Young Bharatanatyam dancer Meera Sreenarayanan impresses with her imaginative apparoach

The understanding between a singer and a dancer, where both respond and resonate to each other’s manodharma, results in a performance high on aesthetics. Meera Sreenarayanan’s recital at The Music Academy’s dance festival was one such.

From the first piece, the viruttam addressed to Ganesha and Hanuman, to the final thillana, Meera kept up the momentum through well-choreographed, graceful and sharp movements and finely nuanced expressions.

The Ramayana sabdam, composed by Jayakrishna Unni, brought out the essence of the epic through brief depictions of important segments. The absence of melodrama made it more enjoyable.

‘Saradijakdhudu’, the beautiful Thanjavur Quartet Kalyani raga varnam composed by Sivanandam, speaks about the nayika pining for Rajagopalaswamy. Some of Meera’s sancharis were captivating, particularly the churning of butter, where by gradually increasing the speed, the entire process was visualised in vivid detail. Be it the draping of the pitambara vastram on the idol, awakening from a dream state to witness the raas in all its splendour, and the grandeur of the temple gopurams, the attention to detail was delightful. Her theermanams in both slow and fast tempos were precise.

‘Kuniye Kunu’ , an abhinaya piece based on a Malayalam Samvada Paatu, spoke about the interesting banter between Lakshmi and Parvathy, ridiculing each other’s husbands. Finally, after their reconciliation, they return to their abodes in their vahanas. The entire piece was beautifully visualised.

Bijeesh Krishna’s soulful vocal support enhanced the impact of the performance. Indira Kadambi conducted the recital with flourish, aided by Charudutt on the mridangam, Easwar Ramakrishnan on the violin and Ananthanarayanan on the veena.