`Jharna’ was a six-day festival spanning two weekends, 11 to 13 and 18 to 20 January 2022. Organised by Bharata Kalanjali of the Dhananjayans, each day’s programme was introduced by the institution’s creative director, Shobana Bhalchandra.

The festival’s concept was born from the desire to provide a stage for upand-coming Bharatanatyam dancers and artists from other art forms. The festival hosted performances of various art forms such as music, katha kalakshepam, and tholbomalattam, which the organisers felt had not received prominence as much as they deserved.

The festival featured two performances each day. The performers who were given 45 minutes each, had to include a piece Jharna: focus on emerging performers that would showcase their creativity.

The opening performance was by Srinivasan, a faculty member of Bharata Kalanjali, pursuing his post graduation in Bharatanatyam from Annamalai University. His creative presentation drew inspiration from the poetic works of Subramania Bharati. The great poet’s concept for the emancipation of women was the theme that was emphasised in the pieces chosen by Srinivasan, who, during his performance, highlighted the vision of Bharatiyar and lamented that present-day women were not following the lofty ideals espoused in the poems. This was the central piece. Srinivasan started with Nandi Chol and concluded with a tillana in Kapi raga, both pieces choreographed by the Dhananjayans. The performance was very well done. 

Shreema Upadhyaya is a student of the Chithkala School of Dance, Bengaluru. Her creative piece was a jatiswaram by Maharaja Swati Tirunal. The jatiswaram is a pure dance piece without any text to be interpreted with expressions and emotion. The theme that Shreema enacted was to present the human body as a temple containing the five primordial elements which go into the making of a dancer and the dance that is performed. It was an abstract concept. She started with a Krishnanjali in Reetigaula, followed by a javali in Kapi raga before her creative piece. 

The third performance was by Divya Nair. A student of Kalakshetra and later trained by Sheejit Krishna, Divya is presently teaching at Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev’s Isha Samskriti in Coimbatore. She performed only one piece from the Nachiar Tirumozhi, depicting the birth of Lord Krishna, his adventures and the miracles attributed to Him. The highlight was the protection of Draupadi during the humiliation that she nearly suffered in the court and was saved by Krishna. This single piece was performed for the full allotted time and was well done. The creative aspect, too, was excellent both in conception and execution

Devika Venkatasubramanian is a Mumbai-based Bharatanatyam performer, choreographer, and teacher. She is a senior disciple of guru S.P. Srinivasan and has a post-graduate degree in Bharatanatyam from Annamalai Unversity. She began the performance with a traditional varnam of Dandayudhapani Pillai. This was followed by her creative offering about the life of Urmila and her sacrifice for the sake of Sita. It had lyrics by Prof. Raghuraman and music by Vanathi.

Uttiya Barua and Anita Unnikrishnan are students of Bharata Kalanjali and presently teach at their alma mater. They presented a 15-minute depiction of Radha and Krishna titled Maya, in which Radha reminisces about her association with Krishna and her longing to be reunited with him. The piece, though short, was very well executed by both dancers displaying excellent co-ordination and finesse.

The sixth performer was Shruti Rao, a professional Bharatanatyam dancer trained at Kalakshetra, who has completed her diploma and post diploma courses from the institution. She is currently a student of guru Padmini Ravi and is pursuing her career as a soloist. She, too, presented a single piece in her allotted time. Her creative piece was on Draupadi. The initial verses were taken from Kumara Vyasa Bharata, with the rest of the lyrics written by Ajay Vishwanath. The piece depicted the anguish of Draupadi at being abandoned by her husbands in her hour of need at the court of Duryodhana; a beautifully executed performance.

Indu S.V. is a disciple of Shobana Bhalchandra. She is a graded artist of Doordarshan and an empanelled artist of Spic Macay. Indu’s creative piece was Tara, the queen of Kishkinda, and wife of Vali. Wonderfully performed, the presentation extolled the spiritually evolved character Tara and her unsuccessful attempts to counsel her husband from making disastrous decisions in anger. The challenging situations in Tara’s life were very well brought out by Indu.

Satvika Suresh, a disciple of Anupama Jayasimha and Shobana Bhalchandra, commenced with a kriti by Periasami Thooran choreographed by Shobana. This was followed by an ashtapadi. Her creative piece was about exploring the five elements through geometrical movements. Her piece had only instrumental music without any vocals. She concluded with a tillana in Bagesree.

The ninth dancer in the series was Shyama Balachandran, an A-Grade artist of Doordarshan and a disciple of Gayatri Subramanian, of guru G.V. Ramani Natya Kala Foundation, Mumbai. Shyama began with an alarippu. Her creative piece was from her solo production, Tuka, choreographed under the guidance of her guru. Shyama attempted to portray the great saint-poet Tukaram as a person of many facets and not the standard perception of how the ordinary man views saints. Shyama executed her performance very well.

The other performances included a Carnatic music concert, a puppet show, a Harikatha, and a multilingual light music performance by “Krsna”. Carnatic music was by Kausthubh Chandramouli, a student of Usha Prasad and Prof. S.R. Janakiraman. Puppet show was by Seethalakshmi, who hails from a traditional family of puppeteers of Andhra Pradesh. Her mentor and guide was the late acharya Ramanamurthy; her presentation was an excerpt from the Ramayana.

Harikatha was by Ramya Ramakrishnan, a disciple of Vishaka Hari and a student of Bharatanatyam. Ramya narrated the life history of Sadasiva Brahmendra. The narration style was reminiscent of her guru and pleasing, apart from which she has a good singing voice to compliment her narration.

The six-day festival was wellconceived, and arrangements were well-planned and executed, a tribute to the organisational capability of Bharata Kalanjali.

BHAVANI RAVINDRAN

(Connoisseur of music and dance)