Every year between August and September, Natyarangam, the dance wing of the Narada Gana Sabha, presents its annual thematic dance festival, bringing together eminent personalities like musicians, dancers and scientists on the same platform.

The festival offers young talented dancers the opportunity to perform and to conceive and create an evening-long presentation on the chosen theme. Every year the festival has a different theme. This year’s festival, entitled “Rithu Bharatham”, has the theme of the six seasons.

The theme offered the artists the opportunity to let their imaginations run wild and explore the myriad facets of each season. But the committee’s guidelines to include a wide range of works – from Kalidasas to Sangam and from Ragamala paintings to festivals – seemed to make it difficult for the dancers to fully explore the essence of each season. A specific template that required the dancers to integrate their ideas resulted in a similar pattern being repeated on all days.

The festival began with Rama Vaidyanathan’s ‘Vasantha Rithu’ (spring performance). Rama had divided the season into five parts, starting with Saumya (time of equanimity), Punaravarthana (rejuvenation), Kama Roopini (love), Bahu Varnani (multi-coloured) and Apeksha (hope).

Rama Vaidyanathan’s Vasantha Rithu

Her description of day and night effectively conveyed the difference in the time cycle associated with the season. She built up the visual imagery with an interesting soundscape to reinforce the ideas – the scattering of seeds to a rhythmic tune of Tanam; the use of swara passages to depict different flowers of the season; and as a climax, the lotus flower on which Goddess Saraswathi stands. A detailed exploration for the song ‘Saraswathi namosthuthe’ composed by GN Balaubramaniam in Raga Saraswathi followed

The beginning and the end of the section where Manmatha glides on his vahana parrot were presented gracefully. The descriptions of the cool breeze, the swaying palm trees, the birds, bees, peacocks and deer were a bit over the top which spoiled the mood. Various aspects like raas, the use of colours during the Holi festival and the portrayal of Vasantha Ritu as a newly married woman were well explored.

The soundscape was conceived in an interesting way by S. Vasudevan, who skilfully used instruments like ghatam, kanjira and sitar along with appropriate ragas for the sequences.

Apoorva Jayaraman’s Grishma Rithu

It was time to move on to the next season – summer, when Apoorva Jayaraman performed “Grishma Rithu”. Clad in a waistcoat over the costume, Manmatha appeared again. Apoorva chose verses from Kalidasa’s Ritu Samharam to represent Kamadeva. The drooping cane bow, the wilting flowers of the arrow and the tired parrot were depicted to express the mood of lethargy and exhaustion that pervades the season.

The issue of water scarcity was vividly portrayed in a beautiful abhinaya sequence that shows the love of a mother quenching her child’s thirst with the little amount of water available to her before embarking on a long journey to get drinking water. Although there are many descriptions depicting the seasonal impact of Grishma, experiencing the entire atmosphere and feel of the season was overshadowed by these narratives. Even the costume did not reflect the colours.

Rhythmic jathis to represent a burning sun and fire and some swaras to represent a peacock were interesting, but the repeated use of identical musical phrases throughout the performance proved off-putting.

Varsha by Vaibhav Arekar

The focus of the series shifted to a kind of dance theatre when ‘Varsha – Harvest of Lost Dreams’, a performance by Vaibhav Arekar, ran. With an interesting soundscape and a musical ensemble of talented artists dressed in black garments to provide inspiration, Vaibhav portrayed ‘Varsha’ (the rainy season) in a captivating portrayal.

The premise of Vaibhav’s performance was based on a farmer’s connection with nature and the emotions and situations that develop between them. It began with the visualization of a man ploughing, tilling and planting the seeds and then showed his expectation of rain that would nourish the soil. However, when the rain failed to arrive, he experienced disappointment coupled with feelings of anger and grief during the heavy monsoon. The narrative ended with the man bowing in complete surrender.

The highlight of the performance was the scene where a figure lay horizontally under a spotlight. The hands slowly rose with graceful and fluid movements, conveying a sense of intimacy in a captivating way. By drawing comparisons between the sakhyam of the clouds and the earth and the emotional bond between a man and his lover, Vaibhav’s theatrical approach made this sequence appealing.

Dance elements like Jathi Korvais and Adavus were used beautifully to convey the energy of the sun and the fierce intensity of the water. Dikshitar’s composition ‘Anandamrithakarshini’, a Sangam poem, and works by Kalidasa and Bharatiyar were woven into the musical expression to do justice to the ideas.

For many, the monsoon evokes feelings of anticipation, joy and excitement. However, this performance briefly explored this mood through a childhood memory, highlighting that fear, anguish and anger are the predominant emotions experienced during the monsoon.

Visual images

Ragamala paintings are a treasure trove of visual images that highlight the moods of each season and even the ragas and raginis associated with them. Using them as source material was indeed a good idea, but the way they were used here undermined their value.

Rama used the projected image of a frame to suggest a figure in a painting, but it could have been any painting, not necessarily Ragamala. Apoorva divided the image into three panels, distorting the art form. Vaibhav used it as a direct projection and as a filler between the dance sequences. The artists and organisers could have taken care to handle a different art form with more sensitivity.