Priyadarsini Govind in Chicago

Let me start out by saying that I am an admirer of Priyadarshini Govind [PG] as a dancer – and from what I can glean from her interviews – also as a person with intense devotion to the art of Bharatanatyam and a hard working person with focused determination. I like the combination of strength and grace in her nritta and the intense, yet subtle and effortless flow of her abhinaya.

But I intend to nitpick about her recent performance in the Chicago area on Nov 8th 2008, in this post. This was first written as an email to a friend who could not make it to the program and upon her instigation, I am publishing it in my corner of the world wide web.

Ms. Govind,
If by some cyber coincidence or mis-googling, you stumble upon this, please understand that the performance was absolutely brilliant and thoroughly enjoyable. What I am setting out to write about are the small details that transform a good performance into a memorable one for the right reasons. Of course, these are entirely my own opinions - peppered liberally with prejudices, pre-conceived notions and personality quirks!

Moving along...

Overall, it was a performance of incredibly high standards. People who were seeing PG for the first time were awestruck and rightfully so. For dancers and dance students and parents of dance students, there was a lot to observe and learn. PG was in great form and her presence and command over the stage and the art was evident from the moment she stepped on it. Considering that it was PG and she has a knack of coming up with arresting, unusual costumes, the choices for this performance seemed ‘safe’ and somewhat ordinary. The maroon of the first costume appeared ‘flat’ in the full-stage washes and yet, looked textured and sharp when lit from the side trees. Probably had something to do with how the lighting elements were placed to achieve the wash. The blue and the red in the second costume were competing with each other and with the predominant black and gold. The long mElakku, while being pleasantly unexpected, needs refinement. To me, it seemed like an afterthought instead of a planned variation. Hanging straight down and creating a line on one side, there was an uncomfortable asymmetry (and I LIKE asymmetry in general) to it when her back was to the audience. It moved awkwardly and at one point, got caught in her finger-rings.

The lighting designer from India was a really smart, professional move. The kind of timing achieved in lighting during the performance can never be done with a technician who has never seen the pieces before and does not get the music, style and choreographic intent. The orchestra had clearly worked with PG for quite a while. There was a seamless understanding that happens only with long term association. This is a very minor point – I wish the orchestra had worn something different from what they were. They are also on stage and they are lit all the time. They form part of the visual aesthetic on stage. I am not expecting complete co-ordination with the dancer's costume! Even if they were all dressed in black, white or beige, it would keep the visual at a neutral level instead of clashing with the colours of the lights and the dancer’s costume. It’s a very small detail and fairly easy to achieve, but shows attention to detail and defintiely contributes towards creating visual harmony on stage. Hey.. I did say I am going to get nitpicky!

Now to the pieces themselves.

After a salutation to gaNEsha (mahAdEvasutam aham praNamAmi – Arabhi – BMK), PG opened with a mallari in Gambhira Nattai(GN) and Misra Triputa talam. The side lighting for PG’s entry was absolutely marvelous. The clean execution set the precedent for the entire evening. The well structured araimandi and the smoothness with which she transitions in and out of it are treats by themselves. The mallari led into a viruttam in vAsanti in praise of Shiva (ulagelAm uNarndOdarkariyavan..). The transition from GN to vAsanti did not work for me at all – too jarring and not smooth. The tisram alarippu was performed next. PG has re-worked this traditional piece in her inimitable style. Very creative.

The second piece was ShadAkshara kavuthuvam - in Shanmukhapriya, rUpakam. There were some uncertain notes flying around in the violin prelude before settling down. Personally, the music composition and lyrics did not occur to me as being particularly polished – but PG added class to it with her choreography and movement. In overall concert planning, it seemed redundant as yet another invocatory piece – it’s certainly not a practice unheard of however. To me, it did not do much towards the buildup of the program. It was beautiful and it existed. That was it.

