The Dancing Flame
A chronicle of a dance concert
A compromise had to be struck between the number of people in the audience and the concert delay. That evening, two kinds of people were in the SJA (Silver Jubilee Auditorium) at NITK, Surathkal. You could find people with a musical background and novices in the audience.
Nevertheless, all of them had the potential to appreciate and enjoy any art form, provided the performers were brilliant. It was my first Bharatanatyam experience as far as I was concerned. The supporting artists were seated to the left of the audience.
Mrs. Gayathri Balagurunathan entered from the right side of the stage. She first stunned us with her beauty and then with her voice. She began by introducing herself and her team. She can explain the content of her rendition without intriguing the audience with technical stuff, yet not losing the essence of the performance.
Mrs Gayathri Balagurunathan is the daughter of famed Bharatanatyam dancer Krishnaveni Lakshmanan and the wife of V. Balagurunathan (a well-known Bharatanatyam artist). Her mother has trained her from the tender age of five. She has completed her training in Bharatanatyam and Veena from the Kalakshetra (started by the legendary Rukmini Devi Arundale) with distinction. She has performed in India and abroad.
The danseuse has also received the prestigious Sangeet Natak Academy award for her achievements in Bharatanatyam. She has taught Bharatanatyam in India and New Zealand. Critiques believe that shades of the late Krishnaveni Lakshmanan are more than evident in daughter Gayathri Balagurunathan’s Bharatanatyam performances.
Bharatanatyam is considered a 'fire dance' — the mystic manifestation of the metaphysical element of fire in the human body. The movements of an authentic Bharatanatyam dancer resemble the movements of dancing and flame. Bharatanatyam is one of the classical arts where extraordinary coordination among a group of artists is very important.
The dancer has to perform in sync with the vocalist. The dramatic aspect is essential for narrating the storyline (Abhinaya), and the rhythmic dance movements (Nritta) are to be fused into interpretive dance, using facial expressions, hand gestures, and body movements to portray emotions and express themes (Nritya) in a Bharatanatyam repertoire.
Such complex interconnectedness, when perfected, offers an attentive eye a glimpse of the zenith of human creativity. That is exactly what spectators were offered on that eventful evening.
The first performance of a Bharatanatyam concert is often a crisp Nritta item, i.e., Abstract dance movements with rhythm but without expressing a theme or emotion. A Stuti (prayer) praising lord Ganesh was sung in the beginning. The second piece appreciated the various extraordinary deeds done by lord Krishna to bring down evil in the universe. The depictions of Vamanavatara and Kurmavatara were elegant and convincing.
The next performance was the Varnam, or the main piece of the concert. It was a storyline wherein a devotee prayed for the blessings and mercy of Lord Shiva. The second part of the Varnam involved a story where Lord Shiva dances with his right leg on the floor upon the request of a King at the great temple of Tanjore.
The artist made swift changes from the masculine and feminine characters of the storyline effortlessly. The subsequent piece was the audience’s favourite one. The song was “Tumak Chalat Ram Chandra”, a bhajan composed by Tulsidas. It was a lullaby sung to Lord Shriram by his mother, Kausalya.
The imagination of Tulsidas’ poetic mind was well matched by Ms Gayathri's passionate involvement during the performance. The exquisite feminine expressions struck a chord with all individuals in the audience.
Many of us were forced to imagine an Infant Lord Ram walking around the stage during the performance. The final offering, the Tillana, was again a piece on Lord Shiva. The Tandava, or the cosmic dance of Shiva, was well depicted. The audience was enthused by the energetic steps and fantastic Netrabhinaya (exquisite eye movements representing emotions). An interaction with the audience followed this.
We came to know about her knowledge about the Natyashastra as well as storylines from the scriptures. That enabled her to innovate and improvise over the traditional conventions. The artist and her team were felicitated by the convenor of the SPICMACAY Mangalore chapter, Mr Manikandan S G. The program ended with a group photo of the troupe with SPICMACAY volunteers.