A fragrant garland of Pallavis - Dr. Sunil Kothari

Watching five pallavis in different ragas, of legendary gurus like Deba Prasad Das, Pankaj Charan Das, Kelucharan Mohapatra and the younger gurus like Durgacharan Ranbir and Gajendra Panda, by disciples of Deba Prasad Das was an exhilarating experience at Panggung Exsperimen Theatre, University of Malaya, on 7th September 2012, as a part of Ramli Ibrahim’s Sutra Foundation’s Tarikan Dance Festival 2012.

Like a jeweler, RamIi has redesigned these pallavis with imagination investing them with newness and arresting beauty. These are rearranged for group composition by Guna and Ramli and they capture the attention of the audiences the moment the very first strain of musical instruments is heard. Sivarajah Natarajan’s set design, with back drop of patterned flowers and  arches, reminding one of the arch of Rani Gumpha cave sculpture, and exquisite, at times diffused and at times effulgent, lighting of various hues and colours, evoking different moods, and in consonance with music and movements takes one’s breath away. There is such wonderful rapport among the choreographers, the dancers and the lights designer, built over many years that the entire production from the word go to the end, mesmerizes the onlookers. 

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