Bharatanatyam: Natya Vriksha’s new space sanctified by bhakti and natya

Guru Geeta Chandran

What does a temple mean to a priest, a palace or a court to a king, a house and a kitchen to a housewife, an office or a shop to a working person? It felt the same as I stood outside the Chandrans’ home in Delhi’s Gulmohur Park, which houses their new Natya Vriksha studio, on 14 February. When we were kids, we were taught to touch the threshold of a temple, put your hand to your forehead and then proceed inside. A similar ritual would be appropriate for the studio as you entered. The new studio, which is housed in the Chandrans’ recently renovated basement, was inaugurated on 14 February. 

The entire place was done up with yellow marigold flowers, which was pleasurable to both the nose and the eyes. There were huge ceremonial brass lamps at strategic places with strings of flowers draped over them. All doors and pillars were covered with flowers. 

 

In the basement, besides the two sides of seating, there was a bare wall with a slight depression in it, making a small cubicle. It had rows of flowers hanging from the top with a holy lamp in the centre. The niche was lit from above. 

 

All the while, that space gave me the feeling of a temple’s sanctorum. In front of it was the stage, with lighting by light designer Milind Srivastava. The music was by the in-house expert, percussionist Manohar Balatchandirane. 

Shri Vatsa Goswamipad, Geeta ji’s spiritual guru

 Fittingly, the studio had been blessed by Shri Vatsa Goswamipad, Geeta ji’s spiritual guru. The entire space had an otherworldly feel to it. He compared the two studios – one the Chandrans had built and the other within him, where Kala Chandra dances. Mr. Ravi Kamaal had visualized the studio. 

The evening of the inauguration started with a performance by Guru Geeta Chandran herself. She presented a shlokam, an ode to the devi who presides over Natya Vriksha. The composition was by Adi Shankaracharaya, ‘Raj Rajeshwari Ashtakam’, Amba Shambhavi. 

Geeta ji looked radiant in her blue sari. She took the stance for Ma Amba, the chandra on her head. Geeta ji captured the smile and the coy gait of Amba. She showed her with claws as the devi tears at the demons, the third eye on her forehead, holding the trishul to vanquish the demons. She is savitri navyovana. 

 

 

As she described the other attributes of raudra, chamunda, Geeta ji’s eyes reddened with the fierceness of the devi – bhadrakali, jwala. She fights and slaughters evil – raj rajeshwari, bhagawati – as Geeta ji jumped in broad plie and rendered the hastas as Amba, one hand as the karuna hasta and the other facing down. Geeta ji’s dance is the, its precision, grace, verve and expression are all that embodies the Natya Vriksha style.

Next, it was ‘Natanam Adinar’ by Madhura Bhrushundi, one of Natya Vriksha’s star pupils, a faculty member and among its most popular soloists these days. This was a composition of Gopalakrishnan Bharathiyar in raag Vasantha in adi talam, set to 14 beats. It brings dynamism to the depiction of Shiva’s dance. The piece has evolved as it has been passed in a continuum down the generations. 

Geeta ji spoke about its legacy – it was taught to her by Swarna Saraswati amma when she was nine. It was taught as a padam with no rhythmic inputs or histrionics; just a simple, slow offering to the divine. Next, while she was learning under Dakshinamurthy sir, he was under the mentorship of Dandayutha Pani sir, who said this piece should be about Shiva’s dance and so should have some rhythm. So the second version of the composition was with Dakshinamurthy sir, Geeta ji said, who infused it with rhythm, energy and speed. This was a reflection of how much one could put on the stage, how performative dance had become and how much of energy in nritta your body could showcase. The next person who influenced the choreography was Karaikuddi Sivakumar sir. ‘He was known as the rhythm master and nobody can match him. With him, I reimagined the choreography not for myself, but for my students,’ she said. ‘The power and the energy had doubled and girls were dancing at par with the boys. We made it even more intricate, even more decorative, basically contextualizing it even more. I don’t think I can have another version of it in my lifetime and I am sticking to it. With culture, the flow is nirantar, only the banks can be defined. The pieces will evolve with time.’ 

