Sree n Meera
Season snippets- Natya Darshan 1
It was very thoughtful of Priya Murle, convenor of Natya Darshan 2019 to have conceptualized and brought together Meera Sreenarayanan and Sreelakshmi Govardhan together on a stage in the opening performance of the 3 day show. The dancers had been briefed to portray spritual and emotional transfromation over a dance piece. It was a brilliant strategy of the dancers in choosing to adapt aspects of Silapathikaram for the purpose.
Sreelakshmi, the kuchupudi artist, found a natural affinity to performing the Character of Madhavi and Meera, the Bharathanatyam artist, gloriously brought to life the vacccilations of fortunes and transformations in the Charecter of Kannagi. It was refreshing to see the dancers alternatingly taking to the stage in presenting segments portraying the evolution of the characters in the emotional and spiritual realms, as they traversed the storyscape of Silambu.
Meera's performance was marked by her ability to synchronise and sway perfectly in unison with the music and lyrics. She showed great suppleness and energy in bringing force to her movements. Though there was a streak of sadness running through her portrayal of Kannagi, yet she did not let the performance limp in pathos, and rather spruced it up with her suppleness. Subsequently, when she had to scale the tempo up towards the climax, it felt natural and very convincing.
Sreelakshmi was revelling in her portrayal of Madhavi. She looked very much at ease with the charectar and seemed to enjoy herself in the performance. She was ecstatic starting with Madhavi's arangetram in the Indra vizha, where she is proclaimed the best and wins over the affection of Kovalan, luxuriant through the good times she has with Kovalan and composed in the sad loss of Kovalan and in the grief that leads her to adopt asceticism. Her poise and grace lent itself very naturally to strengthening the portrayal of Madhavi.
Parts of the performance when both the artists appear together on stage were rich in splendor and possibilities. it was a treat to watch two different style and inclination play out together on stage, like waves from two different sources meeting and finding a high in resonance.
The musical rendering of lines from the Silambu was executed in a very fine and enlivening manner. It was an interesting and innovative intervention on the part of the artists to end the performance on a high and positive note by portraying the climax in terms of the Characters seeking after the ultimate truth and invoking lines from Narayaneeyam (?)
It would also be pertinent to think beyond the brief of ND and explore other interesting possiblities offered by this context. For instance, it would be interesting to introduce a couple of segments where Madhavi and Kannagi meet during the course of the story, one while Kovalan is still around and again after his death.
Some aspect about Meera's costume n make up did not quite work for this performance. She had quite rightly and judiciously toned her paraphernalia down, to evoke the simplicity of and the sad fate to befall upon Kannagi. But the pared down appearance did not quite sit well with the brilliant green sari.
Kannagi's travails leading upto the tragedy at Madurai deserves a lot more delibration. There was a sense of being hurried up in the segment of burning down Madurai; the subsequent fate and state of Kannagi after the burning episode also begs for a lot more expansive treatment.
There is also a lot of scope in exploring the versatility of Madhavi's character as portrayed by Ilango. The minor glitch in prompting of the lines could be averted.
The concept of Madhavi and Kannagi holds a lot of possibilities. The artists could only do little justice to this immense potential subject in the 50 minutes alloted to them. Further, not withstanding the short time and limited oppurtunities to meet and work together on the concept, the artists still managed to pull off a brilliant show. The idea that they have stumbled upon is highly potent and should be developed into a full fledged production featuring the two artists. Sree n Meera is an idea that Priya Murle has sown and on Friday they showed us glimpses of the promise they hold and i strongly believe it's an idea that's going to travel far and wide. Here's to wishing them great success..
Season snippets- Natya Darshan 1
It was very thoughtful of Priya Murle, convenor of Natya Darshan 2019 to have conceptualized and brought together Meera Sreenarayanan and Sreelakshmi Govardhan together on a stage in the opening performance of the 3 day show. The dancers had been briefed to portray spritual and emotional transfromation over a dance piece. It was a brilliant strategy of the dancers in choosing to adapt aspects of Silapathikaram for the purpose.
Sreelakshmi, the kuchupudi artist, found a natural affinity to performing the Character of Madhavi and Meera, the Bharathanatyam artist, gloriously brought to life the vacccilations of fortunes and transformations in the Charecter of Kannagi. It was refreshing to see the dancers alternatingly taking to the stage in presenting segments portraying the evolution of the characters in the emotional and spiritual realms, as they traversed the storyscape of Silambu.
Meera's performance was marked by her ability to synchronise and sway perfectly in unison with the music and lyrics. She showed great suppleness and energy in bringing force to her movements. Though there was a streak of sadness running through her portrayal of Kannagi, yet she did not let the performance limp in pathos, and rather spruced it up with her suppleness. Subsequently, when she had to scale the tempo up towards the climax, it felt natural and very convincing.
Sreelakshmi was revelling in her portrayal of Madhavi. She looked very much at ease with the charectar and seemed to enjoy herself in the performance. She was ecstatic starting with Madhavi's arangetram in the Indra vizha, where she is proclaimed the best and wins over the affection of Kovalan, luxuriant through the good times she has with Kovalan and composed in the sad loss of Kovalan and in the grief that leads her to adopt asceticism. Her poise and grace lent itself very naturally to strengthening the portrayal of Madhavi.
Parts of the performance when both the artists appear together on stage were rich in splendor and possibilities. it was a treat to watch two different style and inclination play out together on stage, like waves from two different sources meeting and finding a high in resonance.
The musical rendering of lines from the Silambu was executed in a very fine and enlivening manner. It was an interesting and innovative intervention on the part of the artists to end the performance on a high and positive note by portraying the climax in terms of the Characters seeking after the ultimate truth and invoking lines from Narayaneeyam (?)
It would also be pertinent to think beyond the brief of ND and explore other interesting possiblities offered by this context. For instance, it would be interesting to introduce a couple of segments where Madhavi and Kannagi meet during the course of the story, one while Kovalan is still around and again after his death.
Some aspect about Meera's costume n make up did not quite work for this performance. She had quite rightly and judiciously toned her paraphernalia down, to evoke the simplicity of and the sad fate to befall upon Kannagi. But the pared down appearance did not quite sit well with the brilliant green sari.
Kannagi's travails leading upto the tragedy at Madurai deserves a lot more delibration. There was a sense of being hurried up in the segment of burning down Madurai; the subsequent fate and state of Kannagi after the burning episode also begs for a lot more expansive treatment.
There is also a lot of scope in exploring the versatility of Madhavi's character as portrayed by Ilango. The minor glitch in prompting of the lines could be averted.
The concept of Madhavi and Kannagi holds a lot of possibilities. The artists could only do little justice to this immense potential subject in the 50 minutes alloted to them. Further, not withstanding the short time and limited oppurtunities to meet and work together on the concept, the artists still managed to pull off a brilliant show. The idea that they have stumbled upon is highly potent and should be developed into a full fledged production featuring the two artists. Sree n Meera is an idea that Priya Murle has sown and on Friday they showed us glimpses of the promise they hold and i strongly believe it's an idea that's going to travel far and wide. Here's to wishing them great success..
No comments:
Post a Comment