Giving formto the formless
“Shining in his own glory, without physical qualities, formless, desireless, all pervading sky of consciousness, wearing the sky itself as His garment” was the theme of Amit Chowdhury's bharatanatyam recital 'Nataraja' .
Bharatanatyam, itself, is one of the most complex dance forms and to befittingly portray the 'Lord of Dance' through this genre needs remarkable dramatic abilities. To the delight of the select few attending the recital, Amit outdid all expectations both through his dancing and 'abhinaya' or emotive abilities.
Amit's recital on October 29 at 'Moncho', in Banani, Dhaka was part of Shadhona's (A Center for Advancement of South Asian Dance and Music) project to organise monthly recitals for its membership-based Cultural Circle. This was the 25th such recital. Other recitals have showcased vocal music, dance, and instrumental music, including performances by both young and renowned artistes.
Bharatanatyam is one of the most stylised dance forms in South Asia, given its highly unnatural half-sitting posture, called 'aramandi', with toes and knees extended to the sides. Of course, it is the perfect 'aramandi' which allows the formation of exquisite geometric body movements. That Amit had spent grueling hours trying to achieve this was evident from the ease with which he executed the 'adavus' and 'jatis' -- body movements -- of each composition.
Amit began the recital with an invocation to Ganesha, the elephant-headed god; continued with an item of pure dance, or 'nritya' and then embarked on his dances of Shiva, whose five manifestations of 'sristi' (creation), 'sthiti' (preservation), 'tirobhava' (concealment), 'anugraha' (revelation or grace) and 'samhar' (destruction) were portrayed through changing 'rasas' or emotions. The recital ended with a 'tillana', which skillfully incorporates all the characteristics of bharatanatyam within one presentation, increasing in tempo from the 'vilambit' (slow) to the 'madhyam' (medium) and ending with a flourish in the 'drut' (fast) covering the entire stage with various choreographic patterns.
By the end of the recital, none in the audience were surprised to hear that Amit, a graduate of Rabindra Bharati University of Kolkata, was awarded the title of 'Sringar Shiromani' by the 'Kal ki Kalakar' Dance Festival 2010 held in Mumbai. It was truly heartening to see this young dancer from Chittagong maturing into a dancer who is sure to make Bangladesh proud.
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