Poetic Expressions

KOCHI: It is Vasantholsavam, the festival of spring. The whole Vrindhavan is filled with an air of zest. All the Gopikas are in a joyous state, except Radha. She desperately pines for Krishna and frenziedly contemplates her lonely state. Gopikas attempt to console her reminding her of Krishna’s position as the king of Dwaraka. Yet Radha falls into deep melancholy. The rapturous love of Radha towards Krishna and the nuances including love, despair, hope are the recurrent expressions of the dance recital,  Vasantholsavam, performed by yesteryear Kalathilakam, Soumya Satish.Soumya along with nine other dancers performed the dance recital based on Changampuzha Krishna Pillai’s famous poem Vasantholsavam at the Changampuzha Park recently as part of the Centenary celebrations of Changampuzha.Says Soumya, “My dance recital was an attempt to give expressions to Changampuzha’s famous poem, which is incidentally one of my favourites. The dance was choreographed taking selected lines from the poem. I chose lines which have ample scope for expressions, and which I could improvise on.” The music has been composed by Murali Menon and both him and his wife, Manju Menon have lent their voices .”“Every poem cannot be composed as a dance. I selected Vasantholsolsavam for it is a melange of several expressions. Being a ‘Krishna bhaktha’, I was enamoured by the Bhakthi rasa in the lyrics. Giving a dance based performance on poems is not an easy task. We have an additional responsibility of doing justice to the poem which has already been there in the minds of the audience, she adds.Since the whole appeal of the dance is distinctive, traditional costumes are not used. Soumya and the other dancers used the simple costumes of cow herding maidens.Soumya gave her first performance of this nature last January. She choreographed and performed poet Sugathakumari’s ‘Krishna nee ennae ariyilla’ as part of the International Book Festival. It was well-received and she performed it at several other events. Soumya also had the privilege of having Sugathakumari as her audience, who after the performance embraced her with affection, she remembers fondly.The veteran artiste has been in the dance circuit for long, being the state winner of Mohiniyattom in 1988 School Youth Festival and the State Kalathilakam in 1990. Her father, Unni Mannanoor, a radio artist, was an ardent film buff who acted in films like ‘Chinthavishtayaya Shyamala’. The interest rubbed off on Soumya as well and she acted  in two films, ‘Nivedyam’, as late Bharat Gopi’s wife and ‘Sultan’. “But dance has always been my first priority,” she says. She left for Dubai with her husband after marriage and started teaching dance there. But her passion for stage beckoned her to come back and family now is settled at Elamakkara. She teaches dance at ‘Bharata Kalamandir’, one of the prominent dance schools of Kochi, which has nearly 300 students.Soumya who was a judge on ‘Star Wars’ on Kairali TV says reality shows in general tend to have an adverse effect on budding artists. “During my school and college days, the scenario was different. Actor Vineeth was my senior. Several others who competed with me in school and college festivals are now famous. It seems like we were more diligent. How we wished to see our names or photos appear in  newspaper! But now the whole scene has changed. Participants on reality show get their share of limelight, but it is the kind of fame that is extremely transient.”The talented danseuse has also made her appearance in ads like Geeri Pai, Chavara matrimonial and a few others.