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THE HINDU, Friday, November 2,1990.

 Excellent choreography


BANGALORE
The Venkatesha Natya Mandira, Gavipuram led by Guru Radha Sridhar celebrated its 21st anniversary at the Ravindra Kalakshetra recently. Junior artists in Bharatanatyam items were featur-ed on the first day. On the second day an excellent dance-drama on a well-known theme "Srinivasa Kalyana" highlighting the marriage of Lord Venkateshwara with Sri Padmavati was presented. The mythological story is both lyrical and dramatic. Guru Radha Sridhar did extremely well in combining both the elements with her accomplished direction and choreography. One was much impressed by her attempts of avoiding the anticlimax.

Added to this was the effective script by T. V. Muthachar and Yeri Seshachar. The makeup costume and the action were not only colourful but realistic too. H. K Narayana's music direction had feeling and fervor. The singers H K Narayana. Shankar Shanbhag, Kasturi Shankar. B. R. Manjula and Ratnamala Prakash struck good form. The glowing lyrics ware clothed in Camatic ragas like Nata, Bilahari. Charukeshi, Vasantha, Behag, Hindola, Saraswathi and others.

Another commendable feature was the handling of the recorded music. The dancers on the stage moved in coordination with the music. However, despite all these plus points, one was intrigued at the wide gap between the scenes.

The descent of Lakshmi and Vishnu to the earth as Srinivasa and Padmavathi as an out come of various incidents forms the theme 'Srinivasa Kalyana". The scenes with simple settings complemented and contrasted with one and other. Interesting group formations and movements (based on Bharatanatyam and folk dances) accounted for Radha's originality in choreographic expertise. The nritta interpolations struck the right balance in evoking the artistry and technique of Bharatanatyam. The tandava and lasya aspects were also well represented adding variety to the dance. In a dancedrarna the lighting plays an implant role and Sirish Mohan's lighting' heightened the happenings on the the stage.

The concept of visualising the Kamadhenu and the calf (the divine cow) with a toy~was highly imaginative and well executed too. Vrinda Ravi as Vishnu and Srinivasa was a picture of grace and artistry. Preethi Krishna(Laxmi), Rajeshwari (Brahma and Bakulavathi), Triveni Kangal (Saraswathi), Nagesh (Shiva, his standing position looked odd), Meera (Parvathi and Rani), Prabhakar (Aaksha Raja and CholaRaja, Rekha (Padmavathi), Ashokkumar (Narada and Garuda). Ramu Kangal (Bhrugu and Kubera) and other dancers rose to the occasion in making the dance-drama a grand succees.