Gearing-up for
the big Ballet
Sri Rama Katha
Saram
A Kuchipudi Dance
Ballet in Houston
Vanam Jwala
Narasimha Rao
From Houston,
Texas, USA
The Hans India
(15-07-2017)
I am here in Houston, Texas State in Unites
States of America, since first of July, on an informal invitation from my
daughter and son-in-law who work here, to attend a Kuchipudi Dance Ballet,
titled Sri Rama Katha Saram, in which my grand daughter Medha Koniki is also
participating. It is simply thrilling as I noticed it, when attending the
rehearsals, consecutively for two days. The way the whole team of participants
numbering 53 performed evincing keen interest is commendable. The ballet is being presented by the Vedantam
Kalakshetram and will be finally staged on July 15, 2017 at the local Stafford
Centre for the performance arts.
The
Vedantam Kalakshetram is the brainchild of 45-year-old Master Venkatarama
Vedantam Raghavaiah who is popularly known here in Houston as Raghava Vedantam.
He hails from the famous Vedantam family and initially learnt the art from his
father Vedantam Rattaiah Sarma. Later he learnt the art from Natyakaladhara
Pasumarthy Ramalinga Sastry, Dr Sobha Naidu and Padmabhooshan Vempati China
Satyam as well as from many more famous artists of Kuchipudi. Raghava also has
a Master’s Degree in Kuchipudi dance from Potti Sriramulu Telugu University. To
his credit he played the roles of many puranic characters such as Vishnu,
Shiva, Rama, Krishna etc. He is honoured with several titles. Raghava
established the Vedantam Kalakshetram School of Dance in Houston and teaches
Kuchipudi to a number of Indian enthusiastic children and even adults.
The
ballet Sri Rama Katha Saram attempts to capture the essence of Lord Rama’s
journey, as written by sage Valmiki, on earth as the model human being. The
ballet starts with the invocation prayer-the Nandi stuti-seeking the blessings
of guru and Gods for a fruitful and uneventful stage display. This is followed by
the Bala Bhogam, a prayer to Lord Hanuman. Lord Vishnu’s incarnations
symbolizing evolution theory, to defeat evil and establish righteousness,
beginning with water borne Matsyavatar to that of Human Being Lord Rama is
played next.
The
main story for the ballet begins with the Aranya Kanda-Lord Rama’s exile to the
forest, along with his brother Lakshmana and wife Sitadevi. The brothers
prepare their life as hermits in Panchavati n the Dandakaranya forest. While
everything was going on peacefully, Ravanasura sister Surphanaka steps in to
the scene and makes advances to Lord Rama. However, on the instructions from
Rama, Lakshmana grapples with Surphanaka and defaces her cutting off her ears
and nose. Moparthy Hyma and Sandhya Muchimilli playing the roles of Lakshmana
and Surphanaka respectively, exhibited the best of the Kuchipudi Art probably
excelling their master Raghava! It would be the highlight of the ballet.
One
after one the ballet has the scenes of “Maya Ledi”-the golden deer, dancing in
front of Sita; Rama killing it; the Lakshmana Rekha episode; Sita’s abduction
by Ravanasura; Rama meeting Hanuman; friendship with Monkey King Sugriva;
killing of Sugriva brother Vali; search for Sita by Hanuman and Vanaras; laying
of bridge across Hindu Ocean; Rama-Ravana war and killing of Ravanasura and
finally the coronation of Lord Rama with great pomp and show.
Each
scene has been meticulously planned by the director, the Master Raghava
assisted by his wife Padmaja Sharmi Vedantam who also played the role of
Sitadevi. Among others, some of the artists who excelled in their roles, to
name few, are the Maya Ravana-Bhavya Kethireddipalli, Ravana-Aruna Jyothi
Nanduri, Hanuman-Murali Lanka, Sugriva-Sudesh Pillutla and so on. The Master and
Director Raghava Vedantam played the role of Lord Rama and it is literally
thrilling to watch him performing the art of Kuchipudi.
The
rehearsals’ days are like a social gathering. Telugu families in large numbers
participate with lot of enthusiasm and team work. The lunches on both days and
dinner on one day are all potluck preparations. In a traditional Indian style,
they sat on floor and had their food and in between half way through there were
devotional songs and poems recited by participants.
A
great and memorable event and a wonderful experience.
The Ballet was
staged on 15th July 2017 and the narration by Vedantam Kalakshetram
goes like this:
“The day started on July 15, 2017 as any other performance day for
the Vedantam Kalakshetram, with the pre-program hustle and arrangements to put
up a magnificent show. The auditorium lobby was
magnificently decorated with golden arches and pillars and as cordial
volunteers welcomed the respected guests a festive atmosphere was created to
revel in the story of Lord Rama. The artists and the back-stage production
support crew were set and the auditorium was slowly filling up with dance
connoisseurs. We then experienced a small trial from Sri Rama. It rained
heavily in Houston and the auditorium lost power with no approximate turnaround
time for power to resume. None of the artists were deterred; we measured up to
Lord Rama’s test and passed in flying colours. The power was back sooner than
expected”.
“Once the program started, Vedantam Kalakshetram dancers
mesmerized the audience and filled them with the devotion of Lord Rama. The
invocatory dances created an ambience for graceful Kuchipudi ballet. As the
dancers dedicated the program to Lord Hanuman, there was a devotional spirit
that elegantly transported the audience to Treta Yuga. The prelude to Sri Rama
Katha Saram elated the audience; they were delighted with how the nimble
dancers presented each avatar. The audience was amazed at how each character
was introduced in the scenes and the auditorium reverberated with long applause
of joy filled excitement. As the agile golden deer lured Maa Sita and as
deceitful Ravana took Maa Sita to Lanka, the audience were in deep sorrow.
Ferocious battle between Lord Rama and Ravana enthralled the audience with a
foot tapping background score. They were in euphoria in the Pattabhishekam (coronation)
scene and were in a belief that they too were the citizens of Ayodhya and
chanted Rama Nama with great fervour and devotion. The compelling story of Lord
Rama depicted gracefully in Kuchipudi, accentuated with well-crafted props,
crisp sound and colourful costumes was a visual delight to the audience”.
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