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Dance Ballet On Sankara
 Nrithya Kalaivani Hemalatha Ganesan’s Akshaya Abhinayalaya group of ten girl-dancers staged an impressive Bharatanatya portayal of the hymns of
Adhi Sankara, titled ‘Udhyadhbhanu’, at the Obul Reddy Hall
(Vani Mahal), T Nagar, on April 30th evening.
The title ‘Udyadhbhanu’ represents the opening line of Sankara’s hymn ‘Meenakshi Pancharatnam’ which delectable number was presented by dancers Abhinaya and Martina, in pleasing style, in melodious Revathi and
Misrachapu.
The elegant thematic portrayals highlighted carefully chosen hymns of
Adi Sankara of great relevance to contemporary times. Episodes from
Subramanya
Bhujangam’ (this hymn is of great therapeutic value), Kanakadhara Sthothram (fervent recitation of which drives away poverty) and verses from ‘Soundarya Lahari’ represented emotional universal devotion centering on the power of sincere prayer.
The opening Pushpanjali (floral worship), the ragamalika, thisranadai Ganesa Pancharatnam and the finale Bhaja Govindam showcased Guru Hemalatha’s choreographic excellence and dedicated involvement with her disciples who all combined well as a group and also showed praiseworthy individual merit.
Presented on the eve of Sankara Jayanthi, the 75-minute dance-drama stressed the tremendous role of
Sankara as a man of religion who united the people at large to follow the
Vedic way of life by shrewdly modifying and codifying the patterns and ways of worship. The popular human mind is more easily touched by an appeal to the emotions rather than to the intellect. Sankara realized this and made religion as flexible as possible within
Vedic prescriptions.
The talented ten comprised G Sindhuri, Sakshi Kapil, J Jayalakshmi, B Abhinaya, S Martina, S Apoorva (bala Sankara), Divya (indigent Brahmin lady), Suganthy
(Adi Sankara), Shilpa
(Lord Subramanya) and Aashika (Serpent
Lord
Aadisesha).
Steered by Hemalatha Ganesan (nattuvangam), the orchestra included Venugopal (vocalist), Balaji (mridangam), Shankar (violin) and Kudanthai Sa.Venkataraman
(compere).
Though the verses sung were all in
Sanskrit, the dancers demonstrated the inherent meaning by expressive mime language, elegant gestures and vivid portrayals.
This is the group’s tenth performance on this subject in less than six months on city platforms. It was a pity that the group had to cut short some of the planned numbers for want of time caused by a thoughtless delay of 45 minutes earlier.
R Natarajan (IAS Retd.), the chief guest, explained the eternal relevance of
Sankara and felicitated the artistes and accompaniments.
Salangai Oli organized this
Chithirai Dance Festival series.
R.Srinivasan
Ph: 24355576
Mail to : annie_thomaz@yahoo.co.in
Published on 4th
May, 2004
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