Music and dance reviews

Nritya Vaividhyam

Vidwan H R Keshava Murthy was a veteran dance teacher and choreographer. Through his school, Keshava Nritya Shala, he trained hundreds of students and choreographed many dance dramas.

His children and disciples continue the tradition in both performance and training. Keshava Murthy’s grandson and son of Shyam Prakash, Sri Raghunandan and his wife Manasi run a dance school called Abhivyakti Dance Centre where they teach both Bharatanatya and Odissi. Under its banner, they conducted the ‘Nritya Vaividhyam’ last week.

Sweta Patel, who presented the inaugural dance, is a disciple of Guru Sharad Pandya and serves the MS University, Vadodara, as a lecturer. She opened her dance recital with a jathiswara in the raga Vasantha and followed it with a song on Radha in Gujarati. When Krishna prepares to leave Gokula for Mathura, it is not only Radha but everyone in Gokula who feels sad and even Nature- the river, the trees and the animals- is worried of Krishna’s separation. All these were expressed beautifully by Sweta Patel with her good Abhinaya.

Both the compositions selected by Raghunandan are sought after in classical music concerts. ‘Kamakshee Amba’, the dignified swarajathi of Syama Sastry in Bhairavi, is not frequently chosen by dancers. 

the weighty swarajathi, he chose another heavy piece- that too a thana varna, in a short programme! Of course, Raghunandan performed with ease and assurance, though there was scope for improvement in abhinaya.
Fusion

Seven students commenced their Bharatanatya recital with a Ganesha stotra. Another seven students performed Mangalacharan in Odissi style which also contained Trikhandi Pranam. The fusion of Bharatanatya and Odissi ‘Damarupani’ by six students caught the attention of the dance lovers. 

Well-known devaranamas ‘Hari Kunida’ and ‘Sandhya Devi Stotra’ were proof of their good training. Pallavi thillana was again a blend of both Bharatanatya and Odissi. The young students performed with gay abandon and with some more training, the performance will become more impactful.

From the wings, Raghunandan and Manasi (natuvanga), Samyuktha (vocal), Narayana Swamy (mridanga), Vivek Krishna (flute) and Raghavendra (rhythm pad) supported the dancers.
Gamaka Sambhrama

Sri Gana Nilaya celebrated the ‘Gamaka Sambhrama’ with five days of Gamaka recitals. Two senior artistes presented the ‘Paashupatastra’ episode from the ‘Aranya Parva’ of Kumaravyasa Bharatha. Smt Jayaram started with an invocatory lyric customarily. Based on classical ragas like Kalyani, Naata, Sourashtra, Gowrimanohari, Kaanada, Charukeshi and Ragamalike, Sreemathi sang with good feeling. 

Senior scholar Sunanda Gururaj narrated different episodes like Arjuna’s thapas, pride, dialogue with Kiratha, etc and Shiva’s blessings with the divine ‘Paashupatastra’- quoting from Ramayana, Mahabharatha, Pampa, DVG and many others to make it interesting. Such serials will bring Kannada classics closer to connoisseurs and the common man.

Gamaka is a distinguished art of Karnataka and to popularise it, such serials, Gamaka Sambhrama, must be held in all districts of the State.