Aspiring Bharatanatyam dancer Pritam started his career at a very early age with Jayita Ghosh, a disciple of Kalamandalam Thankamani Kutty, who has been instrumental in installing the love of Bharatanatyam to a majority of dancers in Kolkata.
Shiva was the theme of Pritam in his presentation recently at Alka Jalan Foundation, in Daga House, Ballygunge Circular Road in Kolkata.
Perum Kovil a rare Keerthanam sung by the descendants of the Tanjore Quartet in Ragam Shree and Mishra Capu talam was the first of Pritam’s two selection of the evening. Perumal Kovil is the big temple in Tanjavur and it is in Brihadeshwara temple, built by Rajaraja Chola, for over a thousand years ago.
The protagonist of the dance piece is a performing artist, seeking blessings from the Lord of the Perumal Kovil, so that he never goes offbeat or never sings in off Shruti.
The artist’s awe of the temple’s architectural marvel, where dwells the Lord, the source of his inspiration was captured expressively. Starting from the description of the intricately carved dome of the temple made of a single granite stone slab ; different poses and postures of Shiva, the climbers and creepers adorning it, the temple’s awe-inspiring artwork, the height of the vimana, the brihad or the massive Shiva Linga, the Nataraja piece, intricacies of the karanas of Shiva sculpted and all other descriptions needed no word language, such was the vivid essay in dance, collated together by Kalaimamoni Rama Vaidyanathan, in a single choreographic work. Every bit was explained with the minute language of hand gestures, clusters of dance steps arranged to make a heightened visual impact and of course miming. Lord Brihadiswarar’s ultimate blessing bestowed on the artist was seen at the end of the composition when Pritam started singing and dancing joyfully with abandon.
The extension of the underlying Shiva theme was continued in the second part of Pritam’s rendition. The north wall of Brihadeswara temple is adorned with a finely crafted statue Ardhanariswara. Therefore the rendition of the Ardhanariswara Astakam was all the more significant. Adi Shankaracharya’s ‘Champeya Gourardha sarirakaya’ was preceded by Kalidas’ verse which says that Parvati and Shiva are inseparable like the word and the meaning. Ardhanariswara representing creation and dissolution by Parvati and Shiva complementing each other, delineated by the young dancer spoke a lot. In this piece, the lasya and tandava aspect shown on the left and right sight of the body concurrently was imbibed with a lot of attention and bespoke of potential. The sancharis or elaborations of the male characteristics of Shiva and the female characteristics of Parvati were gulped down with no questions asked. The Rasa or flavour created by the stories of Shiva was enriching.
Sohini Bandopadhayay a noted disciple of Kathakar Alokparna Guha is a beginner and the climb up is long and difficult. But one has to take the first step to go ahead.
She commenced with a bandish on raag Durga. A Lucknow gharana dancer, her rendition of teentaal with thaat, upaj, uthan , paran in vilambit laya was followed by dancing in madhyalaya to Pakhawaj ki bani and bijli ki paran. After drut teentaal she switched over to chakkars and enthralled those present with twenty pirouettes.
The event ‘Nrityanjali’ was arranged jointly by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Sanchita Dance Foundation and Open Doors Event Management. Nrityanjali was a noble attempt to give performance space to young dancers of all classical dance forms. This kind of patronisation is the need of the hour.
*Sohini’s Photo by Subhadeep Dey
