Abhivyakti dance centre: Ullas P - Disciple of Raghunandan S, Abhivyakti, Bangalore

ULLAS PRASANNAKUMAR - BHARATANATYAM
DISCIPLE OF SHRI RAGHU NANDAN S
ABHIVYAKTI, BANGALORE
WWW.ABHIVYAKTIDANCE.COM

CLICK HERE FOR INVITE CARD - 28TH NOV 2015

Ullas Prasanna Kumar

Ullas, son of Smt.S.Lakshmi and Sri.S.Prasanna Kumar started showing signs of interest in Bharatanatyam at a young age and was encouraged by her parents to learn the divine art form. He started learning basics of Bharatanatyam under the guidance of Vidwan Sri.Raghunandan, Director of Abhivyakthi Dance Center, Bangalore for the past 8 years and completed senior exam KSEEB in the same along with B.A degree under the guidance of Karnataka Kalasri Guru Sri.B.K.Shyam Prakash at Keshava College of Music and Dance. He has actively participated in the performances organised by Abhivyakthi Dance Center like Nrithya Medha, Nrithya Vaividhyam, Swatantra Sambhrama and many more. He has also attended major dance workshops organised by the institution.

Ullas as not only shown passion in Dance but he is doing great in Academics too. Currently he is pursuing his Bachelor’s degree in computers at St. Joseph’s Evening College, Bangalore. He wants to take his passion of dance into further serious heights and wants to be one of the best dancers of next generation.

He has given performances in Baroda, Ottapalam, Bhubaneswar, khajuraho and many other places under the guidance of his Guru Sri. Raghunandan. He has also been given opportunity to perform under the banner of Abhivyakti at Nataraja Nrityotsav 2015 in Mysore and other dance festivals.

Ullas aspires to reach greater heights both in the field of Classical Dance and in his academic Career. He expresses his immense gratitude to the Almighty, his Parents, his Gurus and his relatives for their unbound support and encouragement to be what he is today and to reach this platform.

UPCOMING RECITAL - REPERTOIRE

Sl.no	Item Name	Raga	Tala	Composer
1	Pushpanjali	Chandracouns	Adi	Vid Sri .Raghu Nandhan.S
2	Allaripu	Nil	Khandachapu
3	Jathiswara	Vasantha	Adi
4	Varnum-Swami nan unran	Nata	Adi
5	Anandha Narthana ganapathi		Adi
6	Devarnama-Ee Pariya		Khandachapu	Sri.Purandara Dasa
7	Padam
8	Tillana	Sri Raga	Adi
9	Mangalam	Madhyamavati	Khandachapu

Pushpanjali

Raga Natai Tala : Adi

Pushpanjali is an introductory item in a Bharatanatyam recital. It performed as means of offering prayers and respects to Lord Nataraja, Astha Dikpalakas, the musician ensemble and finally the Audience seeking their blessings and co-operation for the success of the program. This is followed by a Slokam where in the artiste seeks the blessings Lord Ganapathi to make the program free of all obstacles and make it a grand success.

Alaripu

Tala: Khanda Eka

The alaripu is done at the beginning of the performance and is done in three tempos. Alaripu means blossoming of body mind & soul. Alaripu is done in samabhangi, Aramandi, purnamandi, with intricate adavus and mukthaya towards the end. This nrutha item symbolises offering prayer to God, to the stage and to preceptors and elders.

Jathiswaram:

Raga:Vasantha Tala:Adi

This is pure Nritta item set to tune (ragam) in particular rhythm (thalam). Jathiswasram includes Jathi (sollukattu), Pallavi, Anupallavi and one or more Charanas. There are no any sahityam passages present, the whole composition is sung using swaras (solfa patterns).

Thus, Jathiswaram could be defined as "musical comosition without sahitya, which melody progressively becomes more comlex in sense of rhythm."

The meaning of Nritta, pure dance, is using the God given body and limbs we create as many forms of beauty as possible through flow of poses and movements connected together by rhythm and music. Beauty and inner joy of dance is the only meaning of Nritta. It does not have any particular mood or sentiment. It produces aesthetic pleasure.

In answer to question asked by the sages, Bharata explained: "The dance is occasioned by no specific needs. It has come into use because it creates beauty."

Jathiswarams brings out three aspects of dance: unity of music, rhythm and movements. Ragam and thalam are the major aspects of Jathiswaram.

Raga can be understood as special musical space where certain patterns of swaras or tunes live in. Raga has it own mood. It guides flow of melody as cannel guides the river.

Thalam and kalam (tempo) give feeling of time. They make melody move on, define how fast it should flow.

Besides general thalam and kalam of music composition, which are constant, each dance adavu has its own rhythmic pattern. Sequences of adavus are fitting inside avartanam as sketches are fitting pages of drawing album.

Jathiswaram reminds me mountain river: streams of melodies appear here and there divided by stones of rhythmic patterns spread all along the main cannel of Ragam, bending gently to and fro, following shape of the mountain.

Message of Jathiswaram is beauty. It is pure Nritta item, thus anga shuddha (proper postures and movements) in combination with flow of melody and rhythm should evoke sense of harmony and joy of dance in hearts of spectators.

Jathiswaram includes one Jathi (adavus set to sollukattu, without any music) and several Korvays set to swaras. Jathiswaram begins with brick and fast Jathi, then two or three korvays set to Pallavi are executed. The next is one korvey set to Pallavi in combination with Anupallavi. Then follow several Korvays set to Charanas.

