Bharata Natyam Arangetram

By Nithiapidary and Paramjothy Muthuvelu

25 April 2009

Civic Centre, Petaling Jaya

Review by Chan Keed Cheng

A Bharata Natyam Arangetram, is the ‘debut’ or ‘graduation’ rite of passage for disciples of the ancient Indian dance. A defining criterion for an arangetram is that the dancer has to have at least seven years of training prior to performing one’s first public performance.

I recently had the opportunity to watch the Arangetram by dancers Nithiapidary and Paramjothy Muthuvelu. Both are the disciples of ‘Natya Selvam’ Guru Sri Ganesan since the tender age of seven. The night’s show was very well-received judging by the number of audience as the spacious auditorium was supportively filled.

As the opening act for the evening, the duo first offered salutations to the gods followed by salutations to Guru Sri Ganesan and the audience. They then positioned themselves at centre stage with their palms cupped as flower petals. On stage, there was a delightful music ensemble seated the left and a golden statue of Lord Nadarajan (Lord of Dance) placed on the right.

Regretfully, the first 15-minute act revealed plenty of room for improvement for the younger brother, Paramjothy.  Being inadequate in facial expressions and panting out of breath in the first act were not appealing factors of a dancer.  In contrast, the

sister, Nithiapidary, exhibited more emotions. She played a smile on her lips more consistently and did not neglect her eyes’ expressions which I believe were essential to connect better with the audience.

The second of about eight parts of the arangetram focused on exercising a great deal of their body muscles. The title of this item (presumably) meant “to decorate with flowers.” The movements were specially designed to involve every limb and sinew.  Furthermore, their footwork was also nothing short of spectacular.

As for the third dance piece, more leaping was involved for Paramjothy in his solo act. This time, a display of effortless grace became evident.  His smiling expression seemed to show that he was happy and contented in a distant dreamland. However, his rather abrupt and menacing stances and glare that ended his presentation left me puzzled. At this point, I could only helplessly yearn for a complete English translation of the introductory narration of each dance item.

The following dance highlighted strong emotive display with vibrant movements. Never seemed to miss their steps, the dancers’ swift moves were impeccably executed. The duet had better synchronization compared to items with slower movements.  They did not fully complement each other as their performance appeared to be a one-person show at times but they managed to sync their movements. I wondered if accentuating their individuality is intentional for arangetram.

I found the piece where the siblings were reliving an ancient tale revolving gods and legends interesting.  Engaged in a duel, Nithiapidary fiercely tied an imaginary rope to Paramjothy’s neck with great force. While remaining at a distance away from Paramjothy who sat cross-legged on the stage, she tried to tighten and pull the rope to end his life. Unperturbed by Nithiapidary’s attempt, he continued meditating calmly. Upon Nithiapidary’s second attempt to harm Paramjothy, he showed excruciating pain as the make-believe rope tied to him “dragged” him across the stage. He then mustered all his strength and attempted to kick Nithiapidary. The drama ended with dance routine with brilliant expressions of pain, in which Pramjothy portrayed convincingly.

The show continued with several dances related to the previous concept.  A religious theme in praise of Lord Krishna was the idea in Paramjothy’s second solo performance. Kudos to him as he redeemed himself by improving his overall performance in this 18^th century composition.

A dance by the sister on love, anger and empty promises of men brought me close to a numbing experience. She entered the stage with an air of pride, arrogance and aristocracy; and of a lover who is highly-sought after. Nithiapidary’s occasional glee by herself indicated as if she had been coaxed by sweet words.  She then alternated these expressions with those of doubt, worry and look of troubled concerns.  However, it was a dreary piece as the choreography was monotonous and repetitive. I simply could not wait for it to pass and when it did, the dance’s ending turned out to be bland and inconclusive.

A tête-à-tête with Guru Sri Ganesan on the choreography explained that he had not moved out of his main area of interest being a pure traditionalist. He chose ancient Indian legends of gods combined with religious element as a source of inspiration. The rehearsals and preparations took at least six months.

Personally, I was disappointed that most dances from the three-hour event did not tell much of a story. The brief narrations that were delivered did not satisfy my curiosity on the dances. I also wished the language barrier to be non-existent because I could not interpret the performance better.

The impact of the arangetram faded with the chimes of bells. Nevertheless, this show was a testimony on the enormous effort and commitment required of a Bharata Natyam dancer.