhanan. The
jatis were finely rendered with appropriate modulations and Vaishnavi’s neat
performance of the same was noteworthy. Vaishnavi was unanimously appreciated
for her brilliant demonstration of the game of dice between the Kauravas and
Pandavas, particularly the character of Sakuni, which was marvelously depicted.
The popular rendition of ‘Chinnanchiru Kiliye’ and the reverberating ‘Bho
Shambo’ made the second half of the show also colourful. The Charukesi tillana
in Khanda Jati Triputa tala was an acid test for the dancer in which she
proved her mastery over nritta. She was supported by her guru
Kanchana Janardhanan on the Nattuvangam, Padmini Lakshminarayanan (Vocal), Ramshankar Babu
(Mridangam)
and P R Venkata Subramanian (Keyboard). Ayyulu (dress-maker), Sundararaman
(make-up), Akshaya and Archana (compere) and Shanmugam (lights and
mike)
also shared the credit for the day.
Lakshmi V N |
|
Posted on 4th September 2001 |
|
|
|
|
