Shaji K. John and Tishani Joshi in Sharira

Way back in the 1950s, Chandralekha, a disciple of renowned Bharatnatyam exponent Guru Kancheepuram Ellappa Pillai, started looking for new directions in the classical dance form. Unhappy with the sacred moorings and a strait-jacketed form, she invented a refreshingly bold style based on a firm grammatical foundation.

Her latest production Sharira mesmerised the audience at G.D. Birla Sabhagar on March 12. This 70 minute-production, featuring two immaculate dancers Shaji K John and Tishani Doshi, once again demonstrated the numerous forms of improvisations rooted in a traditional format.

With unbelievably supple and bold movements of kalarippayattu, symbolic rituals of hasta mudras and therapeutic yoga, the dancers explored the complexity of the human body, angika, the repository of both poetry and power. It was a celebration of sexuality, sensuality and spirituality ? all co-existing blurring the limits.

The most enjoyable and relaxing feature of this production was its unpretentious and unprejudiced perspective. It was sensuous but not obscene, acrobatic in nature but not merely a show of dispassionate gymnastics. The whole production was based on a firm conviction of the choreographer, reflected in every sequence. That was how it acquired a subtle refinement which made the production outstanding.

Vocal support from Gundecha brothers ? Umakant and Ramakant ? and Akhilesh on pakhawaj produced the right ambience that was powerful as well as artistic. The alaap on Behag and the soulful rendition of Bhairavi achieved a rare kind of harmony and understanding with the dancers who bloomed with the each note of the ragas. Jagata janani mata was an unique bandish in which the lyrics, melody, the gait of the raga along with stunningly abstract visual formations by the dancers complemented each other. The male dancer with firm physical structure performed martial movements with elan while the female dancer explored classical and modern forms with maximum utilisation of body language. The duo invoked the entire canvas of kalarippayattu and yoga implemented it with contemporary vocabulary. It was a passionate self-explanatory expression of the earthy, elemental or erotic.

Lights by Sadanada Menon was sheer poetry, as though caressing the artistes on the stage.