DANCE REVIEW : Mother, Daughter Explore Classical Idiom

Performing a mother-and-daughter program of South Indian classical dance on Sunday afternoon in a setting of silver birches from the ongoing Fountain Theatre staging of “The Sea Gull,” Viji and Mythili Prakash looked perfectly at home.

And why not? Key parts of the two great Hindu epics “Ramayana” and “Mahabharata” take place in forests, and the leafy environment at the Fountain provided an atmosphere and intimacy ideally suited to the artistic priorities of Bharata Natayam, one of the oldest classical idioms in India.

Even if the amplified live music boomed unnaturally, the intricacy of pure movement passages and the expressive detail of Bharata Natayam emerged at ideal scale in a program largely devoted to honoring the god Krishna.

In their duets of invocation and benediction, as well as an extended dual showcase of technique, the 11-year-old Mythili was cast as an equal to her mother--a mirror, in fact. Only her solo “Dance of Krishna” provided an outlet for childlike behavior in its gestural catalogue of pranks that the boy-god vows he’ll never, never do.

Even here, the dancer’s sly mock-swagger and other nuances created a distance between the brash child being depicted and the refined artist portraying him.

The solo “Ashta Nayika” gave Viji Prakash her greatest challenge of the afternoon, since it explored eight facets of Radha’s love for Krishna in episodes of dance-mime and also featured rhythmic pure-dance sequences too. Superbly vivid when looking stricken or sarcastic, she made even a petulant twitch of the nose into something of an event.

However, this Radha’s yearning for Krishna seemed almost wholly spiritual--a need for union with the divine rather than anything carnal--and Prakash’s extreme stylization (a quivering eyebrow here, a wide smile there) clashed with her realistic statements of the character’s other feelings.

Viji and Mythili Prakash are scheduled to repeat their program on Nov. 21 and Dec. 5.