varNam - swAmi nAn undan adimai – nAtakurinji- Adi
This was preceded by 'kunittha puruvamum' – viruttam in Ahir Bhairav [AB]. The transition from AB to nAtakurinji was a tough pill for me to swallow. The vocalist sang the last line -"vENduvadhE indha mAnilathE' - first in AB and then again in nAtakurinji before getting on with the varNam. nAtakurinji had an identity crisis there. Choice of AB, a strong mood-creator rAga, resulted in an unnecessary tinge of sadness from which it was a hard transition to the pallavi of "swAmi nAn." The jathis were unusual and very well executed, but the choreography at times was a bit too athletic and unfamiliar. PG always comes up with interesting combinations/variations of adavus that fit into the form of Bharatanatyam and I am always curious to see what she will come up with. In this case, I guess I just wanted to see a bit more of the familiar! Who knew?? In the varNam neraval, nAtakurinji was liberally sprinkled with khamAs touches. The percussionist played full fledged sarva laghus and kept the tempo uniformly up immediately and continuously after each arudi. There was no respite with softer beats or easing into the next part and letting the mood of the lyrics take over once again. Regardless, PG's presentation of the varNam was crisp, intense and different from any other version of this varNam that I have had a chance to see. There were no story-telling cop outs in sanchAris - and the dominant mood was maintained always. Brilliant really.

INTERMISSION:

Shiva dIksha parurAlanura - Kurinji padam: GREAT lighting evoking dawn at the opening of the piece. The subject is the internal conflict between the heart and head of a woman initiated into Shaivism and attracted to Krishna. She is torn between her loyalty to her dutiful path and the strong attraction towards the other camp! I have seen PG perform the same piece on the same stage about 3 or 4 years ago. Somehow I was more convinced the first time – by a hairsbreadth because there was nothing unconvincing about her portrayal this time. The best part, for me, was after the heroine closes the door reluctantly. She walks away stoic – the head having temporarily gained control. She pauses and turns towards the closed door and you know instantly that it’s only a matter of time before the heart resurges. All of that, encompassed in one look – PG at her best.

appudu manasu - khamAs jAvaLi: Seamless, instantaneous transitions between characters. Humour is such a difficult thing to bring about in Abhinaya. PG did it effortlessly. At one instant, she is the young girl hopelessly attracted to a handsome man and ready to lose herself in the moment and in next instant, she is the girl’s friend who is chiding her and asking her to restrain herself. Suddenly she is the man with the inviting look in his eyes and then she is back to the young girl now asking “In this situation, how do you expect me to restrain myself?” One of those pieces where the humour curls your lips into a lopsided smile as you settle comfortably into your chair and savour the mood.

mAdu mEikkum kaNNE: A folk song – a nice change of pace. The initial depictions of the child Krishna's antics and Yashoda's reactions were very engaging. Till this point in the entire concert, the audience had never clapped DURING a piece. In this piece, there is a line where Yashoda tells Krishna that if he goes out to the woods, the wild animals will scare him and Krishna responds that he will tame them (or hunt them? I forget). PG launched into an exaggerated depiction of the elephant, tiger (reminded me of the folk-art puli-Attam) and snake - wild and scary at first and then 'tame' and crouched at Krishna's feet. The audience laughed, clapped and cheered. Here is where the conservative in me surfaces. To me, the long-drawn animal depictions seemed excessive and less dignified. You see, I conform to the school of thought that abhinaya is best when it is stylized, subtle and suggestive, rather than explicit. I also believe that for a dance form like Bharatanatyam, the audience is not expected to be passive – they have to actively open their mind to the worlds and possibilities and extend the visuals that the dancer suggests with their own understanding instead of just sitting there and provided with every excruciating detail and be entertained. Of course, this is ideal - but in the days of the current crop of "numbed-by-mindless-bollywood-dances" audiences , subtlety would probably be discarded as "enna paNNinA? oNNumE puriyalai"[What did she do? I did not understand anything!]. But that’s a discussion for another day - don't want to be off on a tangent here. Anyway, all through the recital to that point, the dignity had been built up so well – I felt like it had come crashing with a leap of puli-Attam. An artist like PG does not make a choreography decision like this without any thought to it. I absolutely understand that artists have to keep pushing boundaries and comfort levels to grow – we cannot allow stagnation to set in and have to develop and get stronger in our own convictions. We have to explore the possibilities that the art presents and sometimes the experiments work and at other times, they don’t. The audience should also give the arists some room for the hits and misses. I understand that in theory - but, I am conflicted and was a tad disappointed. Regardless, I was certainly in the minority. The audience loved it.

