Kathak and Bharatanatyam at IIC’s monsoon festival

 

The India International Centre Delhi hosted its annual Monsoon Festival in August this year. 

Sujatha Ramanathan

On the first day, it was Sujatha Ramanathan presenting Bharatanatyam and Shipra Joshi presenting Kathak. 

Sujatha is a well-known Bharatanatyam soloist who has trained with gurus like Guru Adayar K. Lakshman and Guru Lata Raman, and in abhinaya with Guru G. Venu, Mohiniattam with Dr. Nirmala Paniker and Natyashastra under Dr. Sujatha Mohan. She was also mentored by Guru Ramya Ramnarayan. She looked radiant in her blue costume, which had been very aesthetically designed by Sandhya Raman. The stage and the foyer were decorated with red and white flowers. She performed portions of her choreography ‘Rama Amritam’.

The first piece was a traditional mallari, which progressed into a conversation between Shiva and Parvati. Lord Shiva is the param Rama bhakta and the Shiva–Parvati conversation is the root of all stutis on Rama. She ended with stances of Shiva holding the damru and playing with elan. In the shloka Shri Rama Rama Rameti, Shiva tells Parvati that Rama naam is equivalent to the chanting of Vishnu sahasranaam. The verses from Ram Charitmanas spoke of the attractiveness of baby Rama in his brilliant yellow dress, which even shruti and shesha cannot describe. Shesha was shown by Sujatha with cheeks puffed out in frustration, his face resting on his hands. 

Sujatha continued with ‘Thumak Chalat Rama Chandra’, a bhajan by Tulsidas. She crawled on all fours on the whole stage. Baby Rama stands and falls again, swaying and trying to balance. Mother Kaushalya carries him on her back. She cleans his face and puts tilak on it. She throws him up in the air, only to catch him a few seconds later. She turns back to listen to him when he comes from behind her. Sujatha depicted the playful and lovable interaction between Rama and his mother. 

The next piece was the central piece, which highlighted episodes from Rama’s life to bring out the contrast in situations and Rama’s response to them. Rama is kind and meditative but he is a strong warrior. When he is appointed king, there is merriment, followed immediately by the gloom of going on 14 years of exile. When he is required to protect his devotees, he will go to any extent, even if he has to hide behind a tree and shoot down Vali. He performed Jatayu’s last rites like a son when the later died trying to save Sita from the clutches of Ravana. ‘Rama ravikulamambudhi soham’ – when Rama was born in Ayodhya, the entire city came to see him. They were enchanted by his lotus eyes, his body like a blue lotus, his ang kanti like the clouds. But he is a warrior, holds the dhanush and baan. Sujatha took a slanting stance with bow and arrows. His valour in stringing and breaking Shiva’s dhanush helped him gain Sita’s hand in the swayamvar. He is the karunya murti roopam. The prime example of his karuna is the Jatayu episode. Sujatha’s nritta was also like flying – bending and performing the action of flying while leaping across the stage. She depicted the valiant Jatayu fighting relentlessly, first losing one wing, then the other slashed, but still fighting with his beak and then, with his eyes rolling back, falling to his death. The act was presented with very strong actions. Jatayu is honoured as a father in the rites Rama performs, which even Dashratha, Rama’s father, was not lucky enough to have. Sati Anusuya was liberated from the curse of being a rock. Mareecha also found his mukti at the hands of Rama. 

 

Next to be shown was the episode of Validamana. The fight between Vali and Sugreev was danced with puffed cheeks, like a monkey. Rama shoots Vali from behind a tree, where he could not be seen. Ravana, the demon king, also found moksha at Rama’s feet after a valiant fight. The vocals and music of the piece’s crescendo were melodious with the chants of Rama, Rama, Sujatha taking the stance of Rama with his bow and arrow. She displayed effortless and graceful movements in her nritta. Some of her jatis had swaying moves. Her abhinaya in the fight between Jatayu and Ravana was enacted well, the nritya was apt and the music and vocals were melodious. 

The concept and choreography of Rama Amritam were by Sujatha, composition by P.S. Krishnamurthi, Raghuram Rajagopalan and Satish Krishnamurthi, nattuvangam by D.V. Prasanna Kumar, vocals by Raghuram Rajagopalan, mridangam and ganjira by Satish Krishnamurthi, veena by Prashant Rudrapatna, research guidance by Dr. S. Raghuraman, text source: Kamba Ramayanam and Ramcharitmanas, costumes by Sandhya Raman, recording studio: Omkar Studios Bengaluru and sound engineering by B. Omkar Murthi. 

Shipra Joshi

The second dancer for the evening was Kathak dancer Shipra Joshi, a disciple of Guru Prerana Shrimali, with additional grooming by Guru Nandini Singh. She teaches Kathak at the Shri Ram Bharatiya Kala Kendra in Delhi. 

 

Accompanying her were Vijay Parihaar on vocals, Parminder Singh on tabla, Karan Gangani on padhant and Fateh Ali Khan on sitar. 

 

She was dressed in an orange and blue lehenga. She started with the very famous shloka by Kalidasa on the monsoon season in his famous work, ‘Ritusamhara’, which compares the movement of the clouds on a rainy day to the movement of an intoxicated elephant or a determined warrior. 

Shipra used a gat to show the elephant’s movement and that of a warrior wearing his crown and carrying the flag. The lightning flashes and the peacocks dance. It is the season that enamours lovers. 

The next piece was a maand, a Rajasthani folk composition in raag Maand. There were more technical nritta section for the piece. 

 

The taal was ashtamangal, with 11 beats. Shipra’s footwork was neat as she presented upaj, footwork with a leap, twisting feet, ghunghat ki gat, tez aamad, thaat, paran, 22 chakkar ki aamad. 

 

In the composition, the nayika is waiting for her lover to come back in saawan to be with her and enjoy swinging on the swings together. She is ready to wash his feet and adorn his forehead with tilak, she has a plate full of pearls on which she has symbolically placed her eyes, which are waiting for him. The entire presentation was very pleasant.

Pics: Anoop Arora