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Bharatha Natyam review:
Selvi: Rising star in Bharatha Natyam
Chelvatamby Maniccavasagar
The Bharatha Natyam Arangetram of Selvi Abarna Selvarajah, daughter
of Selvarajah and Jayanthi Selvarajah and disciple of Srimathy
Shivananthy Haridharshan, a veteran dancer and Founder of Nirthana
School of Dance, was held at New Kathiresan Hall, Bambalapitiya, Colombo
4, recently.
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Selvi Abarna Selvarajah |
Padmabushan award winner and Bharathakalanjali Founder Chennai V. P.
Dhananjayan was the Chief Guest while R. Maharajah and Sharmila Kantha,
wife of the Indian High Commissioner of Sri Lanka were the guests of
honour. Selvi Abarna's Bharatha Natyam Arangetram was attended by
distinguished and appreciative personalities from all walks of life
including Supreme Court Judges, High Commissioners, Chairmen of several
Government and private organisations.
Footwork
They highly commended Selvi's dance performances since she revealed
her seemingly effortless command over all aspects of Bharatha Natyam,
complicated footwork and constantly changing facial expressions.
Bharatha Natyam is one of the oldest dance forms of India. It was
nurtured in the temples and kovils of Southern India since ancient
times. Though it was nurtured in the temple, E. Krishna Iyer and Rukmini
Devi Arundale revived the art and gave a devotional character to it.
Today Bharatha Natyam is one of the most popular and widely performed
dance styles. It is practised by male and female dancers all over India
and Sri Lanka. Srimathy Shivananthy Haridharshan is one of the veteran
dance teachers in Sri Lanka and has instructed and trained several
generations of young girls enabling more than 43 of them to perform
Bharatha Natyam Arangetrams. Indeed she is a colossus in the field of
Bharatha Natyam and her determination and efforts were amply recognised
from her honours.
Emotions
Selvi personifies a rare combinations of talent, beauty and
perseverance was able to convey and reach out to the audience her
feelings and emotions in all her dance performances on account of her
tremendous stamia combined with immaculate and assertive rhythm.
Besides, her abhinaya was enjoyable due to her expressive treatment of
the theme. The vocal and music by M.K. Rajesh from Chennai enhanced her
performance.
Selvi began her dance performances with Pushpanjali where the dance
offers flowers to Lord Shiva which was followed by Alaripu which is a
dance sequence of eye, neck and arm movements executed to the drum.
Rhythm
Jathiswaram is a dance item depicting pure rhythm. The compositions
of it is in basic dance units Jathis (Drum Syllables) set to the
Swarnams (Musical Notes) which were associated with different Thalam.
This was followed by Varnam which combines both Nirtha and Abhinaya.
Thillana is a pure dance with intricate footwork showing the dancers in
sculptures poses. The grace and movement of steps and expressions are
combined to complete perfection in dancing and it is followed by
Mangalam.
Much of the success in creating the right atmosphere in a dance
performance depends on dance compositions and Nattuwangam. Srimathy
Shivananthy Haridharshan has done the dance composition with meticulous
care and thoroughness.
The music too contributes greatly to the success of the dance
performances and the musicians who played different instruments at
Selvi's Bharatha Natyam Arangetram are Sri V. Jambunathan (Mirudangam),
S. Dhivagaran (Violin), Visharatha Ratnam Ratnadurai (Tabla) and
Visharatha Kumara Liyanawatte (Flute).
Abirami and Dusan Vaas who compeered the dance program in Tamil and
English have done their part exceptionally well. |
