Dance Compositions

1995

"Who would breathe, who would live, if there were not this bliss in space?"
Using shlokas from the Vedas, the dancer discovers space, explores it, celebrates it – through movement. Aakaash is the universe. Its garbha or womb is Prithvi, the earth. All life emanates from this centre, reaching outwards, interacting constantly with the space that surrounds it.

‘The world is ever-lasting, the world is not ever-lasting; The world has an end in space, the world has no end in space.’ Digh Nik IX.3.16

1995

Spanda Maatrika embraces the maatras or beats, reducing movement to its essence. It is a journey inwards seeking the ‘centre’, the origin of movement and its source of strength. It explores the five time-cycles through movement in a free-flowing taanam-like musical format.

1995

"Look there! The flowering of something. These colours make me happy. Oh! These two, melt – one into the other. Dawn's beauty fills my heart." The veiling and unveiling of time, when dawn leads you to life, to the world: and dusk leads you to sleep, to death. It is a time of sandhi, of the conjugation of two things – a magical moment.

1995

Charishnu indicates the desire to move. It is an expression of the joy of 'journeying', of life that moves forward and back, slow or fast along with those around us.

1996

Taken from the Krishna Yajurveda, Taittiriya Brahmana the recited beejaaksharas are the seven colours of Surya, the sun, represented by the seven horses pulling Surya’s chariot. At dawn, the sun is addressed as mitram, the well-wisher. With the ascent of the sun, the world arises too and acquires strength from it.

2004

The prologue of Kalidasa’s ‘Malavikagnimitram’ states the contradictions that are resolved in Shiva. ‘May the Lord, who although enjoys absolute sovereignty from which result blessings for his devotees, yet himself wears elephant hide; Who although is united in body with his beloved, yet excels the ascetics whose minds are free from pleasures of the sense; In whom there is no pride, although his eight-fold form sustains the universe; May he remove your state of ignorance, that you may behold the right way.’

2004

A tillana is an exciting musical genre that challenges both musician and dancer alike. Rhythmic passages in the composition are tightly framed to a particular structure. A line of sahitya affords a dedication of the composition to Sri Krishna.

2010

A medley of 3 tillanas composed by the maestro Sri Lalgudi G Jayaraman who requested that they be presented on the occasion of his 80th birthday in 2010. Till then, this had not been known to be done in dance.

2012

"Seek thou those lotus feet that grant creation, destruction and liberation. To the sound of the damaru in which creation occurred, he protects with his right hand; with the other he holds praise-worthy fire that destroys and lifts his left leg that hides the secret to moksha or liberation." An exploration of the well-known jatiswaram of Thanjai Naalvar.

2014

When Sri Krishna hears cries of distress from the village folk, he rushes to the river, fights with the venomous cobra-king Kalinga, vanquishes him and dances on his hood. The villagers celebrate Sri Krishna’s victory with song and dance.

2014

This padam captures the unadulterated love of a Mugdha nayika for Sri Krishna, whom she has never seen, only heard about.

2014

Sancharis that are typical of Varanasi, embellish this well-known Dikshitar kriti and bring to life his description of Ganga's descent at the request of an earthly King, after centuries of famine and death. Women draping the river goddess with yellow saris and setting lamps on it; cremations that liberate the souls of the deceased; the 'Ganga aarti', when at sundown all the temple bells ring at once…

2014

In this tillana, the seven notes sa ri ga ma pa dha ni are explored. The text also refers to the powerful mystic syllable 'Om'. The syllable 'ni' signifies the ultimate philosophical truth, namely the worship of Brahma, which is beyond form, shape, religion and which is only within oneself.

2014/15

A rare composition that describes the rapturous love of the mystic poet Andal for Maha Vishnu and her unbearable longing for union with her Lord.

2014/15

A devotee addresses Muruga, the beloved son of Shiva and Parvathi, beseeching the Lord to comfort and bless him.

2016

From Sufi fakirs in the North to Baul singers in Bengal to Sangam poetry and classical composers in the South – an ocean of poetry has been penned inspired by the river.

Nadi seeks to explore the love and longing, the physical changes and the deep philosophy that the river inspired through the voices of India’s poets over many centuries.

Nadi is a selection of poems from six Indian languages - Tamil, Sanskrit, Kannada, Urdu, Hindi and Bengali.

2017

Varnam 'Nadiyin Neeti' is written and composed especially for 'Nadi' by Rajkumar Bharathi in Tamil. It speaks of present day negligence of those same rivers about which our poets wrote with such beauty, and upon whose banks our country's history unfolded. We ask the question, "Why this arrogance? Why this indifference?"

2021

Appayar Dikshitar wrote this in praise of the common attributes of both Mahavishnu and Lord Shiva.