The first part of the sixth day of the 45th anniversary celebrations of Tamil Isai Sangam witnessed the Bharathanatyam of Smrithika Subramaniyam, a disciple of Indra Krishnamurthy, to the accompaniment of her guru on naattuvangam, Padmasri on vocal, Srinivasan on mridangam and R. Lakshmi Narayanan on violin.
Smrithika started with a Pushpanjali, “Gajamuha Varada Gana Nayaga,” invoking the blessings of Lord Ganesa. Next was “Sri Ganesa charanam” in raag thilana by Papanasam Sivan. She danced a beautiful piece on the presiding deity of Madurai Meenakshi “Devi nee ye thunai” again by Sivan in Keeravani. Ninrada Mayilonru by Oothukkadu Venkata Subbaier, in which the dancer described the impact of Krishna’s music on birds, animals and gopis of Vrindavan very well. Her other items include Kanaga sabhai Thirunadanam (Gopala Krishna Bharathi), kanna Vaa (Ambujam Krishna), Taaye yasoda (Oothukaadu Venkatasubba Iyer), Kavadi Chindu ‘Azhagu Deivamaaga,’ (Periyasami Thooran), Ettanai Sonnalum (Subburama Iyer). Smrithika concluded the program with a nice Thillana.
Odissi was performed by Shatabti Mallik and her disciples Sumita Pal, Debenjana Datta, Tanmay Samaddar and Debeshmita kar.
Shatabti Mallik showed an exceptional performance in which her body seems to fall into shapes and gestures required of it and at the same time exuding meaning, character and symbolism.
The group began the performance with “Dasa Mahavidya”(music composition by Guru Sulhantha) or the Ten Goddesses, ten aspects of the Devi or Shakti, the divine goddess, as described by Srimad Devi Bhagavatham.
They depicted the 10 Mahavidyas viz Kali, Tara, Tripura Sundari (Shodoshi), Bhuvaneshvari, Tripura Bhairavi, Chinnamasta, Dhumavati, Bagalamukhi, Matangi and Kamala very nicely.
Next they staged a pure dance “Sthayee,” with rhythmic music, which was graceful and the lyrical movements of eyes, neck, torso & feet and slowly built in a crescendo to climax in a fast tempo at the end was a visual treat.
The navarasa - the nine expressions that humans often show and finally “Dasavatara,” 10 Faces of Lord Vishnu, kind of dance composition that requires the performer to balance demanding technical effects with a clear flow of abstracted storytelling was done by the group with full facial expressions and delicately complex, resilient hand gestures conveyed the characters and emotion.
Padmanabhan S