What happens when a lyricist, a musician and a dancer meet on the stage? It is, no doubt -- 'Kavithai - Sangeetham - Nrityam'. And that is what happened, when poet-scholar Pappu Venugopala Rao, vocalist O.S. Arun and Bharatanatyam dancer Kanaka Srinivasan of Delhi appeared on stage at the Kasturi Srinivasan Hall of the Music Academy recently.

Arun had sung for Kanaka's Bharatanatyam recitals when he was based in Delhi. "It is after nearly 18 years that I am now singing for her!" announced the singer.

What made the programme quite innovative was that Pappu Venugopala Rao composed and recited a poem, line by line, on the stage and Arun wrote it down simultaneously. Kanaka was just listening and nodding her head, to show that she was internalising the lyrics and choreographing the piece in her mind.

Venugopala Rao's opening song was 'Sri Krishna Maadhava...', in Sanskrit. As the poet was reciting, Arun got the clue that the lyrics were almost similar to a sloka and chose ragam Hamir Kalyani to tune the lines. Kanaka instantly started dancing as Arun began singing. It was more of abhinaya than nritya, and Kanaka chose to do a brief sanchari for the lines 'bhakta bandhava' depicting the story of Gajendra Moksham.

The second piece was in Tamil and was penned by Kruthiya of `Sahana' fame, a young lyricist who has written songs for many TV serials. His poem 'Neela mayilin thogai poley, imaigal tudikkuthadi' was naturally tuned by Arun in ragam Shanmukhapriya, as the song was on Lord Muruga. This was, of course, not a challenge to Kanaka who has danced several such pieces in her performances.

The third song was set by Pappu on stage in sringara bhava 'Prema maargamulo' in Telugu and O.S. Arun chose raga Madhuvanti to render it for Kanaka to dance. When asked about the choice of this raga, Arun said, "The lyrics are similar to the lines of a ghazal and I had no hesitation in tuning it in Madhuvanti". Kanaka's improvisation for each line of the song was quite imaginative.

The fourth song was in Hindi. And this was penned by S. Janaki (of 'Sruti' magazine), who also recited it and explained the meaning. The lyrics dealt with human relationships and the poem was instantly tuned by Arun in Misra Jog, to be danced by Kanaka.

The performance also featured a pushpanjali and a sloka from the Natya Sastra, and the popular 'Bho Sambho'.

It was interesting to watch the artistes in action, who came together on stage without any rehearsals. Surely, rasikas may welcome such programmes in which the presenters make efforts to provide a whiff of fresh air.

The show was organised by O.S. Arun's Alapana Trust, Chennai and Kanaka Srinivasan's Nrithya Ranjani, Delhi.