Kalinga narthana thillana: Coming on the heels of another child-krishna piece involving snakes, this again brought up concert planning as an issue. The lighting started out very nice but got progressively distracting because it was changing too often. There were some movements that once again seemed to be treading a very thin line. Musically, it’s a piece that I like very much - despite the sibilant interludes and somewhere in the back of my mind, I have a desire to choreograph and perform it. However, watching it in a solo performance, I got the impression that despite its made-for-dance promise, it’s really not that effective. I have heard that Narendrakumar and his group had performed it as a group a while ago and it was brilliant. Though I have never seen that version, I am thinking - perhaps it's more suited to group work? The composition has very few phrases and lines that you can 'build' on and sustain. But, for the most part, the song is like a fast-running train – the compartments and people whiz past, but nothing really stays with your eyes or mind. Does that make much sense at all?

Brindavani tillana - BMK: Evergreen! Absolutely love it! Love the pause in the charaNam at hoyalu mIri nI - though that did not happen in this performance. In PG's version, at the culminating pose after every kOrvai arudi, the overhead spot came on and the rest of the stage went dark WITH the samam, at the same instant. Good effect - but after the sixth time, it became old. It would have been nice if it was used once at the end of the pallavi, once at anupallavi and once at the charanam or some such sprinkling like that so that it retained its effect. Can’t have too much of a good thing! The thillana also had the mandatory shuddha nrittam interlude. That’s a dead horse now - should be left to rest in peace.

Yes, there was another, full-fledged, piece after the thillana. An abhang in Abheri (well, the popular version anyway.) - "brindAvanI vENu vAjE" – taking the place of the mangALam. Again, as an idea, it was appealing. Why go the ‘pavamAna’ route always? Let’s give it a twist!! But, that late in the concert, it felt frantic, athletic and too drawn out - for me. There was an attempt to return to a quiet, centered feel at the end – but that escaped me. The turn-in-place torso movement in the spot light with the Krishna hands in flute-playing attitude – while it definitely showcased PG’s ability to visualize the music in non-traditional ways – left me wondering about the motive behind it - I was not able to decide if I liked it or did not like it. I also did not get the leaps and bounces and fast turns (evoking a marathi dance flavour perhaps?) – we had seen quite a lot of it for 2 hours. I was craving a quiet and intense shlOka or something really low key.

Fact remains that PG is a brilliant artist. It really IS a pleasure to watch her perform and if there is an opportunity to attend, I am never going to pass it up. But I missed the PG of the Chicago performance 3-4 years ago with a Valaji pushpanjali leading to an excerpt from "lalita lavanga" and the Andal varNam etc. There was abandon combined with restraint and balance of athleticism, high drama and introspective stillness. This time around, even the program planning seemed off. Three invocation/starter pieces - mallari+shlokam, alarippu, kavuthuvam. Three tail pieces - Kalinga Narthanam (maybe this can be classified as a piece in itself and not really a tail piece just because it is called a tillana), tillana, abhang. Four krishna pieces in a row and couple of them in very similar modes one after the other. Despite being an ardent fan of PG, the program felt long and not cohesive! I was never bored - hardly the case, but it did not leave me thinking "oh I wish she had done one more padam" – a feeling that I definitely remember having at pretty much all her performances that I have seen.

Regardless, if there is another PG performance happening tomorrow, I am sooo there :)!
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The orchestra consisted of
Shaji Lal - naTTuvAngam
Deepu Nair - Vocal
Shaktivel Muruganandam - mridangam
Shikhamani - Violin
Murugan Krishnan - Lighting and Stage Management.

Here is another review of a PG performance from her current tour where she has performed the same pieces.
http://www.narthaki.com/info/rev08/rev661.html