An immersion in the spectacle of Nimagna

At times you watch a performance that you find boring; you get tired and sleepy; you want it to end so you can walk out for a cup of coffee. This can happen irrespective of any other factors. And then there is the opposite.

Guru Saroja Vaidyanathan

Ganesa Natyalaya mounted a production on 19 September as part of Swarna Saroja, a year-long series commemorating Guru Saroja Vaidyanathan and 50 years of the Natyalaya. Rama Vaidyanathan and over 20 dancers were to take the stage at Kamani Auditorium. One would naturally walk in with the expectation of an excellent performance. But believe me, one did not realize when it started, when it ended and when one walked out with jaw dropping in awe, asking for more. And they called it 'immersed' - 'Nimagna'. It was immersion by the musicians, the dancers, the technicians and finally the audience, who were totally immersed or nimagna in the experience.

Rama Vaidyanathan

I walked into a packed Kamani in Delhi, which is a huge auditorium. All the stars from the dance and music world were already there, waiting for the extravaganza. The stage, which is one of the biggest in Delhi, was utilized to its maximum, from front to back. On one corner were three steps to add a separate plane with some height to the flat space.



The first composition for the evening was a guru vandana. Mridangist Sannidhi Vaidyanathan sat on top step of the platform with Rama Vaidyanathan on the nattuvangam, bathed in a halo of light. The other accompanists sat on the other steps. 

 

Suddenly, groups of dancers entered the stage from all sides to move to the shlokas being recited on guru mahima. The costumes were green saris and magenta uppers for one group, the colour scheme reversed for the next. The shlokas that were recited were 'Gurur brahma gurur Vishnu', 'Agyan timirandhasya gyananjana', 'Akhand mandalakaram vyaptam'. The groups performed in formations all around the stage in rows, in circles and in diagonal lines. With effortless fluidity, they moved to various jatis as Rama recited the bols on nattuvangam.

Each of the dancers showed excellent mastery of their technique. Notable among them were Vinay Tiwari, Pritam Das, Gayatri Deka, Sayani Chakraborty and Nilava Sen. In the last bit of the piece, Sayani started to click her fingers, setting the rhythm for the other dancers to clap and take chakkars on their knees. It was a celebration of rhythm and dance, totally a blessing of their guru, to whom they prayed for granting them the tradition of dance.

Dakshina Vaidyanathan Baghel

If Sudha Raghuraman's music for the first composition was par excellence, her singing in the second was beyond all praise. She sang the 'Shringara Ras Manjari', an ode to Maa Kamakshi by Muthuswamy Dikshitar, in the most lyrical manner. Dakshina started the piece as a solo, depicting the beautiful eyes of the mother as the lotuses and the eyes of the fish with expansive moves. Then the lights illuminated the dancers standing on the steps behind her, who depicted the water, lotuses floating and blooming. If the singing was lyrical and lilting, so were Dakshina's hastas and feet moving in circles. She was soon joined by other dancers in nritya to show the lotus lips, lotus eyes of the mother, that she looks like a vallari of lotuses. Finally, when they all raised their red painted hands, it looked like a bed of lotuses for Maa Kamakshi. Dakshina's abhinaya showing the attributes of Kamakshi was as gentle and expressive as her eyes.

The following piece was "Vishweshwar darshan kar chal man tu Kashi", a composition by Swati Tirunal. A visit to Kashi elevates us into a state of spiritual consciousness. It is a sacred place, where we get the darshan of Lord Vishweshwara. It is not only the body that experiences bliss, but the mind is also elevated to a spiritual experience. One learns renunciation from aghoras, and the cycle of life and death, happiness and sadness that one experiences on the ghats of the Ganga. The music composition was by Sudha. The choreography was a riot of movement by the dancers, who were each better than the other. At the back, other dancers climbed the stairs and reached the top, symbolizing the climb through the stages of life to reach nirvana.

Rama Vaidyanathan

Rama walked through alleys created by dancers sitting on both sides. Liberation from the shackles of life was shown by dancers lifting a dancer up and the red hands of dancers raised together. The group together performed the water abhishek and offering of flowers to Shiva as some took the poses of Shiva as the Nataraja. The flow of the river was depicted by dancers standing in rows and moving together with their feet jumping sideways alternately.

