N K Mudgal is a senior dance and music critic. He used to contribute his stories of Hindustan Times and other leading national dailies.

The three danseuses who presented the ‘Dance Confluence’ at the NDMC’s open air stage at the Talkatora Gardens on April 22 brought about a virtual choreographic coup with their spectacular dance compositions and scintillating performances. The threesome – Kavita Dwibedi, Rama Vaidyanathan and Veronique Azan are today among the top young dancers in their respective styles – Odissi, Bharatnatyam and Kathak.

But it was their combined vision of the confluence of their styles which opened a new chapter in the fusion of classical dance styles. They presented two group compositions and two other items which provided them the scope for individual performance, too. The presentation had its premier at Talaga Ja-rada, a hamlet in Gujarat and renowned Ram Katha exponent Morari Bapu’s native place on the occasion of the Hanuman Jayanti in April.. This annual event featuring a three day cultural fest is witnessed by the strangest mix of viewers consisting of foreign devotees, urban people from India, the NRIs and the rural folk from the coastal region of Gujarat.

The most remarkable thing about the group compositions was that the three styles merged with one another visually and thematically as never seen before. The Hanumatpanchratnam had powerful cameos of Hanuman’s burning of Lanka. His flight over the sea and his tearing of his chest to show Sita that the images of Rama and herself were embedded there in his heart. Kavita Dwibedi's expression of the Raudra was unique and vibrating.

The trio took a Tulsidas ‘pada’ to make it the vehicle of the nayikabheda and delineated the mental status of three nayikas, the vasaksajja, the vipralabdha and the khandita to showcase their expressional talents with a psychological insight.

The ‘Nrityasiddhanta’ depicting the three aspects of Shiva had Rama Vaidyanathan doing the Anand Natanam with a superb display of her sculpturesquely carved movements. Kavita Dwibedi showed that she can depict the ‘raudra’ as well as the languorously graceful lasya movements. Veronique in her turn did some justice in doing Shiva movements. Her best came in the nuances of Vasakasajja. Veronique’s pure dance was exhilarating.

The trio had the support of a competent orchestra. The three percussionists, S. Srinivasan on the Mridangam, Ambika Prasad Misra on Tabla and Shashi Shekhar on the Pakhawaj co-ordinated with one another and the dancers. The violinist and the flautist Durga Prasad and Vinay Prasanna also did well and the Vocalist, Vidya Srinivasan really excelled in all that she sang but her rendition of the Tulsidas ‘pada’ in maand was hauntingly melodious.