| NEWS - VIEWS - REVIEWS |
| Live and exquisite |
| Vaishnavi Sampath, a disciple of guru Kanchana Janardhanan (Director,Mayura School of classical dances) recently performed at the VDS Arts Academy,Chennai under the Talent Revealing Opportunity Programme (Trop). She commencedwith a Mallari in ragam Gambheeranata set to Khanda Triputa Tala. 'SaravanaBhava' a padam in Shanmukhapriya was performed well. Her emotive expressions revealed her dedication. Ganesha Varnam, the main stay of theshow unlike in regularly performed sringara-rasa oriented varnams was exquisite inits composition, choreography and performing standard. This number linked thestories singing the greatness of the nayaka i.e. the Vinayaka. The item ‘Navarasam’ was like a mini-thematic presentation elaborating on theincidents that lead to the emergence of the nine expressions out of Goddess Sakti. The tuning of these numbers were catchy, unearthing the musical andlyrical genius of the composer. Composed in ragamalika (a string of ragas) togel with the mood and decorated with enjoyable swaraksharas, it had a magnetic effecton the audience. Composing for dance is an art in itself and requires thoroughknowledge of the dance repertoire plus the power of extra imagination. Thecomposer should be capable of mastering the construction of the item and shouldtake care in garlanding rooms for apt sancharis. The credit for composing andtuning all the above go to the contemporary lyricist and musiccomposer P R Venkatasubramanyan, who seems to possess all the above mentionqualities of a composer for dance. He happens to be the Asthana vidwan of Mayura and also gave his valuable support on the keyboard. ‘Ramanamattirku’,a composition of the great composer Papanasam Sivan and the Tillana in Basantbahar were handled with ease and efficiency by the danseuse. Vaishnavi maintained her stamina and vigour throughout the programme. She seemed to have equal command both on nritta and abhinaya and thecredit for the programme goes in its entirety to guru KanchanaJanardhanan, whose art of handling the cymbals is a treat towatch. Ramsankar Babu with his reverberant Pharans on the mridangam added colour to theprogramme. Padmini a new entrant into the field of dance singing with her clear sangatis enthralled the music lovers. Lakshmi V N |
| Posted on 20th February 2001 |
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