Jacob’s Pillow, Becket, MA
through June 24, 2018
by Josephine Sarnelli
Photo by Bruce Palmer |
Ramagala Dance Company is committed to
both preserving the ancestral integrity and evolutionary life of the
South Indian dance form of Bharatanatyam. In their 75-minute program
of two performance pieces, the five-piece musical ensemble and five
dancers successfully linked the past and the present.
The opening routine, “Om Kara
Karini,” speaks to the worship of the Devine Feminine and was
dedicated to Tanjore Balasaraswati, the performer who first brought
this style of dance to Jacob’s Pillow in 1962. Aparna Ramaswamy,
Ramagala’s co-director, performed her own choregraphed solo with
both athleticism and grace. As with all classical styles of Indian
dance, Bharatanatyam relies heavily on symbolism. Facial expression
and mudras (hand gestures) were beautifully executed and communicated
energy and strength.
The second work engaged all five
dancers, similarly dressed in costumes with a pleated cloth that
opened like a fan when the performer bent her knees. Each had their
eyes lined and ringed, so as to accentuate their eye movements.
Leather anklets (ghungroos) wrapped to their legs added a percussive
element to their dance movements. The dancers’ palms and feet were
partially colored red with traditional kumkum powder to assist the
audience in distinguishing hand gestures and footwork.
The original music score for this work,
entitled “Written in Water,” was composed in part by Amir
ElSaffir, the trumpet player in the ensemble. The trumpet seemed to
breathe new life into this ancient dance form. The changing
projection of visual arts on the floor and backdrop gave dimension to
the nearly hour-long set and again characterized this as a living
dance form.
The set could best be characterized as
hypnotic. Except for breaking the spell for a round of applause for
the singer after a particularly haunting solo, the audience was
completely engaged. All five dancers were onstage for most of the
set, but some occasionally “froze” to allow others to perform.
The stationary upper torso of the
Bharatanatyam style permits the viewer to focus their attention on
the bent leg and spectacular footwork, the sophisticated arm and hand
gestures and the facial movements. Of particular note was the
mourning expressed in the dance by Ranee Ramaswamy, by her soulful
eyes and sorrowful body language. The dancers successfully brought
the audience through periods of chaos, longing and, finally,
unification with the divine.