Transcendent duets by Shijith and Parvathy at Parampara Delhi

 

For many years, classical dance couples have been dancing together as partners. Many of them started their journeys together and discovered that they were compatible, or they married first and discovered their chemistry together in dance. Most of them have found success in their endeavours, realizing how can they complement each other. Kalakshetra alumni Shijith Nambiar and Parvathy Menon is one such couple in the field of Bharatanatyam. Their stage presence and costuming are very pleasant. Their energy and virtuosity match. They partner each other in abhinaya, taking stances and gestures. Each of them is a complete dancer in their own right, but when they are together, they become whole. 

I watched their performance at the Reddys’ annual Parampara festival in Delhi in October 2025. They were accompanied by Sudha Raghuraman on vocals, G. Raghuraman on flute, Uday Sankar Lal on nattuvangam and Kalamandalam Sreerang on mridangam.

Shijith Nambiar and Parvathy Menon

The programme for the evening started with a documentary on Natya Tarangini and Parampara, which the Reddys hold every year. After the lamp lighting, the first piece Shijith and Parvathy performed was ‘Shachidandam’, a varnam in Nattaikuranji ragam and aditalam. 

Shijith Nambiar

   

Parvathy Menon

The lord has the damru in his hand, the sound of which is the basis of all creation. My mind is restless and only you can give me calm and control, pleads the bhakta. My mind lies at your dancing feet. In my mind’s eye, I can see the world, but I want to see you with my mortal eyes. The blessed Nandi observes your cosmic dance. 

 

The union with your feet is going to bestow the sacchidananda. I thrive in you and you in me. The varnam was composed by Papanasam Shivam. This is how Sadhna Shrivastav, in her most eloquent style, described the piece. 

Sudha Raghuraman started with an aalap on basal notes, setting the mood for the piece. The couple wore purple and magenta sarees. Shijith began, seated in a yogic asana. The dhyana moves inward and downward from the head. Parvathy showed the prana apana with her hands moving up and down. The dancers praised the lord and in the abhinaya pieces, showed the various attributes of the lord. Parvathy depicted the bhakta who is bestowed with kampa or tremor as he gets the darshan of the lord with his damru. 

 

While Parvathy moved as Shiva, Shijith depicted the palki being taken on the shoulders. The voluminous jata tied on the head, a trickle of Ganga flowing out. When the Ganga flows to the earth, there is storm and lightning, so Shiva bears her on his head. Parvathy depicted shaking the damru, and Shijith leapt as the Nandi. 

 

The pair presented the postures of Shiva and Parvathy, moving in all directions, facing each other, front to back, alternately and back to back. They showed Shiva and Parvathy with the palm beneath and the thumb on it. 

 

With nritta, Parvathy depicted the damru and Shijith, Nandi and the lion, the two steeds. To please his lord, Nandi plays the mridangam. He dances and ties the damru to his hoof. The chandra is on the lord’s jata and the chandrika is falling on them, and there are snakes wrapped around Shiva. 

Parvathy performed a leg lift and a rotation before falling into the Nataraja pose. Shiva rides on his Nandi and the cosmic sound surrounds them. Parvati has the lotus eyes and lips and walks with the gait of an elephant. 

In the final moments, Shijith sits down as the bhakta playing on the mridangam and Parvathy as Shiva circles him. Shiva puts his foot on the shoulder of the bhakta as the last stance, with a hand on his head. This final moment was epiphanetic and left a mark, moving me to the core. 

 

The nritta for this piece was in a league of its own. The vocals by Sudha had a magical effect with reverberations. She has the power to take you to that realm of divinity. The music too added to the magic. The duo had very sharp footwork, hastas were crisp and denoted the attributes of Shiva and Parvati. 

 

 

 

 

In the nritta interludes, they either chose to dance alternately or together. In a duel, they would try to match each other’s precision and energy and in a duet, they had perfect coordination and would complement each other in coming to the sam. 

 

 

Their stage coverage and chakkars, leg lifts, leaps and stretches were all perfect and matched each other’s.

 

The next piece and its performance transcended the words I had to describe it. If shringara rasa was embodied, it was in that performance that day. Shri Radha asks Krishna to adorn her during that dalliance. In ‘Kuru Yadunandana’, the 24th canto of Jayadev’s Geetgovindam, the poetry is both sensual and spiritual. It was in raag Ghanta, aditala. 

Radha makes the chandan and asks Krishna to apply it on her with his own hands. She is the swadhinapatika nayika. Could he paint her with his own hands, as the touch of them is more soothing than even the chandan? 

 

As Parvathy bent backward, Shijith performed the act of applying the chandan. They sat down, facing each other, Parvathy with her head on his shoulders. 

 

They joined their hands, depicting creepers and a lotus with bees hovering over it. Radha asks Krishna to apply kajal to her eyes, which reminds him of a swarm of bumblebees. Her eyes are like the arrows of Kamadeva. 

 

 

She asks him further to adorn her ears with ornaments so that they prevent her eyes running behind him like a deer. The duo sat facing each other and then back to back as they enacted the provocative verses of the ashtapadi. 

They ended the performance for the evening with short stint of nritta. The entire performance was like being a trance, as if you had been transported to the realms of the nikunj in Vrindavan, where the keli (play) of Radha and Krishna is in progress all the time. As far as the dancing of the couple goes, they are blessed with skills that are beyond human comprehension. 

Pics: Anoop Arora