JOIN USRagam Tanam Pallavi, a bharatanatyam series conceived by Usha Rk; choreographed by Kiran Subramaniyam and performed by his senior disciple Shivaranjini Harish, took place at Seva Sadan recently.
Ragam Tanam Pallavi is a form of singing which allows the singer to improvise to a great extent.
It is one of the most complete aspects of Indian classic music, demonstrating the entire gamut of talents and depth of knowledge of the musician.
It incorporates ragalampana, tanam and kalapanaswaram. It is usually followed by a short thaniyavarthanam.
The idea behind this series was to translate this concept in dance.
The event started off with an introduction to the concept and the idea behind the series delivered by Usha Rk.
A taste of the Carnatic format was given in the beginning through a performance by Suchethan Rangaswamy, a young talented Carnatic singer, who has been trained under Dr RK Srikantan and Unni Krishnan from Chennai.
Accompanied by his wife Sindhu Suchethan on the violin and Anirudh Bhat on the mridangam, he performed the composition Rama, Sri Rama, Jaya Rama.
“I wanted to have a young singer display his abilities and articulate to people the ragam tanam pallavi as it is in music. So Suchethan was apt for the series,” said Usha Rk.
On choreographing this piece, Kiran Subramaniyam revealed, “The inspiration came to me just like that. It hit me and within a few hours, the choreography was done.”
He also opened up about how his wife Sandhya Kiran was helpful in the preparation and process and was an integral part of the event.
“There have been a few attempts prior to this but this is first of its kind. I could not deviate from ragam tanam pallavi and had to include all elements of dance (drama, expressions, technique),” he said.
Shivaranjini Harish has been performing for the last 15 years with Rasika, the dance school.
She danced to a composition by Dr M Balamuralikrishna called Ramalola... The choreography was fresh and took a new dimension.
Her expressions and grace captured the hearts of the audience as they remained in a trance well after the performance. “She is a seasoned dancer,” said Sandhya Kiran.