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Photo: K. Pichumani

Passion: Uma Sharma

From a tin shack to an aesthetic auditorium, it has been a long journey for the Sri Krishna Gana Sabha. For the first time, instead of the inevitable presence of the man who had guided the destiny of the sabha over decades, it was a garlanded photograph of late Sri Yagyaraman that greeted the visitor to the Natya Kala Conference convened by Mohiniyattom dancer Bharati Shivaji.

For a theme like Sangeetam in Dance, having the inauguration address by the renowned Kathak dancer Uma Sharma was somewhat ironical, for here is one of those dancers in the old tradition who sings and dances to her out-of-the-ordinary abhinaya, a fading art in Kathak today.

A disciple of the great Shambhu Maharaj, Uma struggled between her natural urge to interpret through dance whatever poetry she was reciting, and the need to speak on an occasion like this.

But muddling through what came to her so naturally and what she was forced to do, she managed to convey her passion for the art form and the deep link between poetry, music and the dance.

From Sur Sagar to Tulsidas and Ghalib’s Ghazal, one saw how no dancer could afford to be distanced from literature and music.

Sharmila Biswas at the Krishna Gana Sabha.

Giving a flying start to lecture/demonstration proceedings was Odissi dancer Sharmila Biswas from Kolkata. Intelligently planned, as is her wont, her session was a role model for dancers using such a platform, tradition and innovation coming together in one cogent flow. Most aesthetically costumed in simple getup (the ornate dancer on a lec/dem floor looks too ostentatious ) her students combined with amazing discipline, Sharmila’s instinct for group choreography evident from the contained introductory presentation giving fleeting glimpses of how the Mahari music and the more performance-oriented acrobatic Gotipua boys dressed as girls inspired contemporary Mangalacharan to Moksha margam in Odissi.

Sharmila’s own very apt comments on music used in the larger sense including non-melodic sounds, emerged out of the experience of trying to understand Orissan music influenced by both south and north, but with its own typical desi flavour. She realised the need to delve into other performing art traditions of the area. That the now vanished Kumbhari tradition of male dancing could provide the base material for movements with an ideal tone for male Odissi dancing as a counterpoint to the over-soft lasya mode of present day Odissi was an idea that occurred to her on realising how the great gurus compiled the new Odissi concert format by stylising and adapting rhythms and movements from other performing art forms of the region.

Sharmila has been working on Orissan folk forms, researching on what can be taken and transformed to suit the grammar and stylistic requirements of Odissi. What she called “the in-between-stage” of movements different from the Odissi tone but too attractive in their earthiness to resist, has led to a delightful creation emulating the old Akhada atmosphere with playful challenges in interactive rhythm.

Meticulously trained, the four girls and two boys communicated the full joy of the dance using just the rich vocabulary of rhythmic syllables (vaitari-s) in a narrative dialogue making for tonal music, Sharmila’s Siva/Sakti creation called Shabda is based on percussive music of the Mridanga (of which Orissa has several forms). The ritualistic Ghanta Mardala Gong sounds and rhythms, and the local chanting traditions of the Oriya Bhagavat make excellent aural/musical accompaniment for the dance.

To curb enthusiasm overstepping traditional boundaries, Sharmila works with established musicians as guides. Through all her new work, she keeps the Oriya and Odissi identity intact.

Saroja Vaidyanathan’s demonstration despite her singing/dancing demonstration could not go beyond information familiar to a Bharatanatyam knowing public. Instead of the usual Nava Rasa depiction through nine ragas conventionally used for different moods, using just one raga right through for all the moods would have been a more interesting experiment of how the same raga can be used to evoke different rasa-s.

The four students danced in fair synchronicity. But a multiplicity of dancers repeating, standing in one place, what one dancer does is not group choreography, where movement has to be approached with a group logic and perception.

Still slim and agile, Saroja’s constant tattu mettu rhythm takes away from the silences some moments need.

For such a well designed stage, a less tacky backdrop than the squat figures of Krishna and the dancer with the logo is called for. And instead of the chunky mudra and pada cut-outs pinned on to the side wings, a plain black backdrop and wings would be welcome.

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