Bharatanatyam’s Marathi flavour

Sucheta Chapekar chose rare compositions by Raja Serfoji II for her performance to mark his 244th birth anniversary

Intriguing sollus and themes marked veteran artiste Sucheta Chapekar’s Bharatanatyam tribute to vaggeyakara Raja Serfoji II on his 244th birth anniversary. It is likely that the king’s Marathi dance compositions were for the pre-systematised court dance Sadir, that is, before the Thanjavur Quartet modified the training and repertoire.

This assumption was corroborated by Sucheta through her guru Parvati Kumar’s book Tanjavur Nritya Prabandha. She said that the brothers performed their arangetram in Raja Serfoji’s court, but matured as artistes in Raja Sivaji’s court. This explains the use of Nirupanas in Raja Serfoji’s compositions, a set of 18 pieces with the same theme and in the same raga. In 1968, under Parvati Kumar’s tutelage, Sucheta presented 18 of his compositions but taken from different Nirupanas.