News & Notes
Evening performances @ SNA Festival

The International Festival of Indian Dance from the 16 - 21 of October will go down in history as a great event. Post the serious deliberations on different topics in the mornings, the evenings were dedicated to dance performances at the Kamani auditorium.
The first day began with Sonal Mansingh who
presented Meera Bai in a Hari Katha, an ancient and artistic form of
story-telling format. Group singing and chanting of Hari Narayana accompanied
with the beat of the percussion and playing of the harmonium and other musical
instruments, the story of bhakti saint Meera Bai was narrated in a
telling-manner. Possessed with an admirable voice Mansingh sang her way through
to every heart. Bhajans like Pada ghungroo bandhe reverberated in the
air.
Soon after the audience was fed with the epic
poem from the Mahabharata Krishna delivers the profound words of the Gita to
Arjuna, the warrior Pandava Prince who refused to take up arms against his own
people. The piece Gitopodesam, was danced in the Kathakali style of
Kerala Kalamandalam by septuagenarian Kalamandalam Balasubramaniam in the role
of Krishna and Kalamandalam Hari Narayan as Arjuna. The Kathakali costume,
make-up and crowns gave them a larger than life look which brought home great
truths.
On 17th evening aficionados of
dance were treated to Prakriti by Mamata Shankar Dance Company. The
company is globally famed for its secular themes presented in Modern style of
dance. Produced by Chandrodoy Ghosh and choreographed by Mamata Shankar,
lighting was by Ratul Shankar. Shantha Rati chose a tillana from Swati
Tirunal’s poetry collection Nach rahi gori and presented it through the
Kuchipudi style.
Taksu which followed next was a dance drama
based on the Ramayana from Bali through Sendratari. In Sendratari Ramayana
Hanuman is the messenger. Sendratari is essentially story telling with no
dialogue accompaniments, first created in Central Java, and later it spread to
many places in Indonesia. Rama, the prince of Ayodhya, accompanied by his loyal
younger brother Laksmana, has Sita, who was kidnapped by King Dasamuka of
Alengka in the Dandaka forest. Hanuman managed to meet princess Sita, upon
Rama’s order attacks Alengka. Rama fights the battle and defeats Rahwana and
rescues his Sita.
On the third evening of the festival artists from Kyrgystan presented Zhyuldz Dance Ensemble - one of their folk dances in which six children clad in white tops and loose pyjamas with turquoise blue waist coat and caps performed a sprightly dance, solo song by a male singer followed soon after. For the second dance the six girls had a little variation in their costumes, they were joined by Indian folk dancers in creating a group performance.
Dr. Sunanda Nair exponent of Mohini Attam who has delved deep into the study of lyrical feminism in Mohini Attam choreographed in her style the story of Sabari- an episode from the Ramayana. She enacted the bhakti bhava of Sabari who with a boon from Durga’s blessings was blessed by Rama. The simplicity of her devotion to her lord Rama, did enable her to meet him in her old age. In her excitement and devotion she ensured that she offered her the sweetest of berries by first tasting them herself. Rama an incarnation of Vishnu accepted her sincere offering. Nair’s depiction of the nuances through abhinaya was amazing.
Utkarsh a mosaic of folk dances of India presented by Sangeet
Natak Akademi set the stage on fire with a rich tapestry of our mahan
Bharat. India boasts of hundreds of folk dances that are to be found in every
nook and corner of India. The dances presented on the proscenium stage were
Dhediya Dance from Uttar Pradesh, Paika Dance from Jharkhand, Chappeli from
Uttarkhand, Rouf from Jammu and Kashmir, Rangsandri Assam, Lavani from
Maharashtra, Gaur Madia from chattisgarh, Kalbelia from Rajasthan, Natuwa
from West Bengal, Singhicham from Sikkim, Gudumbaza from Madhya Pradesh, Bhangra
from Punjab, Sirmorinati from Himachal Pradesh, Pardhi from chattisgarh,
Dangi from Gujarat, Purulia chhau west Bengal, Songimukhavte from Maharashtra,
Dhol Cholom from Manipur and Ghusadi from Telengana. Accompanied by
captivating music, colourful costumes, joyful expressions of the dancers-who
came down from the stage to dance before the audience by turns-set the stage on
fire with a riot of colours. The day ended on a happy note.
Kathakar Archana Joglekar from USA started the
evening’s performances on the fourth day with a Nataraj stuti. She then went on
to present two opposing types of nayikas. One who is forever fault-finding and
visits the temple to unfold her disgust to the deity, always asking for
remedies while the other who is just the opposite. Then she goes on to showcase
a lesser kind of a nayaka, who is shameless and who also goes to the temple,
not to pray but to look at the devis going to the temple to pray. The
theme was striking for its novelty.
