Rithu Bharatam — the twenty sixth version of Natyangam’s annual dance competition — celebrated the great thing about Nature by way of dance. The six-day competition held not too long ago, featured each established and younger dancers who explored the six seasons by weaving collectively Kalidasa’s Rithu Samharam, Sangam literature and Ragamala work.
The deep and exhaustive subjects offered by the useful resource individuals — Dr. Sudha Seshayyan, R.Okay. Shriram Kumar, Monali Bala, and S. Raghuraman, have been fairly difficult for the dancers to discover. But, every introduced their half in a commendable means.
The fourth day of the competition was themed on ‘Sharad Rithu’ — Rising by way of Fall, introduced by Ramya Suresh, senior disciple and daughter-in-law of guru Indira Kadambi.
Ramya Suresh’s portrayal was wealthy in Angika and Aharya abhinayas.
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SRINATH M
The 2 outstanding points that shone all through Ramya’s efficiency have been the angika and Aharya abhinayas.
Simply as howguru Indira’s imparting of the artwork to her disciple was evident, Ramya’s talent to soak up, create and execute the theme successfully was equally seen.
Ramya Suresh wore a vibrant skirt and a hand-crafted garland to depict the altering colors of Autumn season.
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SRINATH M
Her costume — a lightweight, flowing vibrant skirt and a hand-crafted garland that adorned her neck — blended effectively with the tone of the season that she represented. Surya Rao’s distinctive lighting added to the visible enchantment.
The orchestra workforce consisted of T.V. Ramprasad (vocals), who seamlessly fused Carnatic raga, tanam, Hindustani tarana and a Bengali ., Mridangam by Sri. Vinay Nagarajan (mridangam), Pranav Dath (Rhythm Pads), Vivek Krishna (flute), Rakshita Ramesh (veena) and Apeksha Kamath (narration). Shubha Dhar lent vocal assist. .
Ramya Suresh’s Ramya convincingly depicted the love between a leaf and the earth by way of the wheel of time.
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SRINATH M
Titled ‘Rising by way of Fall’, as an ode to the autumn season, Ramya convincingly portrayed the bond between the earth and the fallen leaf, by way of the wheel of time. Her fluid and even-paced actions reworked the lithe dancing body into the swaying leaves intertwined within the branches of the tree.
Idea, script and choreography have been dealt with with a metaphysical twist.
The radiant moon and the symbolic tree, with refined lighting within the background, introduced forth a transferring picture of the Ragamala portray within the stillness of poetry.
The allegory of Sharad Rithu had shades of ‘The Pilgrims’ Progress,’ which got here as a stark reminder for mankind to shed the outer layers of his being, and introspect, beckoning one to hunt liberation.
Ramya concluded by paying obeisance to Devi, within the fiery conventional Navaratri dance carried out throughout Durga puja.
Uma Satyanarayanan’s Hemanth Rithu
“When winter comes can spring be far behind?”
‘Hemanth Rithu’ was Uma Satyanarayanan’s thematic presentation the subsequent day. A senior disciple of guru Chitra Visveswaran, Uma has imbibed all of the finer nuances, which mirrored from begin to end.
Her swish glides, light-footed leaps, and the swift shifts within the Angikabhinaya have been testimony to her lengthy years of coaching.
Uma Sathyanarayanan’s efficiency was themed on Hemanth Rithu (Pre-winter season).
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SRINATH M
Versatility is Uma’s hallmark. She is a dancer, musician, actor, choreographer, and instructor.
Pure seasonal adjustments in a specified timeframe have been changed in the present day by erratic climate patterns. Uma’s depictions of ‘Hemanth Rithu’ woke up us to the lengthy forgotten fantastic thing about the shades of pre-winter, a time of renewal and hope.
Three segments describing the pre-winter season have been well-handled. Inside a brief span, Uma took us on a tour from Dakshinayan (winter solstice) to Uttarayan (summer season solstice), sketching quite a lot of festivals by way of mythology, Sangam poetry, and Ragamala references.