 

It was an awe-inspiring experience to see them move with such perfect coordination. On one hand was shown the holy dip in the Ganga and playful bathing, and on the other, the burning of the pyres on the ghats and the ashes being dispersed, an end that all strive for. Sanyasis flock to the banks. In very vivacious nritta, the group showed the attributes of Shiva - chandra, snakes, agni, jata, Nandi, bhasma on the body, trishul, naagmala. Pritam and Nilava showed the tandava. Pairs depicted the attributes and ornaments of Ardhanarishwara.

The last scene was breathtaking - a few dancers carried diyas and flowers in near darkness to perform aarti and sat down with the diyas in their hands, showing the quiet flowing of the lights on the gentle waves of the Ganga in the silence of the night as Rama silently rowed on. It was as if one had been transported to the ghats of the Ganga on a serene night.

 

In a production of this calibre, where dance and rhythm are predominant, the final piece could not have been any but the raas leela composed by G.S. Rajan. From the banks of the Ganga, it was a journey to the banks of the Yamuna. And it is only when one attains the gyaan that life is ephemeral that one can enter the arena of maharaas. The raas mandal is a representation of eternity and timelessness, the continuous rhythm of the universe. 

 

Shree Radha and Krishna in the centre and numerous Krishnas and gopikas in the circumference of a circle, the circle of the continuity of life, death, soul and the cosmos, comes alive. Gopikas surrender their bodies and souls completely to Krishna and experience the bliss of the union of the soul to the super soul, Krishna and Radha, Krishna and gopis, atma and paramatma. The choreography was based on shlokas from Bhagavatham, which were followed by a Surdas bhajan. The piece was a choreographic delight. Pritam Das stood on the highest stair as Krishna, playing the flute as the Yogeshwar. There is a full moon, the trees swaying, when the sound of the flute is heard by the gopis. They rush to meet Krishna and thus begins the dance of the soul.

Pritam Das

The dancers formed a circle and began clapping their hands and thumping their feet in very expansive moves. The dancers moved back and forth in unison. Prachi Save Saathi stood out in the group for her effortless nritta. After showing the pairs dancing as Krishna and gopis, taking various stances of a pair, it was shown how the magic flowed from Krishna's flute into the entire creation - the calves and the cows, the fish in the Yamuna, the deer, the birds who flew in to sit around, even the trees and the creepers on them, all danced to the potion that flowed from the flute. The dancers danced in a huge circle with garba hands and swaying feet. It was a marvel to see them breaking from a single circle to two and then to four.

These choreographies were the work of the guru who had envisioned them, Saroja Vaidyanathan. And the dancers had chosen to pay their tribute to her after losing her last year, and to fulfil her vision to celebrate 50 years of her baby, the Ganesa Natyalaya. The choreography was in the able hands of the heir of the Natyalaya, Rama Vaidyanathan, who in her own right is a great Bharatanatyam exponent and teacher. The stage craft that was used, those steps behind the dancers, provided another layer to the performance. The lights enhanced the mood and the pace of the performance.

The vocals and musicians for the recorded music were outstanding. Sudha sang from the heart, touching the hearts of the audience. K. Venkatesh sang the last piece, infusing taal and rhythm into it. Rajat Prasanna was on flute for some pieces. The flute for some of the recorded pieces was by G. Raghuraman and mridangam by Manohar Balatchandirane. Sadhna Shrivastav was an excellent compere, as always. The dancers were Aishwarya Attri, Dakshina Vaidyanathan Baghel, Debasmita Thakur, Gayatri Deka, Laxmi, Mridula Nambiar, Nandana Moulick, Nilava Sen, Pooja Pithambaran, Prachi Saathi, Pranathi Iyer, Pritam Das, Priyanka Rawat, Rohini N., Sayani Chakrabarty, Siddhi Jakhete, Soumya, Sowmya Jaganmurthy, Vaishnavi P, Vaishnavi Vitthal Dhore, Varsha Chand and Vinay Tiwari. The costumes in alternating pink and green, were vibrant. The lights by Milind Shrivastava were outstanding. All this and more contributed to the production being excellent.

But I was kind of transported to the primitive times, when humans learnt to express their happiness by moving the body, and called it dance. That day, I felt the same as I watched them dance, with their spirits soaring, their hearts filled with joy, completely soaked in the pleasure of dancing, each dancer totally immersed (nimagna) in the pleasure of the movement. The audience too savoured every drop of that joy and I felt like I too wanted to go up on stage and enjoy the dancing uninhibitedly. It was a packed house that rose in a standing ovation when the performance ended. Truly, their guru in another world must have been beaming with pride.

Pics: Anoop Arora

Note: This article first appeared in narthaki.com