How perfect eye movements and expressions can elevate a dance performance

A dance recital themed on eyes

The famous Sanskrit shloka ‘Yato hasto tato drishtih, Yato drishtih tato manah/ Yato manstato bhao, yato bhavo tatah rasah’ from the treatise Abhinaya Darpana means, ‘Where the hands go, the eyes should follow, Where the eyes go, the mind should follow, Where the mind goes, the emotion or rasa is generated.’

‘Nayanam’, the solo Bharatanatyam recital by Apeksha Niranjan presented at the Stein auditorium of the Habitat Centre in Delhi recently, conveyed the essence of this shloka as she expressed various bhavas through her eyes.

A disciple of senior Bharatanatyam dancer and teacher Sucheta Chapekar and Alka Lajmi, Apeksha, who is also a Marathi actor, is the founder-director of Nrityanjali Performing Arts. Her expressive face, seamless movements and  sculpturesque stances lent to the appeal of her performance.

The core of ‘Nayanam’, her theme-based recital, was that the entire Bharatanatyam margam is based on ‘nayan’ (eyes), right from the opening Alarippu that invoked the trinayan Shambho (Shiva with three eyes), jagat janani Meenakshi (the goddess with fish-like eyes), and kamal nayan (one whose eyes are like the lotus) Padmanabha. This was set to Misra Chapu tala and was choreographed by Apeksha herself.

‘Krishna Kauthuvam next, based on the Marathi song ‘Mi Krishna pahila’ was about the beauty of Krishna and his lovely eyes admired by the gopis. This was choreographed by her guru Sucheta Chapekar. 

‘Varnam’, the central piece of the recital, was based here on Soundarya Lahari ‘Shive shringara radhra ’, where Apeksha emoted various emotions reflecting in the eyes of Parvati, like the Shringar bhava when she looks at Shiva, ‘Sarosha gangayah’ anger when she sees Ganga sitting in Shiva’s matted locks, fear when she is scared of the snakes around Shiva’s neck and finally praying for Karuna or compassion in the eyes of Devi, who is like a mother, ‘Dehi mayi janani drishtih sakaruna’. Choreographed by Apeksha, it was composed by Smita Mahajan in raga Bihag with jatis by Venkatesha. The main raga Bihag changed as a Ragamalika of different ragas such as Malkauns, Kalawati and Hindol according to the changing emotions.

Erasing geographical and cultural borders, Apeksha, who earlier had incorporated Gregorian chants (sung in Roman Catholic churches in Europe) into her Bharatnatyam recital, included Polish folk music that evening in her performance. The song from Lubiena was sung on a lilting rhythmic gait, similar to Dadra taal of Hindustani music. Composed by Odmienciese Kapela group of Polish folk musicians, the song was about the ritual of stealing the bridegroom’s shoes like it happens in North Indian weddings.