Programme Details

The 3 pm show will present the following pieces from the traditional Bharatanatyam repertoire

Pushpanjali

Talam - Tisra eka         Ragam – Gambheeranatai                      Dance Choreography - Traditional

Dancers - Vilasini, Sampoorani, Stepanka, Meera and Bindu

Puspanjali, a Sanskrit word, literally means offering flowers.  A traditional Bharatanayam recital always begins with a Pushpanjali.  Here, the dancer prays to the almighty to give her strength, and seeks the Lord’s blessings before continuing with the recital. The dancer also welcomes the audience by bowing to them, gesturing ‘Namaste’.

This Pushpanjali is a prayer to Lord Ganesha, a Hindu God with an elephant’s head who is believed to be the remover of all our obstacles, a force who gives us strength to face our problems in our lives. Lord Ganesha is also considered to be the God of wisdom and intellect. This shloka (prayer), written in Sanskrit and describes Lord Ganesha, is defined below:

Mooshika Vaahana Modhaka Hasta,

Chaamara Karna Vilambita Sutra,

Vaamana Roopa Maheshwara Putra, 

Vigna Vinayaka Paada Namaste.

[Rough English Translation]

He who has a mouse as vehicle

He who keeps a sweet in his hand,

He who has big ears like that of an elephant

He who wears a sacred thread around his upper body,

He who is short in stature

He who is the son of Lord Shiva,

O Lord Vinayaka, it is you who always removes our obstacles

We worship your Divine Feet.

Talam - Tisra eka         Ragam – Gambheeranatai                      Dance Choreography - Traditional

 

Dancers - Sampoorani, Stepanka and Meera

Alarippu, in the Indian language Tamizh, means - a bud blooming into a flower. This dance item consists of pure dance, without any Bhava or facial expressions. It begins with just eye and neck movements and slowly blends in hand and leg movements.

The dance is slow in the beginning, and becomes fast towards the end, combining all eye, neck, hand and leg movements beautifully. This process is reminiscent of a bud blooming into a flower and is said to symbolize the awakening of the dancer. The song that accompanies this dance uses rhythmic syllables called Jathis such as tha, thei, theiyum to denote a pure dance sequence. Alarippu is always performed after Pushpanjali in a traditional Bharatanatyam recital.

 

Talam - Mishra Chaapu         Ragam - Hamir Kalyani                  Dance Choreography - Leela Samson

Dancer - Veena Arun

The lotus flower is an all too well known symbolism prevalent in Hindu mythology and theology. This poem by the famous 16th cent poet Tulasidas is full of this symbolism. The human heart is compared to the center of the lotus as a choice place for divine residence.

To Sri Rama the compassionate one, let my mind pray.

He who takes over the fear and the fearsome of the whole world.

Whose eyes, face and hands are like a newly bloomed red lotus

 

I pray to the Lord of the Day (Sun) who is a friend of the downtrodden

But is the destroyer of the tribes of the Rakshasas and Demons

Oh joy of the Raghuvansha, the son of Kaushalya and Dasaratha

 

Uncountable Cupids; immeasurable beauty like a new blue lotus

The yellow tipped garment appears like lightning on his beautiful, pure self

I pray to the bridegroom of Janaka’s daughter.

 

A crown on the head, earrings and tilak adorn his large, beautiful body

Long arms that come down to his knee string the bow and arrow as

he wins battles against demons like Khara and Dooshana.

 

So said Tulasidas, he who brings joy to the minds of Shiva and the rest of the Sages

I plead you to come and reside in my heart that is like a bower

And break the shackles of the evil gangs that live in my heart.

 

       Ragam - Ragamalika     Talam - Mishra Chaapu    Dance Choreography - TBD

Dancers - Vilasini, Sampoorani, Stepanka, Meera and Bindu

Jathiswaram is also a pure dance recital, but is longer and more complex than the Alarippu. Here, the dancer dances to ‘Jathis’ while the singer instead sings the ‘swarams’, hence the name Jathiswaram. Swarams (also called Swara), like ‘Sa, Ri, Ga, Ma, Pa, Da, Ni’, are the basic syllables of the Indian classical music, that make up a complete song. The entire dance item consists of unique combinations of ‘Jathis’ performed in tune to the swara. This is a fine example of how different dance steps in Bharatanatyam can be combined to form very graceful sequences of dance moves.
On an extra note, this Jathiswaram is in the Ragam ‘Ragamalika’, which means there are different raga (different melodies) in this song. There is a very smooth transition from one melody to the other, and the dancer performs each melody with a different ‘Jathi’, according to the mood that the melody creates.

