Not of a piece
LEELA VENKATARAMAN
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Aadya and Madhushree in an Odissi duet.
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Winsome Aadya and Madhushree.
The logic of making a duet of Aadya Kaktikar and Madhushree Dasgupta, Odissi dancers and disciples of Guru Mayadhar Raut, is best known to Madhumita Raut, their present guide and teacher, for their styles hardly matched. In the well packed India Inte
rnational Centre auditorium, mangalacharan with the “Gangataranga” homage to Siva raised the curtain on a recital which made the pallavi in Mohana the centrepiece. The threadbare singing for this item by the vocalist, sans any gamakas, sounded elementary, though the same singer Hari Narayan Dash rendered the “Yahi Madhav” ashtapadi evocatively. The dance depiction of Radha as the khandita anguished by Krishna’s relationship with another woman, as depicted by Madhushree, had more conviction than the dancer’s rather stiff nritta with few bhangis, the torso needing far more fluidity.
Aadya has the technique and had her best moments in the Oriya song “Dekho Nand Nandan” a not-oft-performed and winsome item of the recital, both dance composition by Guru Mayadhar Raut and involved execution with peppy nritta interludes making for a vibrant image of Krishna’s childhood feats. Madhumita recited the ukkutas with clarity but her cymbals — barring keeping time — showed none of the subtle intricacies of rhythm her father Guru Mayadhar is able to produce.
Prafulla Mangaraj who was at his best in the concluding rela for moksha with Devi vandana (where the two dancers in frozen stances created a kind of contrast in levels and combined well) was not the usual carefree pakhawaj player. One liked the unobtrusive violin and sitar of Afzaal Zahoor and S.A. Alvi.
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