Navia Natarajan's Levity made a difference

Kalapradarshini continued with its support to young dancers, on Sunday, with Bharatanatyam performances by Navia Natarajan and Ramya Rajeshkumar. Navia, a disciple of Padmini Ramachandran and A. Lakshmanan, opened the evening with an invocatory numbe r in Nattai. She then went on to a sloka dedicated to Padmanabha in Simhendra Madhyamam. With neat adavus, Navia has an easy manner that is appealing.

After the verse to Padmanabha, she went on to the Sankarabharanam varnam, ‘Manavichaikona.’ Considering this varnam is dedicated to Siva in his aspect of Thanjavur Brihadeeshwara, she might have chosen a sloka or viruttam on Siva in place of Padmanabha, which would have provided a contemplative angle to the varnam rendition. Set to dance by A. Lakshmanan, the varnam contained amusing references to Siva’s accoutrements. According to the lyrics, the nayika in the opening lines appeals to her lord to accede to her request and describes the pain she feels at separation. The choreographer introduced through mudras the idea that the heroine is addressing the Lord, saying, “I sent the moon, the deer and the River Ganga to you as messengers, but you adorned yourself with them instead of accepting my message.” This set the presentation off to a light-hearted start. The jatis were cleanly presented and the tempo of the varnam sustained. In the final jati, in particular that introduced the charanam portion, Navia was impressive for her speed and agility.

In the expressional aspect, though, the combination of coquettishness with devotional mudras, such as meditation, anjali and the like, served to make the bhava unconvincing. The grandeur of the composition of the Thanjavur Quartet that did not come through. As the dancer develops her abhinaya, she may like to remember that in a varnam various fleeting moods can be depicted while maintaining the sthayi bhava. Thus, different approaches can be worked on. Navia’s rendition of the javali, ‘Smarasundaranguni,’ a Dharmapuri Subbarayar composition in Paras, displayed a much better match between the format and the dancer’s tenor. Here she depicted zestfully the nayika who boasts about her unrivalled lord, saying there is no one to match his looks, his feats, his generosity. The concluding tillana in Mand, a Lalgudi Jayaraman composition, was well handled, though some of the high kicks did not suit the grace of the style. The raga was tunefully introduced by flautist Vivek Krishnan. Nattuvangam by Prassana Kumar and mridangam by Janardhan Rao were apt. However, vocal by Balasubramanya Sharma provided more brigas than melody.

Source:The Hindu