Jathi and Korvays are concluded with Mai adavu set to Pallavi. Mei adavu is very characteristic for Jathiswaram. It comprises mandatory body bents and rotations erformed along with steps when dancer is moveing to right and left sides at first and then backwards, or to diagonals. Mai adavu could be inserted after each Jathi and Korvay (in theory), but it would be quite monotonious to see, thus choreographers put Mai adavu after Jathi (as a rule) and them after the second of third Korvay and the last Mai adavu concludes Jathiswaram after comletion of the last korvay.

Famous Jatiswarams are composed in ragas Kalyani, Chakravakam, Arabi, Vasanta, Saveri, Kamas.

Varnam:

Raga:Nata Tala:Adi

Varnam is the most complicated item of Bharatanatyam Margam comprising either Nritta or Nritya aspects. Main mood of Varnam may be either Sringara or Bhakti (devotion expressed through love to God, called Bhakti-Sringara).

In Varnam Nayaki (the heroine) addresses her Lord directly or indirectly (by appealing to her close friend, Sakhi, asking help and convey her message). She requests help, laments, reproaches or expresses her love and devotion. In Varnam the God is considered as Nayaka (the hero), i.e. abstract idea of God finds its manifestation in God-like human creature.

Varnam comprises of two parts:

1) First part is called Purvaranga and includes Pallavi, Anupallavi, Muktai Swara and Muktai Swara Sahityam.

2) The second part is called Uttaranga and comprises Charanam and Charana swaras (also called as Chitta Swaras, short notes).

Varnam commences with Trikala Jathi. Sollukattus (garlands of syllables) and corresponding series of adavus are executed in three speeds (kala-s): vilambha, madhyama and druta. The last portion of Trikala Jathi is called Kuraippu. Adavus of Kuraippu are performed without repetition. Muktaippu is finishing sequence of Kuraippu, final chain if adavus called makuta or teermana adavus executed in triple cycle.

Trikala Jathi (and all other jathi) are followed by Aradi (rhythmical patters used as conclusion of Nritta portions accompanied by footwork.)

Besides Trikala Jathi, Purvaranga portion of Varnam includes Kuraippu (performed separately) and several different jathi-s, intermingled with singing of Pallavi and Anupallavi.

Each Chitta swara is repeated twice. The dancer performs short and brick Korvai-s. Chitta swara sahityam follows, also repeated twice. First time Chitta swara is illustrated with pure abhinaya. The second rendering of sahityam is accompanied by tattu-mettu adavu or Sarpa nadai.

Varnam is concluded with Charanam. Charanam is the heart of Varnam, the most emotionally charged line of sahityam. It expresses the main idea, the message the heroine seeks to convey to her beloved. Often it is formulated as a question (How can I bear the shower of Manmada arrows?), sometimes as imperative sentence (Please, come back my beloved!) which contains more or less evident hint or suggestion, hidden intention and innermost wish.

Varnam starts by Pallavi. Varnam is composed as a conversation, thus it stars from afar. Pallavi may comprise a question in rhetoric form (Why are you angry?) or direct addressing which emphasizes some quality or condition of the hero.

Anupallavi contains further description of nature, virtues, qualities and deeds of the hero.

Muktai swara sahityam contains some myth or story taken from life of the hero which is very illustrative of his character and helps to understand nature of relationship between the hero and the heroine.

Charanam is emotionally charged plea of the heroine. Here she reaches the point of her conversation, revels her inner attachment and wishes.

In sahityam of Chitta swaras the heroine develops her intentions. Using myths or stories as examples she describes her attitude and relation to the hero. Here she freely expresses her emotions relating the hero, his qualities and deeds. She opens her heart to full extent. Faster tempo of the second part, brick Nritta and emotionally charged, very different swaras give bright picture of heroine’s inner feelings.

The interesting feature is that after each Chitta swara sahityam Charana swara sahityam is repeated. This has special meaning. Sometimes Charanam is called ‘ettakadai pallavi’. They say that each Chitta swara sahityam may be properly understood only if followed by Charanam.

Devaranama:

Raga: Tala:KandhaChapu

Devaranamas (names of the Lord/God) were the bhakti compositions that were the outcome of the bhakti movement in South India, especially Karanataka during 13th century to 14th century CE, whose main objective was to promote "daivata" philosophy of Madhvacharya through literature.

The compositions were by Haridasas who were saints, philosophers or plain wandering bards who considered themselves as the servants of the lord. Thus, this part or section of literature came to be known as "dasa sahitya" or the literature of the servants of the Lord.

The Haridasas belonged to the 'Vaishnava' school of thought in Hinduism and worshipped Vitthala, who is a manifestation of Krishna and all his forms. Krishna is considered as an incarnation if Lord Vishnu.

Though the compositions were mainly on the concept of Hari bhakti and are about Hari or Krishna, a few composers also composed devaranamas using social values, morals and virtues as a theme. There are devaranamas composed on goddesses too. These compositions took an important and prominent place not only in the world of literature, but also in the vast field of art, especially Bharatanatyam.

Tillana :

Raga:SriRaga Tala:Adi

Tillana is the concluding item in the classical dance recital. It consist of brisk, fast and intricate movements of pure dance or the Nritta. The artiste perform with intricate foot movements which is a treat to watch for the audience. The brief Sahitya is in praise of goddess Bhuvaneshwari.

Raga : Athana Tala: Rupakam

This is followed by Mangalam - Jayasesha Shyayanaya depicting 10 incarnations of Lord Vishnu

Raga : Madhyamavati Tala: Khandachapu