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| Malavika Sarukkai in Manchester By Deepa Ganesh / Manchester |   | |||
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| Milapfest, UK's premier year round South Asian Arts Festival based in the North West of England, is celebrating Jhankar, a dance festival from February to November 2004. This is being sponsored by the Arts Council, England. In the earlier months, the dance performances featured Nina Rajarani's Equilibrium, Gauri Sharma Tripathi's Vyuha (The Square Circle) and Sonia Sabri in a combination of contemporary dance and Kathak. Although there are more to come, the highpoint of Jhankar was the well known Bharatanatyam dancer Malavika Sarukkai who performed at the Lowry on 9 May. The Lowry is one of the best theatres in the UK and to watch a performance here offered a unique experience.
Malavika also conducted a master class and this was a valuable experience for the local students of dance. It is important to reiterate the basics to students, and Malavika stressed on this. Given the fact that the children were in awe of facing a teacher like Malavika, when she stressed on the importance of Aramandi and Angashuddham, it came with renewed weight. Today's generation is lucky, for the gurus come and conduct workshops, as against earlier days when students had to not just go to the masters, but prove their sincerity and competence before they are taught anything. Manchester was indeed looking forward to Malavika. The audience said it all. The programme was structured well with contemporary topics presented in a traditional style. Following a nritya anjali, was spring as Kalidasa saw it in Ritusamhara with Manmatha busy at work!
Many in the audience could identify their own real life situations in the popular javali 'Ni matale' (Poorvi kalyani) where the heroine asks, "where are your promises...gone with the wind?" However the mood changed completely in the two pieces which followed - Yudhishtra's dream (in which a deer begs the former to stop hunting so that the animals do not become extinct) and Thimaka's longing (a real life story of a lady who brings up an avenue of more than 250 banyan trees). The evening ended with Mohanakalyani thillana and Vande Maataram. It was to be noted that the subtle lighting added a new, effective angle to Malavika's portrayal of 'Manmatha at work'. Baghyalakshmi (vocal), Murali (Nattuvangam) Rajashekar (mridangam) and Shikamani(violin) provided the accompaniment. One could not ignore the mood created by the violinist's Shubapantuvarali and Vasanta phrases to name a few, thereby reaffirming the importance of a supportive orchestra. It was a nice evening for Manchester - thanks to Milapfest and Malavika. | ||||
