Vidyalatha Jeerage
Bharatanatyam Performer, Choreographer & Teacher
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Performance Description
Pushpanjali
Raga: kadyoth kanthi
Talam: Adi
Choreography: Vidyalatha Jeerage
The dancer begins her margam with pushpanjali as she creates a connection with her guru, musicians, audience, and the deity himself to give her a blessing to be able to complete the entire margam.
Gambheera Gananayakam
Raga: Gambhiranata
Talam: Adi
Composer: Madurai G.S. Mani
Choreography: Vidyalatha Jeerage
This item is a hymn, a song in praise of the elephant headed God, Lord Ganesha. In this song, the devotee seeks blessings of Gananayaka who has one tusk, rides a mouse, and carries a modaka in his hand. He is the one who gets rid of all the obstacles and we all bow down to him.
Mishra Jatiswaram
Raga: Ragamalika
Talam: Mishra chapu
Composer: Tanjore Quartet
Choreography: Smt. Rukmini Devi Arundale
Jathiswaram is a dance that showcases a dancer’s rhythmic ability. Dancers preform a series of adavus beautifully combined to a musical composition. This Jathiswaram is performed to a combination of swaras all set to raga kalyani, begada, atana, thodi, and surutti
Shringa Puradeeshwari Sharade
Raga: kalyani
Talam: Adi
Composer: Padmacharan AV Krishnamachariar
Choreography: Vidyalatha Jeerage
In this item, the composer speaks about the beauty and grace of Godess Saraswathi. The shloka describes Goddess Sraswathi’s necklace that is as bright as the moon, who is dressed in white clothes, and who is seated on a white lotus. She holds a veena and is worshipped by Bramha, Vishnu, and Shiva. Goddess Saraswathi is the one who removes all the darkness and ignorance and blesses her devotees.
Varnam
Raga: Mohana
Talam: Adi
Composer: Balasubramanya Sharma
Choreography: Vidyalatha Jeerage
Varnam is the the center piece of a dancer’s margam. It includes a wide variety of steps that requires the dancer to master the nritya and natya of dance. This varnam also includes three sancharis (naration), the first depicting how Ganesha received the head of an elephant. Lord Shiva kills his own son and with immediate regret, he finds a replacement for Ganesha’s head which comes to be the head of an elephant.
The second sanchari describes how Muruga was born. Lord Shiva created six sparks out of his third eye that Agni brought to a lake called Saravana. Immediately, the sparks turned into six babies when they were placed on a lotus in the lake. However, the babies were not raised by Goddess Parvati and Lord Shiva, they were nursed and raised by six kannikas. When the babies grew a little older, Goddess Parvati came to take them and she merged all the babies together so that Lord Muruga came to be with six heads.
The last sanchari portrays why Ganga came to earth and how Lord Shiva took control of her and let her water flow from Lord Shiva’s hair. The story goes that Bhagiratha prayed for Ganga to come down to Earth and liberate the souls of his ancestors by just the touch of Ganga’s waters. Bhagiratha prays and prays and soon Lord Bramha, Ganga’s father, calls Ganga down to earth so that everyone can achieve mukthi. As Ganga is coming down to Earth, she splashes down ferciously, showing off all her powers. Bhagiratha witnessing this, is left frightened and prays for Lord Shiva so that he will be able to stop Ganga. Lord Shiva becomes angry with Ganga and catches her, then ties her to the top of his head, letting her waters gracefully flow through his hair and onto Earth.
Sreevalli Deva Senapati
Raga: Nata Bhairavi
Talam: Adi
Composer: Papanasam Sivan
Choreography: Vidyalatha Jeerage
The song pays salutations to lord subhramanya swami, who is consort of valli and devasena, son of Lord Shiva, who flies on a peacock and blesses all his devotees.
Ee Pariya Sobagu - Devaranama
Raga: Hamsanandi
Talam: Jhampe
Composer: Shree Purandara Dasaru
Choreography: Vidyalatha Jeerage
In this composition, the composer describes Krishna and emphasizes how there is no other being in the universe as beautiful as him. He is the lord of Goddess earth, a supreme ruler, Lord of Lakshmi, and hence, his richness is limitless. He is creator of Bramha and a supreme Guru. Krishna’s vehicle is Garuda and he reclines on adisesha. Vedas can only comprehen. Are other deities so fortunate?
Thillana
Raga: Valachi
Talam: Adi
Composer: Dwarki Krishnaswami
Choreography: Guru Smt. Narmada
Thillana is the final item in a Bharatanatyam arangetram showcasing the brisk and lively movements the dancer has mastered through practice. Thillana is predominantly nritta and has a few lines of sahithyam in the charanam, as it is composed of a variety of fast beat steps and adavus.
Mangalam
Raga: Madhyamavati
Talam: Adi
Composer: Shree Purandara Dasaru
Choreography: Vidyalatha Jeerage
Mangalam is a short composition to conclude the Margam. The dancer greatly thanks the audience, musicians, her guru, and the Deity for blessing her with a successful conclusion to the event.