 Sirisha – A Complete Dancer
 Shashank, the brilliant world-renowned flautist, has every reason to be deeply concerned and, yet, he has every reason to feel elated. His beautiful wife Sirisha Shashank is a fine, complete dancer and also an accomplished vocalist, all set to win fame for herself in her own right and steal the thunder from her husband. But then, they will inspire each other most responsively, responsibly—therefore, no problems!
Sirisha’s solo-bharathanatyam recital, under the auspices of the Tchaikovsky Music Club, jointly with the Russian Cultural Centre, at the centre’s auditorium, Chennai-18, on Thursday evening, was quite memorable.
It was Sirisha’s maiden dance recital in Chennai, especially as Srimathi Shashank. Former Supreme Court Judge, Justice S Mohan, who presided, quoted the English poet John Keats when he pointed out, ‘How can I distinguish the dance from the dancer?’. This warm-judgment was well-balanced and based on facts, becoming of a distinguished legal-luminary.
Sirisha, presently trained by internationally-acclaimed danseuse Priyadarsini Govind, performed six numbers, highlighted by the unique ‘dharu varnam’ (a musical story-telling dance form) ‘Maathe Malayadhvaja Pandyasajaathe’ (Muthiah Bhagavathar composition in Khamas-Aadhi), graphically enunciating the multi-splendoured glory of the Lord of Dance, Nataraja. Sirisha fulfilled all the exacting and exciting requirements of Varnam faultlessly. Her guru Priyadarsini, had, in an earlier aside, pointed out to me, that ‘Siri’ is an accomplished dancer totally dedicated to dance. "She has grace, subtlety, verve, elegance and wholesome depth in laya, and abhinaya. She has an excellent grasp of all the nuances of
Bharathanatyam."
 Well, Sirisha evidenced all these traits in her recital. ‘Aadikkondar Andha Vedikkai Kaanakkan Aayiram Vendamo’ (‘won’t you require a 1,000 eyes to enjoy the dance of the Lord?), the Purandaradasa devarnama ‘Jagadoddhaarana’ (Kaapi) and the Brindavani Balamurali Thillana must have convinced all discerning critics of her merits as a dancer of great talent.
However, it was the Padam ‘Chittike Vesike’ (‘if I snap my fingers just like this…’) in Kalyani-Aadhi- that she mesmerised her audience totally. For a change, Krishna woos a beautiful maiden, yes, unsuccessfully! All his bravado taunts and jibes aimed at the maiden stressing his winsome attributes fail to impress the stubborn damsel. ‘Venugopaludu Naa Peru’ (Venugopala is my name), ‘girls are waiting in a long line for a glance from me’, have little or no effect on her. This interlude between Krishna and the maid was ‘scornfully’ (‘scorn’ was the keynote of this piece centering on ‘advances’ from the hero to the heroine), delightfully and deliciously depicted.
Dwijendran (Nattuvangam), Manasi Prasad (lovely vocal music), Sudhaman (mrudangam), Govind Prasad (morsing), and Tyagarajan (flute) completed the orchestra ensemble.
Sirisha, who compered her own recital, took care to pay handsome tributes to her Bangalore-based gurus Radha Sridhar and Narmada, as also to Priyadarsini at Chennai and all her other associates.
R Srinivasan
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