A dance recital and musical concert, See the music, Hear the dance by Aalap from Chennai brought the ace Bharatanatyam danseuse Alarmel Valli and noted Carnatic vocalist Bombay Jayshri together on stage. By Utpal K Banerjee
The hoary tradition of Bharatanatyam dance is given rich support by the classical Tamil literature. The major literary segments that stand out are varnam, padam, javali and viruttam — used in the common dance repertoires. Varnam (colour) aptly brings out the essence of a raga in all its splendours. Among the principal types of varnam, it is tana varnam that usually features in Carnatic concerts with negligible literary content and is used only as a vehicle for raga: delineating essentially the raga’s contour. On the other hand, kritis (set musical compositions) have words selected with care and their melodies bring out meanings and moods of the lyrics effectively. Padams originally included only such kritis with religious, devotional and philosophical fervour. However, in the later period especially by the time of Kshetrajna, sringara — often associated with a deity, especially Krishna — becamepadam’s main theme. Javalis have always been exclusively love-poems, often expressing carnal desire.
See the Music, Hear the Dance, presented recently by Aalap from Chennai in Habitat Concert Series, featured the duo — ace Bhartanatyam danseuse Alarmel Valli and the noted Carnatic vocalist Bombay Jayashri. It was both a musical concert and a dance recital: with a scintillating bouquet of two padams, two javalis and oneviruttam. Valli surpasses most artistes of today in her ability to become the character she aims to portray in herabhinaya (expression). The versatility, with which she communicated the intricacies of padams andjavalis to the viewers, comprised a pool of emotions: with an instinct for abhinaya and with an interleaving of nritta (abstract dance) in perfect sync with the rhythmic beats.
The brief programme began with ajavali that was openly erotic: with a heroine who was both crude and conceited, and did not give a damn for her man. The dance was entirely in a mode to deny and defy. Then came a padam, where the heroine was a picture of dignity and ever so dismissive of her companion’s entreaties to relent on her man. Next, there was another padam of a fulfilled nayika: happy with herself, exuding self-confidence and at peace with her amorous environment.
The piece de resistance was the penultimatejavali in a soft, pensive mood. Its Khamaj notes floated around — as if on the wings of a butterfly — quietly bearing the sufferings of a maiden — unobtrusive, yet pensive enough to betoken the woman. The finale came with a viruttam, in a ragamalika and a talamalika: garlands of melodies and rhythms.
Extract from an interaction with the dancer:
How did the programme’s name occur to youIJ
Padams,javalis and viruttams have, together, a very rich literary heritage. They have what we term kaala pramaanam, a dimension of space which accommodates the language of sub-text and resonance. We intended to visualise as well as vibrate to this sub-text in our joint performance.
Where did your receive this heritageIJ
It was from the eminent musician T Muktha aka Mukthamma. Her melodic elaboration was always a visual-musical treat. I heard her as a child when she was really old, but she did not hesitate to bequeath her legacy to my performance.
Where did her legacy come fromIJ
Indeed, these padams andjavalis belonged to the Dhanamal school. Dhanamal was an illustrious representative of our vintage heritage: the legendary Bala Saraswati and her family. Mukthamma strove to preserve — with fostering care and utter dedication — the prestigious stamp of Dhanamal tradition: really a luminous representative of the padam culture.
Yourabhinaya seemed to bear some touch of the devadasi style…
I entirely agree. Since the literature I was handling was of that vintage, I had to show respect to its time and space.
nHow did you work out the collaboration processIJ
It was a beautiful experience to work with Bombay Jayashri. She is such a wonderful human being and so full of humility. We had as many as eight rehearsals and she was always so accommodative.