The famous Sanskrit shloka ‘Yato hasto tato drishtih, Yato drishtih tato manah/ Yato manstato bhao, yato bhavo tatah rasah’ from the treatise Abhinaya Darpana means, ‘Where the hands go, the eyes should follow, Where the eyes go, the mind should follow, Where the mind goes, the emotion or rasa is generated.’
‘Nayanam’, the solo Bharatanatyam recital by Apeksha Niranjan presented at the Stein auditorium of the Habitat Centre in Delhi recently, conveyed the essence of this shloka as she expressed various bhavas through her eyes.
A disciple of senior Bharatanatyam dancer and teacher Sucheta Chapekar and Alka Lajmi, Apeksha, who is also a Marathi actor, is the founder-director of Nrityanjali Performing Arts. Her expressive face, seamless movements and sculpturesque stances lent to the appeal of her performance.
The beauty of drishti bheda in Bharatanatyam | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The core of ‘Nayanam’, her theme-based recital, was that the entire Bharatanatyam margam is based on ‘nayan’ (eyes), right from the opening Alarippu that invoked the trinayan Shambho (Shiva with three eyes), jagat janani Meenakshi (the goddess with fish-like eyes), and kamal nayan (one whose eyes are like the lotus) Padmanabha. This was set to Misra Chapu tala and was choreographed by Apeksha herself.
‘Krishna Kauthuvam next, based on the Marathi song ‘Mi Krishna pahila’ was about the beauty of Krishna and his lovely eyes admired by the gopis. This was choreographed by her guru Sucheta Chapekar.
Apeksha shows how to convey emotions through the eyes | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
‘Varnam’, the central piece of the recital, was based here on Soundarya Lahari ‘Shive shringara radhra ’, where Apeksha emoted various emotions reflecting in the eyes of Parvati, like the Shringar bhava when she looks at Shiva, ‘Sarosha gangayah’ anger when she sees Ganga sitting in Shiva’s matted locks, fear when she is scared of the snakes around Shiva’s neck and finally praying for Karuna or compassion in the eyes of Devi, who is like a mother, ‘Dehi mayi janani drishtih sakaruna’. Choreographed by Apeksha, it was composed by Smita Mahajan in raga Bihag with jatis by Venkatesha. The main raga Bihag changed as a Ragamalika of different ragas such as Malkauns, Kalawati and Hindol according to the changing emotions.
Erasing geographical and cultural borders, Apeksha, who earlier had incorporated Gregorian chants (sung in Roman Catholic churches in Europe) into her Bharatnatyam recital, included Polish folk music that evening in her performance. The song from Lubiena was sung on a lilting rhythmic gait, similar to Dadra taal of Hindustani music. Composed by Odmienciese Kapela group of Polish folk musicians, the song was about the ritual of stealing the bridegroom’s shoes like it happens in North Indian weddings.
Eye make up is an important part of a dance presentation | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
This was followed by a vatsalya padam where Apeksha depicted the feelings of a young mother searching for her child whom she had scolded for his naughty behaviour. Composed by Smita Mahajan, it was choreographed by Alka Lajmi.
The Surdas pad ‘Ankhiyaan hari darshan ki pyasi’ composed in raga Shiva-Ranjani was about the inner eyes (antar chakshu) of the visually impaired poet, who is still able to see his ishta dev, the lotus-eyed Krishna. Apeksha concluded with a tillana in raga Yaman, where the dancer’s eyes reflected the mudit (happy), chakit (amazed) nayan of Devi, asking the goddess to bestow her kripa drishti on the dancer and the audience!
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