Transcending religious barriers

BY SYDNEY SRINIVAS

In dance, it is said, you move in measure; your hand gestures, limb movements, eye movements and that of the neck have to be exact. But, mind you, it is not a drill. It has to be artistic to be called a dance.

Dance is a difficult art, but to Claudia Solomons, it seemed to come easy. As she brought age-old stories to life on the stage, her execution was full of life and appeared effortless. She demonstrated aptly that dance runs in her very veins.

The occasion was the bharatanatyam arangetram of Claudia in early May, at the Everest Theatre, Seymour Centre in Sydney. She is a disciple of Sashi Bala of the Natyadarshanam School of Dance.

What clearly stood out in Claudia’s repertoire was her very different and truly innovative Shabdam: it portrayed incidents from the life of Jesus Christ, including his birth and crucifixion. Very appealing, it showed that bharatanatyam has no religious borders, and it can lend itself beautifully to traditions other than those from which it originated.

Phrases such as Deva maindan tordinan, and Deva maindane paduvo reverberated as Claudia enacted the crucifixion. Anguish and despair were evident. In the end, as Claudia knelt, with a divine grace falling on her, a sense of wonderment swept across the audience. Indeed, it was a sight

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Chamundeswari, the killing goddess.

Bho Shambo, a celebrated composition of Dayananda Saraswathi, was chosen for the item Shiva Stuthi Being an item repeatedly heard in concerts, I wondered how it would be danced out! It started with a preface which was shadow play, itself wonderfully remarkable.

Claudia’s dance matched the rhythmic and slow tempo of nijaguna nihita nidanta anata, ananda atishaya akshaya At the finale, the majestic voice of Bharath Mohan, the crafty mridangam by Bala Shankar, choreography and able dancing all converged in heightening the appeal.

In Dashavatar we saw the ten avatars of Lord Vishnu acted out. The episode where Narasimha tears Hirnyakashipu to pieces, the abduction of Sita by Ravana and the assurance given by Krishna, Sambhavami yuge yuge, left a lasting impression on the audience.

Claudia also included in her repertoire the Snake Dance, Thillana and other items, to fully exhibit her prowess. Music for the occasion was provided by Bala Shankar (mridangam), Shashi Bala (nattuvanagam), Bharath Mohan (vocal and veena), Lakshmi Narendra (vocal and veena), Iynkaran Mahadevan (flute) and Nagaraja Iyer (violin). While Bala Shankar has proved himself to be indispensible to dance in Sydney, Bharath Mohan is a discovery full of promise.