 

Ragam -   Kalyani         Talam - Adi    Dance Choreography - Mylapore Gowri Ammal

Dancers - Vilasini, Girija and Veena

A  Padam is a particular type of musical composition meant for dance.  It is intended for Nritya, a combination of Rhythm with Expression conveying poetic meaning.  The words are written through the mouth of the naayaka (hero), naayaki (heroine) or tOzhi (friend of the naayika), explaining the joy, sorrow, and other feelings of love.  Padams are known for their slow tempo, saturation with the shringara rasa (depiction of love) and the nayaka-nayika bhava.

They frequently refer indirectly to God, since the naayaka is said to represent the “paramaatma” (Great Soul, God), the naayika represents the "jeevaatma" (human soul, man), and the tOzhi represents the "guru" (teacher), so the words of each is thought to help the audience reach mOksha (liberation).

In Telugu, padams often have Lord Krishna as the naayaka, while Tamil padams often have Lord Subramanya (Murugan) as their naayaka.

This padam, is a dialogue between the naayika, a gypsy girl and her tozhi/sakhi.  Herein, the tozhi describes to the naayika how much Lord Subramanya pines for her and how his heart melts in her love, how he sits there lost in his thoughts and how he, sitting on his beautiful peacock, goes looking for her everywhere.  She says, “Theyyale! Unnai ninaynthu, ninaynthu urugi thayanguraan adi maane.”

She goes on to describe how great and learned the Lord is. She says that when Lord Brahma, the creator, who is also the writer of all the 4 vedas, did not know the meaning of the Pranava mantra or Om it was Muruga, lord Shiva’s son, who astonished everybody by whispering the meaning of Om into his father’s ears!She says, “O friend! he is so knowledgeable and learned. And he is pining for you.”

The tozhi says, “ Vayyam pugazhondu, meru tannil mevum, Ayyan Muthukumaran, uyyaam ayyalil nindru”, meaning He who is being praised in the whole universe, who lives on the hill Meru, watches over and blesses everyone, that Lord Muthukumaran is waiting for you completely intoxicated by your love and lost in your thoughts.

The tozhi then beseeches the naayika to go and become one with the Lord.  She says,

• Naadi urugum nerum - when he is longing for you so much

• modi seyyalaamodi - is it right for you to shun him and stay angry?

• podi kalyani ragam paadi ullasamagu - go and celebrate your love with him and sing the kalyani raga

• vedikkayagi vilayaadum kaangeyarulan koodi kalanga nerum vaadi ithu samayam - this is the perfect time for you to show him your love and become one with the Lord.

Ragam - Paras            Talam - Adi        Dance Choreography - TBD

Dancers - Vilasini, Sampoorani, Stepanka, Meera and Bindu

A tillana is usually the final dance item in a Bharatanatyam performance. It is a very popular and interesting piece of dance because of its speed and complexity. Often lasting for more than 10 min, it demands a lot of strength and stamina from the dancers. This is again a pure dance sequence, except for a small piece towards the end that consists of a small charanam (stanza) describing either a short story, a Person, a God or a Goddess. This is the only part where the dancers use Abhinaya (Facial expressions, hand gestures combined with body movements) to convey the meaning or essence of the lyrics.

Apart from the Charanam, the song consists of korvais which are actually Jathis sung in a particular raga (melody). The dancer dances to each Korvai, the complexity of each increasing.
In the Charanam of this Thillana, the Hindu Goddess Rajarajeshwari, also known as Goddess Parvati or Abhirami, is described.
 

Charanam:
Ramanathapura bala kudou
Muthuramalinga rajendra vibhuni
Abhirami dayamuda rakshimbuni
Varahi rajarajeshwari shankari

[Rough English translation :]
“..She who protects the people of Ramanathapuram (A historic city in South India)
..where The King Muthuramalingam rules
..She who will immediately come to our rescue and save us
..Oh Goddess Rajarajeshwari, who we seek blessings of, you are so beautiful while sitting on your throne”

 

NAMASTE