The most scintillating piece of the evening was the Tanjore Quartet varnam in Tamil, ‘Sarasa ninnai maravammal maiyyal ahinaine’ in Karnataka Kapi ragam, Rupaka talam, where the nayika declares her love for Lord Sundaresa, and begs for his attention. The nayika going into the temple and being mesmerised by the magnificence of the idol was portrayed with simplicity, as was the longing of the lovelorn woman. However, it was the nritta that caught the eye. Meenakshi is treading a new path where she has made minor changes to the original sollus of the Pandanallur tradition to make them racier and lengthier theermanams. The reworked version is perhaps more in tune with today’s expectations, with more ‘spark’ as people may say. Besides this, the adavus too have undergone changes, with movements more linear in nature. Lighting quick pirouettes have also been introduced…. Meenakshi has almost turned her style inside out-Is it a good thing or not? Do we lament the dying tradition or do we accept change as inevitable?

The excitement of the dancer spilled over into the abhinaya section where the Sahana padam, ‘Choodare’ and the Poorvikalyani javali, ‘Nee matale mayanura’ were dealt with effortlessly. An extract taken from the Sangam literature, translated by Gnanakoothan, regarding a casual banter between a cowherd and a young woman turned out to be a musical treatise composed by Pandanallur Srinivasa Pillai in Ragamalika, Adi talam. Many emotions flit through the young woman like surprise, annoyance, outrage, sarcasm, finally leading to ‘sringaram.’ It was well narrated and delineated, though at times a bit too literally.

The seasoned orchestra was led by the skilled nattuvanar Pandanallur Pandian, ably supported by Shakthivel on the mridangam. Radha Badri sang well, while Kalaiarasan on the violin was melody personified especially in the Malayamarutham delineation during the interlude.