Ananda Shankar
Jayant presents
Navarasa
- Expressions of Life
December 24 & 30, 2009 Chennai
December 15,
2009
Ananda Shankar Jayant and ensemble
present NAVARASA – Expressions of Life
Dec 24: Sri Krishna Gana Sabha,
7.30pm
Dec 30: Brahma Gana Sabha,
Sivagami Pethachi Auditorium, 7pm
Indian aesthetics and dramaturgy,
speak of the nine emotions of life – Roudra or Anger; Bhayanaka or
Fear; Adhbhuta or Wonder; Bhibhatsa or Disgust; Veera or Valour; Karuna
or grief; Hasya or Humour; Sringara or love and Shanta or Peace.
Bhayanaka
|
Sringara
|
When experiences, stimulate the mind,
emotions implode the body, caressing it with movements which inform the
perimeters of the subconscious. When latent impressions manifest
as expressions, when layers of memory unfolds into movements and thoughts,
language and coherence, they capture the multi-hued drama of emotions in
its prism, radiating forth as myriad moods, many splendored moments of
expressions of an universe within; splintering into thought, action, reaction,
beauty and aesthetic experience.
In the context of Indian dance, these
emotions are usually portrayed through myth and metaphor, wherein the emotion
becomes the by-product of a story, on a bedrock of lyrics.
However, Navarasa - Expressions of
Life, by Ananda Shankar Jayant, relocates the Navarasas without the immediacy
of being surrounded by the narrative, myth and metaphor, and presents the
Navarasas, through the mnemonics of music, body and pure dance, connecting
and linking centuries of human mind, emotion and soul.
Credits:
- Concept & Choreography:
Ananda Shankar Jayant
- Performed by: Ananda Shankar Jayant,
Pradeesh Thriutiya, Radhika Thirumala, Kirthika Balakrishnan, Maithreyi
Sharma, Chelana Galada, Jinnakaraj
- Orchestra: Nattuvangam - IV Renuka
Prasad, vocal - Venu Madhav, mridangam - TP Balasubramaniam, violin – Sai
Kumar, percussion Shrikant
- Stage and Lights: Purna Chandrashekar
Info: anandasj@rediffmail.com
/ www.anandashankarjayant.com
Press Reviews
It is in the abstract treatment
of number nine with six excellently trained Bharatanatyam dancers whose
bodily attitudes alone, in synchronised discipline, evoked rasa, sans sahitya
- barring one line mentioning the rasa and its sthayi bhava - that Ananda
Shankar’s Navarasa choreography scored, spurred by Prema Ramamurthy’s imaginative
score eloquently sung by Venu Madhav and assisted by competent accompanists.
A male dancer’s Kathakali-like Bharatanatyam provided the contrast, giving
a fillip to rasas like Veera, Raudra and even Bibhatsa,.
- Leela Venkataraman, The Hindu,
New Delhi, August 1, 2008
Ananda Shankar Jayant and her
well groomed troupe,supported by a brilliant band of musicians, had a pulsating
presentation of Navarasa. Without any narrative or lyrics, the body language
of the dancers distinctly transmitted the emotions to the spectators -
that was the beauty of the production.
- Shyamhari Chakra
Reporting on the Konarak Festival
2008 in Nartanam, January 2009 |
