Mythili Prakash At Eye Level
Mythili Prakash is a Bharatnatyam dancer from LA. She was in Richmond, VA to perform for the annual Intercultural Program at VCU. Following is a brief description of the program that I attended with my friend Kiran.
I witnessed Mythili for the first time this close. I was sitting in the first row in the VCU ballroom. Awesome I thought as she began her first item for the evening. She is absolutely electrifying and very very inspiring. I am saying inspiring because her movements are perfect and her balance steadfast. Something every student of dance needs to learn. She seemed to be anchored to the floor with an invisible force. She did many difficult jumps with ease. She would land square on the floor perfect in her position with her expressions captured. Her abhinaya seemed natural without exaggerations. For all the four items that she presented, she told picturesque stories with her body and her expressive oval face. One could visualize the story clearly. Here is an attempt to briefly describe all that left me mesmerized on that evening.
Along with Mythili the treat of the evening was the accompanying orchestra. The singer Shri Deboshree Vatsa has a melodious rich voice. The technician Venkatesh is an expert with lights. He adjusted the lights differently for all the compositions. They greatly enhanced the mood of the composition. They were not only different for different compositions, but also varied them from one emotion to another in a single composition.
The entire group was as follows:
Vocal: Deboshree Vatsa
Flute: Masimha Murty
Natuvangam: Kashi Isola
Mrudangam: V. Vedikishnan
Lights: Venkatesh.
The important thing I noticed was the absence of string instrument. With just flute and Mrudangam and a small hand-held drum the musical effect was complete.
Mythili’s Margam had Surya, Devi, Betrayed Radha and Sufiana. Each composition simple yet unique. I will briefly describe each composition.
Surya: Mythili described the journey of Surya from dawn to dusk across the sky. The Sun is the source of all energy and life on earth. He arrives riding on his white horses every morning to bring us light. With his energy everything on earth comes to life, the blades of grass, the wind, the rain. The entire earth welcomes him with open arms. Mythili performed the rising of Sun expressing it with her eyes wide open in sheer astonishment. Tears streaming down her face expressing her awe and reverence for the divine majesty that she is witnessing. She danced to show the chariot of Sun god. She depicted the growing of grass and the blooming of flowers and she showed bees and animals depicting the onset of life with the rising sun. She showed the falling raindrops on flower petals. Here her expressions were those of sheer delight that one would see on the face of a child. The lights by Venkatesh played an important role in this piece. He indicated the dawn with dim lights and gradually brightened the stage to indicate broad daylight. He indicated the sunset with orange hue, whereas the lights for dawn had some bluish hue. Flute was the dominantly played instrument in this piece.
Betrayed Radha: Her next item was betrayed Radha from Jayadeva’s Ashtapadi. Radha finds out that Krishna has been spending his nights with another Gopi and that leaves her feeling betrayed and hurt. Mythili presented the betrayed emotions simultaneously with the presentation of romantic moments with Krishna from the past. It was almost like watching a film with several flashback scenes. I specially liked her portrayal of Putana when she is trying to nurse baby Krishna at her breast. From her abhinaya one could detect the exact moment that baby Krishna latches onto her breasts and begins to suckle. Her face reflected the surprise when that baby suckling begins to turn into excruciating pain as her life energy is sucked out of her. Her face twitched with agony that seemed very real. Finally Putana collapses to earth lifeless and still. That depiction almost took my breath away. Mythili lay still as a corpse for a moment letting this drama sink in the minds of the audiences. In this item all the instruments were played. The lights were wisely used. One corner of the stage was always kept dimly lit and was illuminated only when the dancer was showing her past memories with Krishna. For all such past scenes Mythili danced in that corner portion of the stage and kept the entire stage to depict the Nayika’s present emotions. I think it helped the audience to identify the ongoing emotions in the item.
Devi: Her third item was called Devi. This was like a thillana. Vibrant and full of energy. She showed the various forms of the Goddess. She played Parvati feeding Ganesha and Kartikeya with motherly love. When Ganesha tries to steal the laddus with his own hands she reprimands him to let Kartikeya eat as well. She teases Ganesha for his big round belly. In the second half she portrayed the fierce form of Durga. She encircled the stage rapidly on her knees and with several high jumps to depict the fierce battle. All the instruments were fully used for this piece.
Sufiana: Her last item left me bewildered and amazed all the same. It was a dance based on the sufi song by Nusret Fateh Ali Khan-‘Dam Mast Mast’. It was simple, uncomplicated and performed with a subtle smile. She simply encircled around herself with outstretched arms for most part of the song. There was little dance and the movements were deliberate and slow. Here is the song as sung by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan that she happily danced to:
After the performance we went to see her. She stood before us barely 5’-3” tall. Almost my height. Was she really 5’-3” I thought. She seemed so tall and proud when she did the Devi composition. She looked so malicious acting out Putana. I was amazed. For the first time I had seen abhinaya create such wonders in the minds eye of the audience.
Below are listed a few links of hers from different websites.
http://thehindujobs.com/thehindu/fr/2006/03/17/stories/2006031700890200.htm
Comments
Do keep writing... So we get to read more.
1. It's beautiful description made me virtually attend the whole program.
2. I am feeling bad that why did I miss such a beautiful dance performance.
Keep posting more!