Uplifting performances at Indradhanush Dilli 2023

Guru Sharon Lowen (Pic: Innee Singh)

Indradhanush Dilli is a festival of arts conceptualized in 2008 by Bharatanatyam exponent Kanaka Sudhakar, who is its creative director. It is organized by her NGO S.U.N.A.INA and curated by Bharatanatyam dancer Aparajita Sarma. It features artistes from across the globe, showcasing their skills in Delhi through performances of dance, music and visual arts and participating in workshops and seminars. On 3 November 2023, Indradhanush Dilli 2023 featured two discussions, which have already been featured on this site (https://delhiculturecomment.blogspot.com/2024/02/indradhanush-dilli-is-festival-of-arts.html), and two days of performances, which are detailed below.

Guru Pasumarthy Vithal and Bharathi Vithal

Kuchipudi – Pasumarthy Vithal and Bharathi Vithal 

On day 1, the second performance was by Kuchipudi exponents Guru Pasumarthy Vithal and Bharathi Vithal. The first piece was a Ganapati Vandana where they described the various attributes and ornaments of the lord and depicted his joyful dance with manjira and mardala. 

Guru Pasumarthy Vithal

The second piece was ‘Krishna Mahima’, presenting the three stages in the leelas of Krishna – balya, madhya and vishwaroopam. They showed the child Krishna as the cowherd, milking cows. His mother Yashoda would make the butter, put it in a pot and hang it high from the ceiling. When she is sleeping, Krishna tries to reach it and but when he can’t, he summons his friends. Together, they bring the pot down, taste the butter and feast on it. 

 

Then Krishna blocks the passage of the gopi who is going to sell butter in Mathura. They have a romantic interlude, teasing each other. 

 

Krishna calls her ‘mam bhooshanam’ and the gopi calls him ‘mam jivanam’. Together, the couple took stances with rhythmic footwork to sargam. It was an enjoyable piece.

 

The next piece was ‘Shiva Tandavam’. When Shiva dances the cosmic dance on Mount Kailasha, what happens to the surroundings? The surroundings react in their own way. The couple took stances for the attributes of Shiva – gangadharam, snakes on his body, damru in one hand and agni in the other, trishul in one hand, the third eye on the forehead – trinetra, neelkantha, bhasma on his body, baal chandra on his forehead. 

 

They took stances together and in succession. In the last stance, showing Parvati squatting and Shiva standing, the lights changed to red, adding to the magic of the moment. It was another neat performance.

Praveen Parihar and group

Kathak – Praveen Parihar and group

Praveen Parihar and his group of Jaipur gharana dancers showed their prowess at the ultra-fast Kathak that has become most popular these days. Praveen has trained under Pt. Rajendra Gangani and Manish Gangani and is part of Guru Shovana Narayan’s troupe. 

 

The first piece was ‘Mharo Pyaro Rajasthan’. Praveen chose to represent the culture and instruments of Rajasthan – he used instruments like ravan hathha and iktara, dhol and khartaal; its sadbhavana  and satkar, its sands or marudhar and its colours. Rajasthan is known for sone ki dharti aur chandi ko asmaan. The vocals and the music were catchy with flavours of folk. The piece was depicted by showing the flowers, jhoola, mor, koyal, papiha  and various bird moves. The piece was characterized by fast paced ek pair ke chakkars and clapping. The group wore off-white costume with a coloured element.

 

In the second piece, it is the nayika who is waiting for her lover to return from another land. The nayika, dancing gracefully, coyly dresses up in front of the mirror and wears her ornaments. 

 

Praveen, wearing a pagdi, comes as her lover. The nayika comes with the pooja thali, putting tilak on his forehead, showering flowers and performing aarti. The lights dimmed as the duo held hands. The two performed nritta together with great precision – gat, tihai, tukde, thaat, tez aamad, paran, uthaan. They had a good understanding of each other. 

 

When it rains, the women wear green and multicolored odhnis and wish for their spouses to be there by their sides. Their hands are painted with mehendi and the eyes with kajal, they wear their solah shringar. As the clouds grow denser and lightning strikes, the mor and papiha dance together. The group danced with great flair. 

 

The footwork on the foot mics was very strong. The three male dancers did nritta with tihais and uthan, paran with precision, followed by the six dancers doing natwari, tihais and clapping with baat-cheet. The group earned a big round of applause. 

Guru Sharon Lowen (Pic: Innee Singh)

Odissi – Guru Sharon Lowen

The second day was devoted to the east of India. The first performer was Guru Sharon Lowen. She presented the ‘Bhoomi Pranam’ and the ‘Manikya Veena Mangalacharan’, an ode to Goddess Saraswati. The goddess Matangi is one of the ten forms of Dasamahavidya. She is the tantric form of goddess Saraswati. Guru Sharon Lowen very gracefully did her pranam to the divine, the guru and the audience. She took the stance for holding the manimaya veena. The words spoken by her are gentle. There is chandra on her head. Sharon ji did a leg lift for the stance.the goddess’s breasts are full, eyes full of karuna and neela shuka sits on her hand as she pets it. Sharon ji’s eyes were very expressive.

Guru Sharon Lowen (Pic: Innee Singh)

The next piece was the ashtapadi ‘Pashyati Dishi Dishi’ depicting the sakhi relating the pain of Shri Radha. This ashtapadi could be an abhinaya class by Guru Sharon Lowen. Radha looks for Krishna everywhere, in the leaves, in the lotuses, in all her surroundings, but does not find him. She burns in viraha as she trudges towards the rendezvous. She takes a fall. She imagines him in a cloud and kisses and embraces it, all to be disappointed. She looks at herself in the mirror, dressed up in all her jewellery and finery. She makes a bed of flowers, but Krishna does not come and Radha cries as she burns with longing in the moonlight. She puts the raj(dust) on herself to alleviate the burning. Rodati vilapati – she cries and laments. The sakhi beseeches Krishna to go. Sharon ji’s expressions, her eyes, the nuances of a grief-stricken nayika, were all immaculate. 

