JOIN USBeautiful dance drama
Samhara – the latest creation of Nrityagram was performed on Friday at the Chowdaiah Memorial Hall. It was presented by ‘AIM for Seva’ (All India Movement for Seva), engaged in rural and tribal education and community welfare projects across the country.
The ‘Samhara’ was performed by the artistes of Nrityagram and Chitrasena Dance Company of Sri Lanka. It was a pleasure to see collaboration of two styles – Odissi and Kandyan dance, in a significant way. Odissi, well known in India, is said to be one of the oldest dance traditions of the world and is dedicated to Lord Jaganath and was performed as a ritual. Known for its rich and melodious music, the Odissi narrating love and union, between human and divine is popular all over and also well received. And the Nrityagram Company is known for their colourful Odissi performances and creative work.
Founded by Late Protima Gauri Bedi, the Nrityagram School is being looked after by Surupa Sen and Bijayani Satpathy, dedicated senior dancers.
Kandyan dance comes from Kandy (Sri Lanka), originally performed by dancers aligned to the “Temple of the Tooth”. According to a legend to cure a mysterious sickness of a King, a few Indians came to Sri Lanka and the dance was a part of the ritual (Kohomba Kankariya).
It is Chitrasena who edited and adopted it for the stage in 1940s and his wife Vajira was the first professional Kandyan dancer. It is very much relevant here to recall the choreographer’s note – “At Nrityagram and Chitrasena Kalayatana, we share a common devotion and passion - In communicating with each other we relive our ancient histories, battles, conquests of faith, religion and territory. This unified search has yielded a wonderful and unique collaboration that blends the lines of our two dance forms and connects us to our ancient “wholeness”. Almost as if the Indian Ocean never separated us,”.
One could not but admire the discipline for which Nrityagram is famous. This was revealed in the perfect coordination between the dancers, the crisp clean cut movements in the interpretation of the theme. The inherent similarity and exclusive characters of each style were brought to the surface.
Five dancers – three Indian and two Sri Lanka artistes – interpreted the theme in a beautiful fashion weaving their way neatly through the shifting rhythms. Surupa Sen, Bijayini Satpathy and Pavithra Reddy (Odissi) and Thaji Dias and Mithilani Munasingha (Chitrasena Dance of Sri Lanka) featured the flexibility, mobility and sinuous grace, with innovative touches, performed with telling effect. The second half consisted of a Astapadi of Jayadeva and concluded with another piece with brisk steps and expressive eyes. The music party consisting of – Jateen Sahu (vocal), Sibasankar Satpathy (mardala), Srinibas Satpathy (flute), Sanjib Kunda (violin) and Udayakumara (Kandyan drums) – gave admirable support. Kudos to Surupa Sen (choreography) and Bijayani Satpathy (cymbals) for their very good effort. Earlier Minku Buttar compered the details of the programme.
Melodious Gottuvadya
Dr Gayathri Rajapura Kassebaum’s book “Bharatheeya Sangeetha Darshana” was released on Wednesday in the presence of R K Srikantan and R Visweswaran, veteran musicians. The book was first published in 1960 by the Loka Shikshana Trust and after 50 years the revised edition with few additional chapters, is published by the ‘Samartha Prakashana’.
Gayathri Rajapura is one of the few Gottuvadya players of India now and an expert in ethno-musicology. She has passed ‘Vidwan’ exam from Karnatic Music College, Madras and PhD from University of Washington and M A from University of Hawaii. She has served as a lecturer at Hawaii and Washington and has given lecture demonstration in many parts of the world.
In the current concert Gayathri Rajapura presented few fine compositions on the Gottuvadya. The opening Nata composition ‘Sarasee ruhasana priye’ gave her a steady start. With melodious sound the mini concert took off on a bright note. Her alap for Kalyani, the majestic raga, stood out for its clarity, helping her to lend a well reasoned imagery to the raga.
The composition ‘Kamalamba Bhajare’ had a lively gait to rise the level of the concert. ‘Nadupai’ the familiar krithi bristled in the familiar intonation. The percussion duo M Vasudeva Rao on mridanga and Dayananda Mohithe on ghata accompanied with good understanding.