Madhura looked radiant in her blue and magenta aharyam. She started with her back to the audience, expansive hands showing the jata of Shiva, a leg lift in front. With nritta showing hastas for snakes, she squatted on her knees, the hand depicting the drumming of the damru, and moved all over the stage. Effortlessly, she lifted her leg in front and moved it in a circle from side to back. She depicted the hair knotted on the head and the tiger skin knotted at the waist, Ganga emerging from his jata, the bhakta performing pooja and aarti. Madhura executed a back turn in a squat. The snakes came from behind Shiva, spreading all over him, and the trickle of the Ganga as all eight directions sing his praises. Shiva stands with his waving jata, agni and damru in his hands, shown with sharp hastas, his third eye on the forehead depicted through expressions. In the final stance, Madhura brought one leg circling forward and held it with the knee folded. It was a brief performance but a large experience. 

Rajiv Chandran and Geeta Chandran

Geeta ji brought alive the sixth canto of Kalidasa’s ‘Ritusamhara’ through verses celebrating the spring. Geeta ji recounted that when she was working on this piece, she was given a piece from Kashmiri Sanskrit scholar Damodaragupta’s ‘Kuttanimata’, a manual for prostitutes written in the 8th or 9th century, by Chandra Rajan, and used it as a prelude. Geeta ji showed Kamadeva pulling out arrows from his bow and shooting them. The violin created the mood for the piece. The kiss between Kamadeva and Rati, whose lips are like the lotus petals, is very intense. Her eyes are half-shut as she shies away and looks at him out of the corner of her eyes. Kamadeva shoots arrows in all directions and all of entire creation is in Kamadeva’s thrall – the birds, the blooming flowers, the entwined vines laden with flowers. Kamadeva fills his bower with flowers. Vasant ritu is his yoddha or soldier. He shoots sharp arrows all around. The birds begin to sound like shehnai. The bees hover for nectar. The trees are laden with entwined creepers and flowers. In the ponds, the lotuses are flowering on their leaves. The wind is scented by the flowers. The women have become full of desire for their lovers as they sit on the swings – charutaram vasante. Geeta ji ended the piece with chakkars. It was a piece with a great deal of bhava and Geeta ji took the audience into a trip full of shringara rasa, love and its pleasures.

The performance section was concluded by a thillana in Yamuna Kalyani, composed by Shri Lalgudi Jayaraman, performed by Sowmya Lakshmi Narayanan. The violin and the aalap provided the perfect start. Sowmya performed the piece not just as a pure nritta piece, but added bhava to it. She had great stage presence in purple and orange. Her nritta was expansive and smooth as she moved left, right and forwards-backwards with neck and eye movements. She depicted Radha and Krishna swinging together and frolicking in the Yamuna. The vines wrap around the trees and the flowers bloom. Krishna holds his flute and Radha, the lotus. Sowmya took the stance of Krishna holding Kaliya’s tail and dancing the tandava on the serpent’s hood. The peacock dances and Krishna puts its feather on his mukut. The venu naad enters the soul through the ears. Sowmya depicted the episode of Giriraj dharan – Indra rains lightning and an unending downpour on Vrindavan but Krishna saves the cows and the people as he lifts the Giriraj on his little finger to form an umbrella. He roams the paths of Vrindavan with a lakuti on his shoulders. Sowmya consummately reflects the precision of her guru in nritta. She moved all over the stage with the accuracy and agility of a peacock and at the same time, expressed bhava through her nritya. 

 

At the end, as the sankirtanam was sung, Geeta ji invited all the senior gurus present and her friends to the stage for dance. Everyone’s heart wanted to congratulate Rajiv ji and Geeta ji for the completion of their humungous effort and wish them the best for the future.

Pics by Sarabjeet Singh Dhillon, courtesy Natya Vriksha