Neena Prasad
| Picture Credit score: S.R. RAGHUNATHAN
I
When Mohiniyattam exponent Neena Prasad took the Music Academy stage for the Dance Pageant, it was a type of cases when every thing appears to fall into good rhythm.
Starting with a cholkettu set to Chatusrajati Triputa tala in Nattakurinji raga, a composition by her singer Changanacherry Madhavan Nampoothiri, with whom Neena has been working for lengthy, the dancer, with sluggish and sleek actions, executed cholkettus set to the tala of 28 counts. Within the course of, Neena established Mohiniyattam’s profile and approach.
She adopted this up with an ode to Bhumi Devi in ‘Vasundaram’ (Bhoomistavam), based mostly on a composition collectively labored on by the singer and Pappu Venugopala Rao, set to raga Vasantha and tala Mishra Chapu. Beginning with a gopucha association of phrases dropping syllables, ‘Vasundhara sundara dhara’, the great thing about Bhumi Devi is described, the sleek gait of this pulakita gamini, creating pleasure within the viewer. No marvel, such magnificence and attract have been so coveted by asura Hiranyaksha, that he kidnapped Mom Earth and hid her within the Cosmic Ocean, solely to be rescued by Vishnu as Varaha, holding her secure atop his snout.
Neena Prasad
| Picture Credit score:
S.R. RAGHUNATHAN
The inevitable selection for this dance kind from Kerala — the pada varnam by Maharaja Swati Tirunal, ‘Sumasayaka’ in Sudha Kapi set to Rupaka tala, noticed Madhavan Nampoothiri and the dancer in a wonderfully aligned music/dance journey, with Easwar Ramakrishnan’s violin interventions. The dancer made the interpretative half very transferring — constructed around the sakhi’s pleading with Lord Padmanabha, informing him of the nayika’s keen watch for him, as time drags for her. She paints the image of how she has embellished the mattress chamber for the anticipated union with the Lord. The choreography confirmed how every thing round her reminded her of the Lord. The punch within the nritta parts with nattuvangam by Aswathy Krishna, Ramesh Babu on the mridangam and the edaka performed by Kalamandalam Arun Das supplied a positive counterpoint to the sahitya passages.
In a progressively rising curve of involvement, the perfect got here within the Jayadeva Ashtapadi. That includes the three characters concerned on this love poem of Radha, sakhi and Krishna, the entire presentation constructed as much as the ultimate union of Radha and Krishna — Neena touched new heights. ‘Mugdhe madhumathana manugata manusara radhike’, the sakhi addresses a pining Radha and tells her that Krishna is ready for her and that she should now go to him. ‘Manjutara kunjatala keli sadanam’, portraying the scene of the lovers coming collectively, as proven by the dancer had a throbbing energy. The efficiency concluded with the ashtapadi ‘Kisalaya shayana story’.