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PAPER: 3
Detail Study Of Bharatanatyam, Devadasis-Natuvnar, Nritya And
Nritta, Different Bani-s, Present Status, Institutions, Artists
Module 32 Bharatanatyam In Diaspora
Bharatanatyam and the diaspora has happened. Diaspora happens
when a large body of immigrants settles down in an adopted country
and slowly its culture and traditions get established and passed on to
its next generation. Many Indians settled abroad since long but in big
continents like USA, Europe and other smaller parts near east, the
third generation Indians are economically settled and no more
struggling. These societies now take pride in their culture and thus
wish to learn, project, platform traditional arts and teach to their
offspring.
Much more movement is also happening from India worldwide so
lots more people travel now more easily. Earlier only a few privileged
could go, now many do frequently. This has also led to greater
exchange of culture and its practices.
No doubt, it was pioneering foreigners from Europe and USA who
opened our eyes to Indian dances. It was in 1920s great many dance
names like Anna Pavlova, Ruth St Denis, Ted Shawn, La Meri, Louise
Lightfoot came to India and thus made Indian dances popular in their
countries. They created an air, a market/environment as it were,
followed by Indians like Ram Gopal, Uday Shankar, Ananda Shivaram,
Gopinath and others going out to showcase Indian dances.
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Like Isadora Duncan, who preceded her, Ruth St. Denis was a
revolutionary artiste who felt the need to break from the limitations
of ballet. Knowing full well that the western mind could not
assimilate the content of these dances of the East, with their
gestures and movements that have come down through long
generations as symbols of faith and legend, she made no attempt to
reproduce them. Her aim was to give a fair and beautiful translation
that would help American and European dance audiences come
closer to Oriental cultures. In that she proved to be catalyst. Her
many dances with Indian themes like 'Radha / राधा,' 'Incense,' 'Cobra,'
'Nautch Dance' made many come closer to things Indian and Ted
Shawn was drawn to her art and her. The two got
married. Denishawn the dance school and the dance company was
born! Denishawn toured until 1932 during which time they trained
countless dancers. The most memorable tour from Indian dance
history point of view was in 1925 when the company landed in India
at Calcutta.1
In Calcutta, Denishwan performed at the Empire Theatre. Two of her
favorite items Ruth had included in her tour repertoire were 'Nautch
Dance' and 'Dance of The Black and Gold Sari'. The two items proved
to be most smashing not only in Calcutta but wherever the company
performed. In the south, they extended their trip to include
Madurai, where they marveled at the felicity of the celebrated
devadasi Kamalamba. In Madras, on seeing Mahabalipuram, Ted was
inspired to compose the Dance of Siva for which he got made a huge
brass of ring of Shiva's fire made in metal by a Calcutta foundry, at
center of which he stood himself and danced as Shiva Nataraja! Their
tour of India gave them many insights into India and wherever they
went they opened the eyes of Indians to beauty and greatness of
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Indian dances neglected under long colonial rule. 2
On the tenth anniversary of her joining the Marinsky, Anna Pavlova
appeared as the lead dancer in a new ballet La Bayadere. This is
based on the life of a devadasi who is loved by a Hindu priest but she
loves a gallant in the local raja's service. Pavlova’s involvement with
India started from this time. On her very first visit to India in 1922,
the lasting impressions Pavlova carried of her visit was of the Ajanta
frescoes. In London, her staff choreographer Ivan Clustine created a
ballet called Ajanta Frescoes but the effort remained amateurish, for
Clustine had never seen the frescoes nor had any idea of Indian
dancing. In India, Pavlova had occasion to attend a wedding, and
now her attention turned to producing a ballet on this. Commalata
Bannerjee was commissioned to devise the music for the ballet titled
A Hindu Wedding. But Pavlova made a greater contribution than this.
She was advised of a young Indian boy who was in London studying
painting who also dabbled in dance and who might prove of help to
Pavlova in designing the ballet. Thus Anna Pavlova discovered Uday
Shankar as a dancer, for he not only designed but choreographed A
Hindu Wedding. He also choreographed ‘Krishna and Radha’ in which
Pavlova invited him to partner her on stage. Thus, India's greatest
genius in dance was born. 3
In 1929, Pavlova was going to Australia via India and Java. A young
bride Rukmini Devi Arundale with her husband George Arundale was
aboard the ship. Their cabin was opposite Pavlova’s and one thing
led to another and Pavlova’s staff choreographer Cleo Nordi inspired
Rukmini to learn ballet while on the long journey. Later, Rukmini Devi
not only helped reinstate Bharatanatyam, but also set up an
institution Kalakshetra, for its teaching.
