Shruthi Vidhyashankar’s varnam ‘Samiyai Vara Cholladi’ was impressive

Right moves

Shruthi Vidhyashankar’s recital peaked during the varnam

Srividya

Shruthi Vidhyashankar’s Bharatanatyam recital proved her mettle from the start. A student of Jayanthi Subramaniam, Shruthi commenced with a traditional Shanmukha Kavuthuvam in raga Shanmukhapriya.

This was followed by the evening’s highlight — the varnam ‘Samiyai vara cholladi’, a composition by K.N. Dandayuthapani Pillai in Purvikalyani.

The varnam, a combination of rhythmic movements and interpretative expressions, tests the skill and proficiency of the dancer. Shruthi’s performance in this piece was testimony of her guru’s diligent tutelage. The nayika in this varnam is a woman in love pining to meet her nayaka, Muruga. She pleads with her sakhi to call her saami. By way of elaborating lines such as ‘Bhumi pugazhum sivakami magizhum balan’, Shruthi made fleeting references to the story of the birth of Muruga and a few other instances from his life, while keeping the emotion of a lovelorn woman at its core.

The next item was the padam ‘Adhuvum solluvaal aval’ in raga Saurashtra, composed by V. Subbarama Iyer. The hero of this padam is Muthukumaraswami. However, the nayika is seen from a perspective very different from the one in the varnam. Here, she expresses jealousy and anger at the fact that her nayaka favoured her rival.

Shruthi concluded her recital with the well-known thillana in Hindolam and Khanda Eka tala. This was composed by Tirugokaranam Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar and choreographed by Rukmini Devi.

The nattuvangam by Jayanthi Subramaniam reflected the quiet confidence of her guru, Adyar K. Lakshman. The vibrant voice of Pozhakudi G.R. Praveen set the tone for the recital. The vocalist was ably assisted by R. Kalaiarasan on the violin and Kiran R Pai on the mridangam.