, Uma’s exposition of puppetry evoked spontaneous applause. Her actions of the puppet have been remarkably executed to the rhythmic assist. The mukhabhinaya had excessive and low moments. One desired extra facial mobility to be registered whereas expressing the lyrical content material. The colors of her costume too didn’t symbolise Hemanth Rithu a lot.
Uma Sathyanarayanan’s theatrical expertise got here by way of in her portrayal of the nayika’s anguish and eager for her beloved successfully.
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SRINATH M
One should praise her theatrical expertise that got here by way of within the Sangam passages as she displayed her anguish and eager for her beloved. Uma’s vocal rendition and portrayal of the bandish in Maru Bihag solid a spell on the viewers.
Her intense dance actions and silken voice, when she sang to convey the pangs of separation, have been noteworthy.
Kudos to Uma Sathyanarayanan for the idea, choreography, music composition and soundscape.
A mild pointer for the vocalist Janani Hamsini and Sai Santhanam (nattuvangam) is to take heed to the vocal output whereas acting on the mike.
Uma concluded her efficiency with raag Surya, which aptly ushered within the daybreak of a brand new life because the Solar God majestically moved within the Uttarayan course.
Indu-Nidheeh’s Sisiram
Indu Nidheesh and Nidheesh introduced Sisiram with finesse.
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SRINATH M
‘Sisiram’ — the season of late winter, a prelude to blossoming, took on a philosophical dimension in its presentation by Indu and Nidheeshkumar. An summary idea to be dealt with utilizing the dance idiom was certainly an enormous problem. The enthusiastic dance duo introduced delicate segments with finesse .
The orchestra consisted of S. Adithyanarayanan on the vocals. Ragas resembling Sahana, Bhairavi, and Ramkali to say a couple of flowed seamlessly. Okay.P. Rakesh aced the nattuvangam with ease, agency management and readability. Guru Bharadwaj’s pulsating beats on the mridangam have been pleasing and T. Shashidar’s musical intonations on the flute have been haunting. Anantakrishnan’s violin and Sowmya’s veena have been equally competent and melodious. There was anoverpowering of music which set the temper for Sisiram.
Sisir Rithu was marked by Indu’s poginant portrayal and Nidheesh’s highly effective depiction.
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SRINATH M
The stillness of the season with its underlying rhythms was splendidly conceived utilizing various Yatis (arranging completely different teams of syllables into a wonderful mixture, which lends a selected form to music).
Perceiving the 4 levels of life that one goes by way of, using Yatis within the narrative was distinctive — Srotovaha (Infancy – wonderment of expanse), Mridanga (childhood – playful ups and downs), Sama (youth – attraction of equals), Damaru (previous age – ideas of loss of life and rebirth) and Gopuchcha (the vastness that results in the one level of infinity). It
The seed of life performed the protagonist within the following episodes, which drew parallels from the tree that has skilled various seasons.
Nideesh’s delineations have been highly effective and struck the appropriate chord inside. Indu, on her half, depicted a pregnant heroine who faces loneliness, remoted ideas incapable of taking part in bodily actions. Her unhappiness got here by way of however within the dialog and clever counsel of the tree, hers was a static function for lengthy.
Lyrics in a number of languages like Sanskrit, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada conveyed the various feelings of Sisiram vis a vis the character of a mom to be.
Lastly, Indu portrayed the rajasic Kali destroying the assorted points of the manifested type — need, rage, delusion, greed, ego and jealousy. Finally, she returns to shantam and shivam earlier than the subsequent creation.
Sisiram was a thought-provoking manufacturing, which engulfed the idea of Shoonya. Indu and Nidheesh, founder administrators of Indisha Belief, deserve reward for the fervour and dedication with which they introduced Sisiram – A prelude to blossoming.
