Abhinaya is often spoken of as expression, but in Abhinayam, Bharatanatyam exponent Vidhya Subramanian asks us to linger longer with that expression, to let it travel, soften, and deepen. Nayam, after all, speaks of elegance, grace, and refinement, qualities that stay with you for long.
Set to unfold as a moonlit performance, this is an evening designed of conversations between dancer and musician, performer and spectator, and character and self.
Vidhya has conceived the performance as a series of paired compositions, each duo linked by an emotional or philosophical thread. “These pairs are related to each other in some way,” she explains. Vidhya also introduces spoken word, an imagined English conversation between Draupadi, Sita, and Radha, drawn from her earlier work Still I Rise, paired with a traditional Kshetriya padam. “It’s a subversion,” she says, “a seemingly modern conversation placed against something deeply classical.”
Vocalist Adithya Narayanan sees this layering as central to the work’s philosophy. “Even within the compositions, there are conversations, between mythic voices, between sound and silence, between what is spoken and what is carried underneath.”
The evening also moves through contemporary resonances, including a Perumal Murugan poem reinterpreted to evoke parental anguish, and a Tamil film song by MS Viswanathan that asks what happens when a lost child is returned years later. “There is joy in reunion,” Adithya reflects, “but trauma doesn’t simply disappear. That emotional residue is something we are trying to convey musically as well.”
Vidhya calls the journey “an emotional rollercoaster,” adding, “but there are light-hearted moments too, javalis, gossip, humour, the entire gamut of human emotion.”
What makes Abhinayam especially compelling is its organic collaboration with musicians Adithya Narayanan, Praveen Sparsh, and Sruti Sarath, all concert musicians rather than typical dance accompanists. “Carnatic musicians and dancers often exist in silos,” Vidhya notes. “Here, I wanted an artistic conversation.”
That conversation is largely instinctive. “It’s not a highly rehearsed performance,” she says. “We met a couple of times, and when Adithya sang, I danced; that’s all. We didn’t discuss counts or sangatis.”
As for what audiences take home, neither dancer nor musician offers prescriptions. “I only play 50 per cent of the role,” Vidhya says. “The rest belongs to the audience.” Adithya agrees, urging viewers to arrive without expectations. “Come with an open mind, or better still, a blank slate. Be consciously present.”
₹350. On February 8. From 5.30 pm to 7 pm. At Art on the Terrace, Besant Nagar.
Email: shivani@newindianexpress.com
X: @ShivaniIllakiya
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