Rithu Bharatam — the 26th edition of Natyangam’s annual dance festival — celebrated the beauty of Nature through dance. The six-day festival held recently, featured both established and young dancers who explored the six seasons by weaving together Kalidasa’s Rithu Samharam, Sangam literature and Ragamala paintings.
The deep and exhaustive topics provided by the resource persons — Dr. Sudha Seshayyan, R.K. Shriram Kumar, Monali Bala, and S. Raghuraman, were quite challenging for the dancers to explore. Yet, each presented their part in a commendable way.
The fourth day of the festival was themed on ‘Sharad Rithu’ — Rising through Fall, presented by Ramya Suresh, senior disciple and daughter-in-law of guru Indira Kadambi.
Ramya Suresh’s portrayal was rich in Angika and Aharya abhinayas.
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SRINATH M
The two prominent aspects that shone throughout Ramya’s performance were the angika and Aharya abhinayas.
Just as howguru Indira’s imparting of the art to her disciple was evident, Ramya’s skill to absorb, create and execute the theme effectively was equally visible.
Ramya Suresh wore a colourful skirt and a handmade garland to depict the changing colours of Autumn season.
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SRINATH M
Her costume — a light, flowing colourful skirt and a handmade garland that adorned her neck — blended well with the tone of the season that she represented. Surya Rao’s exceptional lighting added to the visual appeal.
The orchestra team consisted of T.V. Ramprasad (vocals), who seamlessly fused Carnatic raga, tanam, Hindustani tarana and a Bengali ., Mridangam by Sri. Vinay Nagarajan (mridangam), Pranav Dath (Rhythm Pads), Vivek Krishna (flute), Rakshita Ramesh (veena) and Apeksha Kamath (narration). Shubha Dhar lent vocal support. .
Ramya Suresh’s Ramya convincingly depicted the love between a leaf and the earth through the wheel of time.
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SRINATH M
Titled ‘Rising through Fall’, as an ode to the autumn season, Ramya convincingly portrayed the bond between the earth and the fallen leaf, through the wheel of time. Her fluid and even-paced movements transformed the lithe dancing frame into the swaying leaves intertwined in the branches of the tree.
Concept, script and choreography were handled with a metaphysical twist.
The radiant moon and the symbolic tree, with subtle lighting in the background, brought forth a moving image of the Ragamala painting in the stillness of poetry.
The allegory of Sharad Rithu had shades of ‘The Pilgrims’ Progress,’ which came as a stark reminder for mankind to shed the outer layers of his being, and introspect, beckoning one to seek liberation.
Ramya concluded by paying obeisance to Devi, in the fiery traditional Navaratri dance performed during Durga puja.
Uma Satyanarayanan’s Hemanth Rithu
“When winter comes can spring be far behind?”
‘Hemanth Rithu’ was Uma Satyanarayanan’s thematic presentation the next day. A senior disciple of guru Chitra Visveswaran, Uma has imbibed all the finer nuances, which reflected from start to finish.
Her graceful glides, light-footed leaps, and the swift shifts in the Angikabhinaya were testimony to her long years of training.
Uma Sathyanarayanan’s performance was themed on Hemanth Rithu (Pre-winter season).
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SRINATH M
Versatility is Uma’s hallmark. She is a dancer, musician, actor, choreographer, and teacher.
Natural seasonal changes in a specified time frame have been replaced today by erratic weather patterns. Uma’s depictions of ‘Hemanth Rithu’ awakened us to the long forgotten beauty of the shades of pre-winter, a time of renewal and hope.
Three segments describing the pre-winter season were well-handled. Within a short span, Uma took us on a tour from Dakshinayan (winter solstice) to Uttarayan (summer solstice), sketching a variety of festivals through mythology, Sangam poetry, and Ragamala references.
, Uma’s exposition of puppetry evoked spontaneous applause. Her movements of the puppet were remarkably executed to the rhythmic support. The mukhabhinaya had high and low moments. One desired more facial mobility to be registered while expressing the lyrical content. The colours of her costume too didn’t symbolise Hemanth Rithu much.
Uma Sathyanarayanan’s theatrical skills came through in her portrayal of the nayika’s anguish and longing for her beloved effectively.
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SRINATH M
One must compliment her theatrical skills that came through in the Sangam passages as she displayed her anguish and longing for her beloved. Uma’s vocal rendition and portrayal of the bandish in Maru Bihag cast a spell on the audience.
Her intense dance movements and silken voice, when she sang to convey the pangs of separation, were noteworthy.
Kudos to Uma Sathyanarayanan for the concept, choreography, music composition and soundscape.
A gentle pointer for the vocalist Janani Hamsini and Sai Santhanam (nattuvangam) is to be conscious of the vocal output while performing on the mike.
Uma concluded her performance with raag Surya, which aptly ushered in the dawn of a new life as the Sun God majestically moved in the Uttarayan direction.
Indu-Nidheeh’s Sisiram
Indu Nidheesh and Nidheesh presented Sisiram with finesse.
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SRINATH M
‘Sisiram’ — the season of late winter, a prelude to blossoming, took on a philosophical dimension in its presentation by Indu and Nidheeshkumar. An abstract concept to be handled using the dance idiom was indeed a huge challenge. The enthusiastic dance duo presented sensitive segments with finesse .
The orchestra consisted of S. Adithyanarayanan on the vocals. Ragas such as Sahana, Bhairavi, and Ramkali to mention a few flowed seamlessly. K.P. Rakesh aced the nattuvangam with ease, firm control and clarity. Guru Bharadwaj’s pulsating beats on the mridangam were enjoyable and T. Shashidar’s musical intonations on the flute were haunting. Anantakrishnan’s violin and Sowmya’s veena were equally competent and melodious. There was anoverpowering of music which set the mood for Sisiram.
Sisir Rithu was marked by Indu’s poginant portrayal and Nidheesh’s powerful depiction.
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SRINATH M
The stillness of the season with its underlying rhythms was wonderfully conceived using varying Yatis (arranging different groups of syllables into a beautiful combination, which lends a particular shape to music).
Perceiving the four stages of life that one goes through, the use of Yatis in the narrative was unique — Srotovaha (Infancy – wonderment of expanse), Mridanga (childhood – playful ups and downs), Sama (youth – attraction of equals), Damaru (old age – thoughts of death and rebirth) and Gopuchcha (the vastness that leads to the one point of infinity). It
The seed of life played the protagonist in the following episodes, which drew parallels from the tree that has experienced varying seasons.
Nideesh’s delineations were powerful and struck the right chord within. Indu, on her part, depicted a pregnant heroine who faces loneliness, isolated thoughts incapable of participating in physical activities. Her sadness came through but in the conversation and wise counsel of the tree, hers was a static role for long.
Lyrics in multiple languages like Sanskrit, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada conveyed the varying emotions of Sisiram vis a vis the nature of a mother to be.
Finally, Indu portrayed the rajasic Kali destroying the various aspects of the manifested form — desire, rage, delusion, greed, ego and jealousy. Eventually, she returns to shantam and shivam before the next creation.
Sisiram was a thought-provoking production, which engulfed the concept of Shoonya. Indu and Nidheesh, founder directors of Indisha Trust, deserve praise for the passion and commitment with which they presented Sisiram – A prelude to blossoming.