Guru Sharon Lowen (Pic: Innee Singh)

In the last piece of her performance was called ‘Moksha’. To ‘Omkarakarini’ in raag Lavangi, she took various stances of the devi in perfect balance with a back foot stretch. As she depicted the devi holding the trishul, her eyes widened. She showed the demons who are scared of her, shatru damini, and for the bhaktas, she showers her blessings – varada. Finally, as her hand rose up with her finger pointing upwards in the dhyan mudra, her eye balls rolled upwards. When a dancer of her stature takes the stage, it is a spiritual experience to watch her since she is so immersed in her art. 

Dipjyoti and Dipankar (Pic: Innee Singh)

Sattriya – Dipjyoti and Dipankar

The next was a Sattriya performance by Dipjyoti and Dipankar from Assam. They are disciples of Gurus Smt. Bobbyrani Talukdar, Smt. Dollyrani Talukdar and Shri Ram Krishna Talukdar. They have also learnt Kathak from Guru Bobbyrani Talukdar. The first piece they presented was ‘Moksha’. The piece is about a prayer to the almighty to free the mankind from illusion, just as he saved the gajendra from the jaws of the crocodile. The duo wore golden aharyam. They performed their footwork with expansive hastas. Through chakkars, they showed how humans are in the grip of maya, and how Krishna comes to help the distressed gajendra. One dancer enacted the elephant and the other the crocodile. As the elephant drinks water, the crocodile sneaks up and grabs its foot. Lord Vishnu rides Garuda and immediately rescues gaja with his chakra. The duo stood back to back in the Chaturbhuj stance. 

Dipjyoti and Dipankar (Pic: Innee Singh)

The second piece was the ‘Raghunath Charnam’, depicting the Sita haran episode from Ramayana. In the forest, Rama and Sita are living happily. Rama gathers flowers for her hair. The duo wore the same, costume adding red angavastram. One dancer as the deer prances away. Sita gets enamoured, Rama goes to find it and Sita gets kidnapped. Ravana could not cross the Laxman rekha and trembles all over. With a white cloth, Ravana disguises himself and acts acutely starved. When Sita walks out to give him alms, he abducts her. As she is being carried away, she leaves a trail with her ornaments. 

Dipjyoti and Dipankar (Pic: Innee Singh)

Showing the meeting with Lord Hanuman, the dancers danced as monkeys, leaping around with hands hanging down in front. They build the bridge with boulders, and the Rama Ravana yudh was shown with agile leaps and cartwheeling till Rama shoots his arrow to strike Ravana below his navel. The tale is known to all, but the interpretation  is new.

Namrata Mehta (Pic: Innee Singh)

Odissi – Namrata Mehta

‘Krishnamayi’ was the piece presented in Odissi by Namrata Mehta. This piece was performed as a part of the Pratiroop series under the mentorship of Guru Vyjayanti Kashi (click here for the report). 
https://delhiculturecomment.blogspot.com/2022/04/six-gurus-mentor-six-dancers-of-another.html

Namrata Mehta (Pic: Innee Singh)

Again, the tale of Krishna and Radha’s love is known, but this was a different take on it. Radha has left the world and lives happily in heaven. She lives in the bliss of love, thinking of herself as Krishna. Namrata’s costume was a blue odhni and pale yellow lower. She goes around playing on his flute, thinking that she is Krishna. The difference between them dissolves as she wraps the blue sky on herself and puts the peacock feather on her head. In her depiction, Namrata showed how Radha thinks of Krishna’s kiss when she sees the bee on the flower. She caresses the feather and puts it on her head. She goes around chanting his name, puts the tilak on her forehead and holding a branch, plays on his flute. She took chakkars with the gestures for playing on the flute. She hears Krishna’s footsteps and feels his touch and lo he is there to meet her. She is ecstatic at seeing him. She narrates to him how she spent her days all this time. ‘Pal pal smaran tumhara’: I thought of you all the time, never felt alone nor cried, always lived you. You were there within me all the time. As she holds Krishna’s hands, she muses, ‘Your soft hands that held the bansuri have hardened.’ Krishna then narrates to her how his life progressed after leaving Vrindavan. He became the king of Mathura and fought for the Pandavas in the Mahabharata yudh. He gave the sermon of Gita to Arjun and then he led his own clan to destruction. Then they together reminisce about their togetherness, Krishna with his bansuri, mor mukut and his calves, and they look at their reflection in the Yamuna. They hold a darpan, a mirror, and compare their beauty. This was described using a Surdas pad, ‘Tero mukh neeko ke tero Radha pyari’. The music was by Manoj Desai and Vinay Tembe and rhythm by G. Ramprasad. 

Namrata Mehta (Pic: Innee Singh)

Radha is the one who is much more beautiful because her heart is full of love. Krishna has kajal in his eyes and she has Krishna in hers. Krishna has Giriraj Parvat on his hand but in Radha’s heart, he himself resides. If he is the dark night, she glows like the moon. The two embrace and kiss and then followed the raas leela. Namrata executed the piece in well-rehearsed nritta, clapping and expansive moves all over the stage with leaps and perfect balance. As Radha, she moved in soft footwork coyly and as Krishna, with agility. The lotus opens and they stand as Ardhnareeshwar, morpankh for Krishna and ghunghat for Radha taking chakkars. In her very graceful manner, she conducted the nritta natya nritya. They exist in their eternal dhaam and experience the eternal bliss. 

It was two days of a very enlightening experience and many thanks to the organizers for presenting such a wonderful line-up.