Raw Mango Baithak in Hyderabad featured the dazzling Navarasa: Expressions of Life, a Bharatanatyam dance ballet by Dr. Ananda Shankar Jayant, writes Anna Rao Gangavalli
Raw Mango, Tyaani Jewellery, India Art Fair, and Architectural Digest hosted an elegant Baithak over the weekend, showcasing “Navarasa: Expressions of Life”, a Bharatanatyam ballet conceptualized and choreographed by Padma Shri Dr. Ananda Shankar Jayant. The performance was a multisensory experience that beautifully captured the depth and diversity of human emotions.
The 45-minute ballet revolved around the nine essential emotions (rasas) that define Indian aesthetics, dramaturgy, and personal expression. Moving beyond conventional narrative storytelling, Ananda explored these emotions through the grammar of Bharatanatyam, body kinetics, and the color palette prescribed by the Natya Shastra. The result was an abstract yet evocative exploration of the nine rasas.
Dressed in a simple orange-bordered white aharya, Ananda allowed the play of light and color to take center stage. Lighting designer Surya Rao skillfully used colored beams to highlight each emotion, creating a fluid and immersive visual narrative. The intimate setup in the backyard of the Raw Mango Designer Showroom at Banjara Hills added to the charm, transforming the space into a vibrant stage of expression.
Each of the nine emotions—anger, fear, wonder, disgust, valor, grief, humor, love, and peace—was brought to life through precise mukha abhinaya (facial expression), angika abhinaya (body movement), and nritta (pure dance). Presenting such abstract emotions through movement and rhythm alone, without lyrics, demanded exceptional internalization and mastery. Dr. Ananda and her disciples achieved this with grace, invoking true rasanubhuti (emotional experience) in the audience.
In a delightful creative touch, Ananda incorporated sarees in colors corresponding to each rasa—red, black, yellow, blue, orange, grey, white, green, and translucent—symbolizing the mood of each segment. Roudra reflected fiery rage, bhayanaka expressed helpless fear, adbhuta conveyed astonishment, bibhatsa portrayed revulsion, veera evoked bravery, karuna resonated with sorrow, hasya radiated laughter, shringara embodied love, and shanta culminated in serene calm and fulfillment.
Each segment seamlessly blended emotion, rhythm, and form into a concentrated natya experience. The ensemble featured Dr. Ananda Shankar and her talented disciples—Sneha Magapu, Poojitha Namburi, Neha Sathanapalli, Srividya Sripathi, and Sreenidhi Ramaswamy. The soulful music, composed by Prema Ramamurthy, was set in diverse raagas matching each emotion.
The audience, dressed in white, sat spellbound as one emotion melted into another—sometimes contrasting, sometimes harmonizing—creating a truly enriching and unforgettable evening of dance, art, and emotion at the Raw Mango Baithak
