 Aesthetic Delight
 There are quite a few danseuses of exceptional merit, who, for some reason or other, not clearly definable, are not more in the limelight. Yuva Kala Bharathi Pavithra Srinivasan is one such. She has a host of ‘best danseuse awards’ from prestigious institutions that include, inter alia, the Madras Music Academy and the Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai. She should have been a frontline dancer of popular appeal by now.
Pavithra’s solo dance recital under the auspices of Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha (the oldest sabha in Chennai, set up in 1900) at the Mylapore Fine Arts Club auditorium on Tuesday last (Feb.1) provided sheer aesthetic delight even for the hard core connoisseur. She is a sensitive high calibre dancer given to explorative thought-processes that promote significant good to the art of Bharatanatyam itself.
Pavithra’s sollukkattus, sequence of steps, theermanams, adavus, abhinaya, nritya, nritta and all other well-enunciated Bharatanatyam attributes were all of high class. This was particularly evident in her Ananda Bhairavi-Tanjore Quartet Varnam ‘Sakhiye Indha Velaiyil’, wherein the love-lorn Nayika implores her close associate ‘to tarry not any further but proceed post-haste to bring her Lord to her side : this is not the time to tease me.. you know my torment.. please hurry..’ Pavithra’s bhava-filled pangs were presented picturesquely. Her ‘passionate pleas’ were commendable portrayals.
What was more appreciable, Pavithra chose to explain with crisp Angika-Vachika abhinayas each number so expressively that the rasika could enjoy that particular ‘menu’ so much better.
Swaminatha paripaalayashumaam - Nattai:Aadhi:Dikshitar, Purandaradasa’s Jagadothdhaarana (kaapi) displaying pleasingly different gestural patterns for the same line deserve special mention.
The ‘Paras’ Javali (Kalanidhi Narayanan)-‘Smara Sundaranguni Sari Evare’ (‘who is there to equal my own Lord in any respect of distinction?’), the Balamurali - kathana kuthookhalam fast-paced Thillana, and the Tsunami-dedicated-special number (composed by Swami Dayananda Saraswati) were elegant delectable numbers sculpted out of dedicated hard work.
Nattuvangam by Natanamamani A Lakshman, vocal music by Hariprasad, Nellai Kannan’s percussive support and S Vijayaraghavan’s violin melodies were in tune with Pavtihra’s recital.
Pavithra is currently teaching Bharatanatyam and Vedic heritage at the Arsha Vidhya Gurukulam, Saylorsburg, P.A., US.
R Srinivasan
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