Kalyani Menon Harikrishnan
| Picture Credit score: Particular Association
Through the incipient levels of its revival in Kerala Kalamandalam within the Thirties, Mohiniyattam anchored primarily on padams of Swati Tirunal, the maharaja who was instrumental within the resurgence of the dance type. Whereas a lot of the padams had vipralambha sringaram as their leitmotif, Mohiniyattam started to embrace various themes solely within the final 5 many years. ‘Odiyan’ staged by younger dancer Kalyani Menon Harikrishnan lately in Thrissur was one such efficiency. It was offered below the aegis of the venture Thouryatrikam of Navaneetham Cultural Belief.
Odiyans are a gaggle of occult characters believed to have existed in Kerala particularly within the Malabar area. They belonged to sure tribal communities and have been specialists in transmuting themselves into the shapes of animals and birds.
The mystic character lately attracted a lot consideration since a function movie by the identical title was launched in 2018.
Kalyani Menon Harikrishnan
| Picture Credit score:
Particular Association
Kalyani’s recital was scripted by Sreeja Kavanad. The lyrics clarify the arrival of Kurathy, a tribal lady from the hills, within the village. She is enamoured by the pure great thing about the village. She additionally encounters an Odiyan and brought in by his supernatural powers together with his means to rework into varied animals. She realises that this transformation occurs when the Odiyan smears the juice of sure wild crops on the again of his ears. When she praises his distinctive energy, he disappears. Curiously, the evil facet of Odiyan has been omitted within the script.
Kalyani’s efficiency, which was based mostly on folksy vaytharis, stood out for her histrionics. Particularly, her portrayal of various animals was spectacular.
Kalyani opened the recital with an invocation to Bala Ganapathy in Nattai and Adi. This was adopted by a varnam ‘Natana nipuna’ in two components — Kamadahana and Neelakanta — in reward of Shiva.. The composition was set to Reetigowla raga and Adi tala. Her nritta was noteworthy for the well-defined mudras in addition to aesthetically offered adavus. Her netrabhinaya was praiseworthy too. She additionally offered the well-known ‘Rain track’ by Kavalam Narayana Panicker, ‘Karu kare karmukil’. Depiction of the peacock was the spotlight of this piece. Although acquainted on the Mohiniyattam stage, Nirmala Paniker’s choreography introduced in lots of sides of the monsoon by together with the flavours of folks kinds similar to Mudiyettu, Thudichukali and Vanchippattu. Carried out to the accompaniment of solely the veena, the piece captured the great thing about the rains. Curiously, the dancer exited the stage as if rowing a ship. The selection of the Sopana raga Samanthamalahari heightened the attraction.
On the entire, the choreography demonstrated Nirmala’s means to weave collectively folks and classical. Vocalist Neelamperoor Sureshkumar, veena artiste Murali Krishnan and maddalam participant Kalanilayam Prakasan have been the accompanists. They ensured the music matched properly the temper of each composition.
