DANCE REVIEWS : ‘SHAKTI’ AT JAPAN AMERICA THEATRE

Unlike the cosmic creative force saluted in the title “Manifestations of Shakti,” the program Saturday at the Japan America Theatre really offered several earth-bound concepts masquerading as one:

--A dance concert in which long stretches of mime virtually obliterated dance altogether.

--An uneven student recital featuring 30 children, adolescents and adults from the local Shakti School of Bharata Natyam (the classical dance idiom of India).

--A trade-off by Viji Prakash between her proven artistry as a dancer and her ambitions to make her students a compelling performing ensemble. Prakash runs the Shakti School.

The program traced the evolution of the feminine force ( Shakti) from a formless, universal state to its embodiment in particular women. (The “women” were often little girls, who also impersonated men by wearing fake beards and mustaches.)

In “Hastinapura,” this evolution was run backward at fearful high speed: Gambled away by a weak-willed husband, Queen Draupadi (danced by Prakash) passed from humiliated, helpless woman to triumphant, God-supported destructive force.

Prakash performed this and other roles powerfully. But she didn’t appear often enough to distinguish the evening as a whole.

As a teacher, Prakash seemed intent on giving her students opportunities to perform publicly, whether ready or not. She choreographed respectable, stylish things for them at their various levels. But only a handful were of professional status or very interesting to non-specialists.

Their limitations hindered a further resolve--to advance the art of Bharata Natyam by no longer restricting it to performance by a solo dancer. Both aims were laudable, but they made the evening long and unsatisfying.