Kavita Ramu chose Arunagirinathar’s popular Tamil verse to begin her dance performance

Kavita Ramu began with a varnam on Muruga, which was interspersed with vibrant sollukattus.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

In the present-day dance scenario, where virtuosity and speed seem to dominate proceedings, it was refreshing to see a Margam presented by Kavita Ramu, a disciple of K.J. Sarasa. She drew attention to the beauty of traditional repertoire in her presentation for the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s dance festival.

Arunagirinathar’s celebrated Tiruppugazh ‘Muthaitharu pathithirunagai’ in praise of Muruga, where the lyrics pour out in a torrent, worked well as an opening number. Her depiction of varied facets of Muruga — his persona, the peacock, his vehicle, and the rituals associated with him such as the Kavadi — were interspersed with dynamic sollukattus. Her fine sense of rhythm, finishing every theermanam with a flourish, made for a vibrant opening.

Kavita Ramu established through her stance and mukhaabhinaya the heroine’s anguish in her varnam.
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

The khamas raga varnam ‘Samiyai azhaithu vadi’ addressed to Sundareswarar of Madurai composed by the Thanjavur Quartet, dealt with the nayika pining for a union with her lord. Kavita, while entreating her sakhi to go as a messenger, established through her stance and mukhaabhinaya the heroine’s anguish at the commencement of the varnam. The description of her lord— who has a regal bearing, whose body smells of sandalwood, and the deity whose radiance shines on his devotees — was visualised to establish the character of the nayaka.

Birds, bees, cuckoos, and the arrows of Kama, the god of love, are allegories used in Bharatnatyam to communicate emotions. These formed a part of Kavita’s vocabulary too. The attention to detail came through in her sancharis and simple communicative abhinaya sans dramatic diversions, and the range of gaits for the hero, heroine and sakhi.

A vibrant Swati Tirunal Dhanasri thillana came as a fitting finale to her performance. The musical team consisted of Swamimalai Suresh and A. Narendra Kumar on the nattuvangam, Kaushik Panchapakesan on vocals, Kesavan on the mridangam, Atul Kumar on the flute and Durai Srinivasan on the veena. Make-up was by Murugan.