Tyagaraja’s Legacy Celebrated in Ballet

The Quadir Ali Baig Theatre Festival held at Taramati Baradari presented a Bharatanatyam ballet, “Tyagaraja Hrt Sadana,” on the weekend. The ballet by Chithkala School of Dance Ensemble from Bengaluru showcased choreography by its founder, Guru Praveen Kumar. Praveen has studied under the renowned Bharatanatyam maestro Prof. CV Chandrasekhar. A recipient of many awards, he has traveled extensively in India and abroad, participating in many prestigious dance festivals. An accomplished nattuvanar, he has ideated several productions on various themes to critical acclaim. The concept running like a thread through this ballet is that of Lord Rama as the ideal man. A profound aesthetic sense was conveyed throughout by flawless natya, layered abhinaya, and chiselled nritta. Tyagaraja’s matchless compositions found the perfect synthesis of music and dance to resonate in the audience’s imagination.

The live orchestra, featuring Nattuvangam/Pakhawaj/Kanjira by Vinod Shyam, vocal by Raghuram, Mridangam by Vidyashankar, flute by Raghu Simha, and violin by Nagaraj, was a lustrous accompaniment indeed! Surya Rao, as usual, was a meticulous craftsman of light effects. The aharya was a luminescent sea blue-green bordered with scarlet, matched with elegantly styled jewelry that sparkled on stage. Praveen, after much thought, visualized his imaginative ideation by bringing out other rasas like vatsalya from the predominantly bhakti-soaked corpus. Some rarely used pieces for dance were taken as a challenge to interpret and succeeded brilliantly.

The Tyagaraja items were preceded aptly with a sloka in praise of him, where he is compared to Vyasa in Vedic learning, Valmiki in poetic language, Suka in detachment, Prahlada in devotion, Brahma and Narada in the beauty of lyrical music, and rivaling Siva in drinking the sweet nectar of Rama’s name. Tyagaraja is thus ornately described and praised as an embodiment of great Rishis and Celestials. The student group was precise in depicting the above qualities in elaborate imagery. The pure abhinaya piece was innovative and ethereal, as three of the artistes—Navyashree, Pooja Desai, and Vidyalakshmi—in sitting, recumbent postures, mimetically performed the krithi “Sri Rama jaya Rama sringara Rama.”

Positioned at a slight angle to each other, the process of alternately taking up successive stanzas was a stroke of genius. The others remained frozen like a sculpture coming to life in turn as their abhinaya brought out each emotion to create a different type of rasa, which was a sublime experience. Thus, a whole gamut of emotions and feelings crystallized each facet of the song.

Though Rama’s childhood is not shown, with all due respect and artistic liberty, Praveen has visualized the child Rama with different shades of parental affection towards him, drawing inspiration from Tyagaraja’s words to extend the canvas of who the child Rama may have been. “UyyalaUgavayya” featured Divya Hoskere as Kausalya, who swings the baby Rama in a cradle, singing soothing lullabies to bring him to sleep. Standing on a raised dais, Divya was perfect in picturing the cradle being rocked, conjured up through subtle swaying movements, which the piece involved and apt expressions of motherly love expressed to its utmost.

“Sogasu Juda Tarama” provided ample scope for the portrayal of the immortal love of Rama and Sita. It was a tour de force performed by Praveen Kumar and Shreema Upadhyaya. Praveen’s stance was so exact that he radiated a haloed nimbus around him purely through the exacting fidelity of his pose.

The pair see each other for the first time as Rama catches Sita’s eye when he strolls through the gardens at Mithila on his way to attend the Swayamvara. It was a joy to see the unspoken words exchanged through speaking glances alone, as Sita shyly looked at Rama with quivering eyelashes and Rama was overcome with his feelings at seeing her but constrained to leave the venue while looking back to catch a last glimpse of her. The tremulous hesitation as both were startled into stopping, then continued walking hesitantly away from each other, was a marvel of delicate abhinaya conveyed by Shreema and Praveen. The finale was the successful bow-wielding leading to Sita’s garlanding of Rama as her chosen lord. While sringara is not a strong presence in Tyagaraja’s compositions, in his own way, he suggests the deep bond between Rama and Sita. Restrained and controlled expressiveness brought out the intensity of Rama’s love for Sita. Even when they meet for the first time in a single look, their eternal connection over many births was revealed!

“Jagadananda Karaka,” a Pancharatnakrithi, was extensively treated almost like a varnam. It contained a trikalajathi and swaras in multiple speeds. Praveen, Divya, Shreema, and Navyashree brought out the sancharis in Ahalya Moksham, Tataki Vadham, Sita Kalyanam, and Ravana Samharam, forming a series of gloriously stirring tableaux. Raaga Srinivas and Shruti Doss were the other dancers in the production. A rousing standing ovation met the dancers at the conclusion, testifying to their abilities, which kept the audience spellbound throughout the over-hour-long performance.