The third piece offered to the audience by Archana Joglekar centred around the emotion of jealousy of an artist for his maestro who is a successful artist and to whom his art is his prayer and life. It is a musical drama penned by Vasant Despande composed by the great composer Shankar Mahadevan. The composition of the piece appealed to the imagination of the audience.
Kalakshetra Foundation of Tamil Nadu presented
Sita parinayam in Kalakshetra style of Bharatanatyam. The presentation
gave the audience a glimpse of Rukmini Devi’s acumen as a dance composer and
choreographer. The piece was reproduced in all its details, starting from the
full stop to the comma. The sets used were also reproduced in the same way. It
was delightful to see the ditto recapitulation of a piece produced decades
ago.
Moitreyee Pahari, artistic director of Lok Chanda Cultural Unit of New Delhi presented Sarvesham Bharatah. She brought together practitioners of Manipuri, Mohini Attam, Bharatanatyam, Kathakali, martial art, Sattriya and Kuchipudi and pung players. This was followed up with fusion between two forms. Manipuri paired up with Sattriya, Bharatanatyam with Kuchipudi, Mohini Attam with Odissi, Kathakali with martial arts. These were followed by Kathak dancers who danced their way in with yak tail wisk followed by others with flowers and lamps to offer prayers to Bharat mata. It was a colourful piece of choreographic work, showcasing the classical dances of India.
Piyal Artistic Director of Chidakash kalalaya Centre
of Arts and Divinity, West Bengal presented his well researched beautifully
choreographed piece Uparoopaka bhaanak. In the commentary Abhinava-Bharati,
Abhinavagupta recollects a distinguished form of performance called raga-kavya
mentioned by Kohala.
This offering of Bhaanaka was Shaivite and
invocatory in nature and belonged to the Sankeerna category (inclusive use of
Sanskrit and other relevant local languages), traversing a wide spectrum of
literary, linguistic and philosophical connotations. The Sutradhar rendered
Udanta or teachings to the audience on the metaphysics and dynamics of sangeet,
naad, shareer and brahmand. This was devised under the scheme of
Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage of India 2014-15 under Sangeet Natak
Akademi, New Delhi, to forge a method of training the marga system of natya. The
team received a standing ovation for the performance. Sayak Mitra played the
role of Sutradhar, whose talent knows no bounds.
The second performance of the evening was by
Aditi Dance Collective of Maharashtra who presented Crossroads, an
interesting confluence of Kathak and Flamenco. All the way from Malaysia came
Ramli Ibrahim with his An invitation to Odissi in the late guru
Debaprasad Das’ style. He began with the Mangalacharan Ganga Taranga and moved
onto the Sthai dance exploring verses from the text related to the veenadhara
(vina player), abhimana (shy maiden) and mardal player (drummer). Lalita lavangalata
to the music composition of OS Arun’s Gita Govinda was expressed tellingly.
Ramli Ibrahim’s composition of the poetic lines of the astapadi stole our
hearts. Suryastaka was the grand finale. Geethika, Tan Mei Mei, Harenthiran
and Vickneshwaran were the repertory members of Ramli Ibrahim’s dance ensemble.
Twenty first November was the closing day of this mega festival. The Honourable Vice-President of India Jagdeep Dhankar graced the occasion at Kamani. Distinguished guests Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat , Minister of Culture and Tourism and the iconic Hema Malini were also present.
Performing troupe of Jawaharlal Manipur Dance Academy performed Maha Raas at Kamani Auditorium on the last day. Maharaas Leela is based on Shrimad Bhagavatam Mahapurana. The gopis wore barrel shaped, richly decorated skirts with velvet red blouses and other accessories. Radha’s costume was green. After the Raasleela, Radha and Krishna stood in the centre, while the Gopis did a ritualistic puja. It was a grand spectacle.
Kathak exponent Rajendra Gangani, son of the
doyen of Jaipur Gharana Kathak guru Pandit Kundanlal Gangani had the honour of
winding up the programme with his scintillating performance. He was at his
best. He launched off with Triveni Vandana to Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati.
Starting off with his mesmerizing Teental rendition he won appreciation at
every bent and every step. In between he fed the audience with Rama Bhajan
asking him to fulfil his mortal desire and bless him. Gat Nikash in drut
laya followed by two bandishes kept the audience glued to their seats. To the
knowledgeable he was a perfection master and to the lay he was awesome. His
accompanists were all experienced hands. On the tabla was Fateh Singh Gangani. vocalist
Samiullah Khan, sarangi player Ayub Khan, flautist Atul Shankar enhanced the
beauty of the dance. Yogesh Gangani did the Padhant most efficiently.