Nritya Kalangan recently celebrated Anukrama 2025 under the aegis of Jalsa Chandra, its artistic director. Anukrama was dedicated to Muthuswami Dikshitar, who lived 250 years ago. In his honour, Jalsa Chandra presented Mayura Keertanam, written by him. The piece opened with verses from the Tevaram, where the Shaivite poet describes Lord Shiva’s descent to Mayavaram, offering peacock flowers to Devi Parvati, who was deep in penance in the form of a mayil, the peahen, amidst the fragrant mango groves. Jalsa Chandra had choreographed the piece in Dhanyasi Ragam and Mishra chapu talam.
The Keertanam painted a luminous picture of Lord Mayuranatha, who is radiant as a thousand suns, adorned with divine ornaments; destroyer of Tripurasura; Lord of the five elements and the eternal embodiment of Nada, the cosmic sound. It was a solo piece painstakingly researched, practised and performed by Jalsa Chandra. Kuchipudi performer Lakshmi Kameshwari Vempati, the granddaughter of the legendary Guru Vempaty Chinna Satyam, performed ‘Neela Megha Sareera’ Tarangam in Raag Malika and Tala Adi written by Narayana Teertha and choreographed by the legend.
A beautiful piece of choreography performed spiritedly delighted dance lovers. The lyric vividly described Krishna, the beloved of the gopis. Tarangam is the most distinctive feature of Kuchipudi. Lakshmi Kameswari performed rhythmic sequences while balancing on a brass plate and covered space in a way that awed the audience. Dancing on the rim of a brass plate is also a symbol of spiritual balance and artistic excellence, which was analysed effectively through body movement. The choreographic structure, rhythmic intricacies and theatrical significance of this piece is a life-long commitment. The more one performs, the more the perfection.
Lakshmi has mastered the art of dancing on the brass plate, which requires balance, control, foot coordination, spins, jumps, and glides. The well-crafted choreography is a metaphor for the dancer’s devotion and discipline. It’s a yoga that is not meant for just one performance, and I am sure Lakshmi understands it. This Tarangam will be her companion all through her life. Arpita Venkatesh and daughter Vandita Venkatesh performed an Odissi duet, featuring ‘Saraswati Vandana’ and ‘Yog Pallavi’, choreographed and composed by the veteran on a composition of Himangshu Shekhar Swain. Starting with Agasthya Muni’s famous stotra “Ya kundenu tushar o hara dhavala ya suvra bastrabrita—-” the duo ended with lines taken from Ratnavali.
Offerings in the language of Odissi dance were made to goddess Saraswati, who is pure white like Jasmine and tranquil like the Moon and lustrous like snow. The duet dancers described her shine in the Guru Kelucharan style. The divinity of Saraswathi was essayed aesthetically. She was described as being seated on a white lotus and showering her blessings upon every mortal being. She was entreated to protect them from all that is evil. This Mangalacharan was in Taal Ekataali and Khemta, and Raag Kalavati. Yog Pallavi was based on Raag Yoga and set to Taal Khemta of six beats. The Pallavi began with a few simple steps to gradually unfold its innate complexity and ultimately achieve a graceful dance of divine beauty, said choreographer Arpita Venkatesh.
Music composition was by Himangshu Shekhar Swain, and rhythm composition was by Bhudhanath Swain. Meticulously trained in Margya Natya, Shreetama Chowdhury and Pinki Mondal presented Shaadji Kapalageeti from Pasupati Panika Vidhi, exploring ancient Natyashastra traditions and the Marga system. It was an interesting piece connected to a curious tale. The Sapta Kapaala-geetas mentioned in the Natyashastra originate from a very unusual tale. The story goes that once ‘somarasa’ -nectar-oozing from Shiva’s dreadlock fell on the garland of skulls that he was wearing. This made seven of the skulls come back to life, each of whom began to invoke Shiva in the seven musical notes that are known to us. Eerie as it may sound, legend has it that those notes came to be known as Kapaala-geetas. Shaadji is the first Kapaalageeta based on the Svara ‘Shadaja’, which is an invocation of Bhairava. Panika vidhi is a part of the Seven Mahageetas as mentioned in the Marga system of Bharata Muni in the Natyashastra. Unlike the prevalent custom in Hindustani and Carnatic music, the four segments of Panika Vidhi are mukha, pratimukha, sharira, and samharana.
The piece was adopted from the literature and notation from Bharatabhashya, while its tala-pattern was taken from Sangita-Ratnakara. Pashupati Panika Vidhi that was performed was composed in ‘choksho -shaadava graama-raaga’ – with shuddha nishaada in the ascension and komala nishaada in descension, while the rest followed the shadja-graama pattern. Dance direction and choreography of this ancient piece was by Piyal Bhattacharya, who had burnt his midnight oil in its research prior to its choreography. Sayak Mitra, who is a prodigy, gave vocal support to it. The students of Nritya Kalangan performed Ganesh Vandana, choreographed by Pandit Guru Rajendra Gangani, the illustrious son of Pandit Kundanlal Gangani of Jaipur Gharana.
This was followed by ‘Theruvil Varano’ on the theme of devotion in Khamas ragam and Rupaka talam. It expressed a maiden’s yearning for Lord Nataraja. She dreams of his arrival and suffers from unrequited love, with a lingering hope for union with the Lord of Chidambaram. As her yearning deepens, she realises her love is but an illusion. In the end, she surrenders with the realisation that his cosmic dance is for the welfare of the universe. It was choreographed by Jalsa Chandra. The performers were Oindrila Dutt, Adrija Mondal, Shreya Dasgupta, Anushka Goswami and Agnimita Das. Ganesha Kauthwam performed next was a repetition of the Ganesha theme. It was set to ragam Naatei and taalam Chatusra Ekam. The piece Prabandh taught by Kathak exponent Mysore B.Nagraj of Bangalore was unique, more so because it was a choreographic masterpiece of Guru Maya Rao. The piece was a composition of the dhrupad lineage of Altaf Hussain Khan. Jalsa Chandra’s musical accompanists for her Bharatnatyam and Kathak recital were each stalwarts in their respective fields. In Kathak, there were percussionists Subir Thakur, Sitarist Shri Chandrachur Bhattacharya and vocalist Jaydeep Sinha.
Chandra herself recited the bol parant. The evening of dance was remarkable. It included dancers who still had not gotten over their stage fright, while there were more experienced young and budding dancers, who were ready to launch off on the world stage. It was a talent hunter’s paradise, which marks the efficacy of programs held by amateurs. For the Bharatanatyam pieces, she had an array of star-studded musicians. Vocalists Ranganathan Shrinivasan, Anand Jayram, and K.Shyama were accompanied by mridangam artists Shankar Narayanswamy, Arul Nanjil and Venkat Raman. Violinists Nataraj Radhakrishnan and Anand Jayram, along with flautist Rik Mukherjee, were excellent supporting hands. Nattuvangam was by Jalsa Chandra.
(THE WRITER IS A SENIOR DANCE CRITIC.)