Maya Ravan by Shobhana
Maya Ravan - an english dance ballet by bharatanatyam exponent Padmashree Shobhana
the second dance performance that i am attending in US in as many as 3 years. i was excited and enthued - it has been 6 long years since we had wanted Shobhana and party in Pilani. came to know of the concert just one day earlier and hurried to book my ticket. the tickets were sold out very soon. northern virginia community college at fairfax hosted the show to a packed hall. now to the ballet......
the ballet is a narration in english, conceptualized and choreographed by Shobana and music scored by the carnatic violin virtuoso brothers Ganesh-Kumaresh. the music is remarkably world class with a brilliant sound engineering behind the recording. most of the situational music and the alapanas are in violin. the first anjali piece was choreographed for the Nattai tune of "Dance Like A Man", a short movie starring Shobana for which Gan-Kum has set the music again.
the solo piece "maanendra sita...." (something like that....could not figure out the words clearly with my poor tamil knowledge) sung by Ganesh in Raga Kambodhi is the crown jewel of the entire music score, i would say. the piece is sung by Ravana to seduce Sita in asoka vanam. i was so moved that i fell in love with the romantic characterization of Ravana for a moment... the theme of this dance ballet being the narration of Ramayana from Ravana's point of view. Shobhana splendidly brought out the personality traits of Ravana with great aesthetic sense. how many of us remember or even know that Ravana is a scholar, artiste and a fine Veena player. he is even supposed to have introduced the raga Harikambodhi !!
Naseeruddin Shah's voice for Ravana strikes the deepest emotional chord in any one's heart. the final dialogue between Ravana and his queen Mandodari at the battlefield was touching.
there is also some amount of bollywood score in the ballet - notable one being "chinnamma chilakamma" from the movie "Meenaxi" ...the rakshasis are playing around Sita in asoka vanam, trying to get her ready for Ravana's visit. Ravana casually dancing and romancing around Sita is catchy. Shobhana is really bold to try this stuff on stage, what with her sun glasses and designer-wear costumes !!!!
the ballet starts with an anjali, an india collage and then the ramayana from Ravana's view. as much as the Ramayana part of the ballet was astounding and spell-binding, i felt the india collage was as much bleak and disintegrated. Shobhana was indeed trying to convey too much in too little a time. trying to show everything from a village motor cycle to cricket playing and ending with Rehman's Vandemataram, i am not very impressed with this part. it does not mix well in the ballet dedicated to Ravana. Shobhana could have done without it.
the artiste is very resourceful in showing the parts of the ballet that were actually performed and videoed in Chennai with her full troupe, using a projector and screen. she is touring US with a limited members of her team. the building of Setu across the sea to Lanka had beautiful formations, monkey pranks and striking war cry (the chennai team on screen). initially i felt the stage settings could have been better but when she showed the video, it was simply fantastic.
during a short break, the artiste paid a video tribute to her late aunt Smt.Padmini, yesteryear's tamil cinema queen and dancer par excellence who passed away in 2006. i was disappointed that the clippings didn't have Thillana Mohanambal, the famous "maraindhirundhu paarkum" still !!!!!
more and more praises could be sung for the ballet, the costume designer, Ganesh-Kumaresh, and all the artistes in the team. plenty more praises for Padmashree Shobhana. the romance of Ravana still lingers in my heart.........
the second dance performance that i am attending in US in as many as 3 years. i was excited and enthued - it has been 6 long years since we had wanted Shobhana and party in Pilani. came to know of the concert just one day earlier and hurried to book my ticket. the tickets were sold out very soon. northern virginia community college at fairfax hosted the show to a packed hall. now to the ballet......
the ballet is a narration in english, conceptualized and choreographed by Shobana and music scored by the carnatic violin virtuoso brothers Ganesh-Kumaresh. the music is remarkably world class with a brilliant sound engineering behind the recording. most of the situational music and the alapanas are in violin. the first anjali piece was choreographed for the Nattai tune of "Dance Like A Man", a short movie starring Shobana for which Gan-Kum has set the music again.
the solo piece "maanendra sita...." (something like that....could not figure out the words clearly with my poor tamil knowledge) sung by Ganesh in Raga Kambodhi is the crown jewel of the entire music score, i would say. the piece is sung by Ravana to seduce Sita in asoka vanam. i was so moved that i fell in love with the romantic characterization of Ravana for a moment... the theme of this dance ballet being the narration of Ramayana from Ravana's point of view. Shobhana splendidly brought out the personality traits of Ravana with great aesthetic sense. how many of us remember or even know that Ravana is a scholar, artiste and a fine Veena player. he is even supposed to have introduced the raga Harikambodhi !!
Naseeruddin Shah's voice for Ravana strikes the deepest emotional chord in any one's heart. the final dialogue between Ravana and his queen Mandodari at the battlefield was touching.
there is also some amount of bollywood score in the ballet - notable one being "chinnamma chilakamma" from the movie "Meenaxi" ...the rakshasis are playing around Sita in asoka vanam, trying to get her ready for Ravana's visit. Ravana casually dancing and romancing around Sita is catchy. Shobhana is really bold to try this stuff on stage, what with her sun glasses and designer-wear costumes !!!!
the ballet starts with an anjali, an india collage and then the ramayana from Ravana's view. as much as the Ramayana part of the ballet was astounding and spell-binding, i felt the india collage was as much bleak and disintegrated. Shobhana was indeed trying to convey too much in too little a time. trying to show everything from a village motor cycle to cricket playing and ending with Rehman's Vandemataram, i am not very impressed with this part. it does not mix well in the ballet dedicated to Ravana. Shobhana could have done without it.
the artiste is very resourceful in showing the parts of the ballet that were actually performed and videoed in Chennai with her full troupe, using a projector and screen. she is touring US with a limited members of her team. the building of Setu across the sea to Lanka had beautiful formations, monkey pranks and striking war cry (the chennai team on screen). initially i felt the stage settings could have been better but when she showed the video, it was simply fantastic.
during a short break, the artiste paid a video tribute to her late aunt Smt.Padmini, yesteryear's tamil cinema queen and dancer par excellence who passed away in 2006. i was disappointed that the clippings didn't have Thillana Mohanambal, the famous "maraindhirundhu paarkum" still !!!!!
more and more praises could be sung for the ballet, the costume designer, Ganesh-Kumaresh, and all the artistes in the team. plenty more praises for Padmashree Shobhana. the romance of Ravana still lingers in my heart.........
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