One of the most exciting, fulfilling and memorable performances i got to see this Decemeber season was Nibandhana by Vaibhav Arekar and Sankhya. It stood out for it's vivid demonstartion of possiblities of lighting n group dynamics in a dance performance.
One sees a pressing and a constant quest among dancers of BN as to how to create something new or different into their repertoire. Few manage to do this by dancing to pieces of poetry chosen from different languages etc. But Sankhya dance company showed how u can bring so much difference to a traditional varnam ( the longest and usually the central piece in a BN performance) by thinking differently.
The 'Mohamaana' is a traditional Varnam danced by almost every other dancer in a given season, for it offers so much scope for exploring and elucidating on the Shringara rasa. Dance performances that don't touch upon Shringara in the varnam or the padam can leave you feeling dry. ( Something that Priyadarshini Govind did in her performance at the Academy. She chose to present only Devi and VAtsalya). How sad and uninspiring would dance look without Shringara.
The execution of Mohamaana varnam by a group was so refereshingly different idea in itself. Only the other day the idea of a multi body presentation of the varnam looked so appealing in a presentation by Rama Vaidyanathan's students at BGS, but it had so many glitches and left one wishing for a better treatments. In a group presentation it can be a disaster to have two nodes executing movements at the same time. The viewer tends to get lost in such scenarios.
Sankhya's treatment, in contrast, was a brillant exposition of what the group exploration of the Varnam could offer and brought great joy in the way of interesting pacing and captivating formations. Here too the group did form into nodes to execute movements but the movements were in a way of complementing each other and hence augmented the viewing experience.
The piece 'Priye Charusheele' was a piece in which the vocal dynamics of Karthik Hebbar came to the fore and was mesmerising to say the least. Vaibhav should consider letting a younger dancer perform the Krishna role for the piece to complement the romance in the piece better. When Vaibhav performs romance, it has the aura of a guru performing ingrained in it and doesn't yield itself to the magic that's waiting to be tapped.
The final thillana saw brilliant moments of magic woven with lighting ( by Sushant Jadav) and choreography, there was an unbelievable moment of brilliance, that i consciously blinked eye to try and grasp the magic without being transported by it.
Vaibhav seems to have mastered the craft of infusing an ingenious spirit and energy into the traditional BN repertoire by playing around with pace, formations, lighting and music. Therein lies a secret waiting to be tapped by young dancers looking to make a difference.
I am very glad that i managed to brave many odds and caught up with this performance at NKC.
One sees a pressing and a constant quest among dancers of BN as to how to create something new or different into their repertoire. Few manage to do this by dancing to pieces of poetry chosen from different languages etc. But Sankhya dance company showed how u can bring so much difference to a traditional varnam ( the longest and usually the central piece in a BN performance) by thinking differently.
The 'Mohamaana' is a traditional Varnam danced by almost every other dancer in a given season, for it offers so much scope for exploring and elucidating on the Shringara rasa. Dance performances that don't touch upon Shringara in the varnam or the padam can leave you feeling dry. ( Something that Priyadarshini Govind did in her performance at the Academy. She chose to present only Devi and VAtsalya). How sad and uninspiring would dance look without Shringara.
The execution of Mohamaana varnam by a group was so refereshingly different idea in itself. Only the other day the idea of a multi body presentation of the varnam looked so appealing in a presentation by Rama Vaidyanathan's students at BGS, but it had so many glitches and left one wishing for a better treatments. In a group presentation it can be a disaster to have two nodes executing movements at the same time. The viewer tends to get lost in such scenarios.
Sankhya's treatment, in contrast, was a brillant exposition of what the group exploration of the Varnam could offer and brought great joy in the way of interesting pacing and captivating formations. Here too the group did form into nodes to execute movements but the movements were in a way of complementing each other and hence augmented the viewing experience.
The piece 'Priye Charusheele' was a piece in which the vocal dynamics of Karthik Hebbar came to the fore and was mesmerising to say the least. Vaibhav should consider letting a younger dancer perform the Krishna role for the piece to complement the romance in the piece better. When Vaibhav performs romance, it has the aura of a guru performing ingrained in it and doesn't yield itself to the magic that's waiting to be tapped.
The final thillana saw brilliant moments of magic woven with lighting ( by Sushant Jadav) and choreography, there was an unbelievable moment of brilliance, that i consciously blinked eye to try and grasp the magic without being transported by it.
Vaibhav seems to have mastered the craft of infusing an ingenious spirit and energy into the traditional BN repertoire by playing around with pace, formations, lighting and music. Therein lies a secret waiting to be tapped by young dancers looking to make a difference.
I am very glad that i managed to brave many odds and caught up with this performance at NKC.
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