Presented with devotion

HEMA RAJAN, founder director of Nrithyopasana, organised a special dance feature on two deities, Lord Ganesa and Hanuman. It is an effort to be appreciated, not only for the opportunity this cultural centre provides for young artistes but also for training them in similar ventures which familiarises them with our religious and artistic values. The production had students of Bharatanatyam working together for the promotion of Religious Harmony.

``Aadyantha Prabhu-Manifestations of Godhead who stand for Totality (Poornam)-Ganesa and Entirety (Sampoornam, also meaning that which is Endless)-Aanjaneya'' - this was the concept chosen for this presentation. Hema Rajan deserves praise for her thoughtful selection of the topic. Focussing on the similar and the dissimilar aspects and glories of both these deities, the ballet had sequences from the epics, ``Mahabharata'' and ``Ramayana'' with which these two manifestations are closely associated.

Based on selected, well-known episodes from the epics and other stories centering around these two deities, a Tamil lyrical format for the ballet has been composed and set to music by P. R. Venkatasubrahmaniam, a disciple of Needamangalam Krishnamurthi Bhagavatar. The lively lyrics enabled the dancers to bring forth with devotion, the chosen theme with the accompaniment of pleasant musical support from Venugopalan and Roshni.

In the dance presentation, the young artistes exhibited composure and involvement; however, since each one of them belonged to different schools, there was at times, a lack of continuity in the visual impact that is generally seen in a group presentation like this. The dance narration of the episode of Valli Tirumanam highlighting the presence of the foremost of Gods, Ganesa, in it and scenes of Sundara Kandam, revealing the illustrious qualities of Hanuman who is the moving force of this chapter of the epic, were aptly dealt with. Concentrating more on a coordinated approach and better costuming could have been attempted. The musical orchestra was well organised and consisted of vacalists Venugopalan and Roshni, Padmanabhan (mridangam), Saravanan (flute), P. R. Venkatasubramaniam (keyboard) and Parthasarathy (special effects).

NANDINI RAMANI

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