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Arriving in India in the late 1940s, Nala Najan immersed himself
whole-heartedly in learning Bharatanatyam. Like all others of his
time, he based himself in Madras and later after his guru
Kattumannar Muthukumara Pillai left Madras for his native place, he
decided to follow him to Chidambaram. Back in New York, Nala
started dancing but several factors made him not succeed. First, men
dancing those days were an oddity, even in New York of the 50s.
Two, opportunities for "Hindu" dances were few. He survived in the
sixties, helping Ted Shawn and Sol Hurok organise tours of visiting
Indian artistes. His official debut took place on February 12, 1960 in
New York City. The famous critic Walter Terry wrote in the New York
Herald Tribune: “Nala Najan, an American youth who ran off to India
to study firsthand the ancient classical dances, made his formal
debut… the auditorium was jammed. The program included cool
classicism of Bharatanatyam....a highly auspicious debut.” Nala Najan
was instrumental in the Seraikella Chhau dancers touring the USA,
with Nala himself providing expert introductions. He was the first
promoter of the form and enlisted Sol Hurok no less, as impresario to
help the form reach many in the USA. His introductions and
commentary on each dance form was very useful because way back
then Indian dances were not well known and clubbed with Oriental
or Hindu dances. It can be said that Nala Najan put India on the
world dance map in USA.4
But for these foreign dancers who came all through the early 20th
century, savored and saved some of our own traditions, we may not
have had a Ram Gopal, discovered by American ethnic dancer La
Meri, or yet another American dancer Ragini Devi who discovered
Gopinath. Australian Louise Lightfoot came and discovered Ananda
Shivaram and many such later examples abound. Writers like Beryl
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de Zoete (Dutch) and Travernier (French) wrote extensively on
dancing in India. In the decade after this, the slow and steady revival
of Indian dance traditions started and the above foreigners deserve
credit for showcasing Indian dances worldwide, thereby creating not
only an interest (and a market) abroad but also open the eyes of
Indians to their own traditions. While Indian dances have reached
out to most corners of the world now, thanks also to Indian diaspora,
the original catalysts were a few pioneering foreigners and
traditional gurus who inspired many Indians to re-look at their own
dance traditions. They played a significant role in shaping the
fortunes of Indian dances.5
Thus, what started in 1920s has come a full circle now as we are
approaching 2020s! Many Indian dance schools teaching
Bharatanatyam have opened in many parts of world and both
Indians and foreigners partake of it. In USA alone, there must be
over 500 schools, coast to coast.
In the passion for re-discovery of our cultural identity during the
Nationalist movement in India, Bharatanatyam like all other dance
forms, received a new thrust, its revival characterised by a sea
change in dancers and art context. The hitherto guarded privacy of a
tradition nurtured within a community was suddenly full of persons
from non-traditional backgrounds practicing the art form, with the
hapless devadasi sinking into oblivion, except for the inimitable
Balasaraswati, an exception even amongst the devadasis. As art
training institutions proliferated and the dance spread, the
Bharatanatyam dancer in a euphoric post- Independent India
acquired the status of a cultural ambassador, the art form and
practitioners becoming unofficial diplomatic symbols as one of the
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best embodiments of Indian culture. An organization like the Indian
Council for Cultural Relations was soon created to function as the
cultural arm of the diplomatic corps.6
It was not long before Bharatanatyam dancers as wives of doctors
and engineers serving abroad, cautiously ventured into starting
Bharatanatyam teaching classes in basements. The dance became for
the diaspora, a means of retaining connection with one’s Indianness
while functioning far from home, and also an expression reinforcing
and asserting one's separate ethnic identity, while remaining part of
a larger multi-cultural society. Not by any means part of mainstream
art, Bharatanatyam nevertheless has acquired over the years a more
visible presence and in countries like the United States, and the U.K.
the diaspora is now confident enough to no longer look to India for
leads and legitimacy. The dancers here now are crying to be
recognized in their own right.7
Two conferences held in the United States at Houston and at Chicago
on ‘Indian Dance in the Diaspora’ (September 1-3) and
‘Bharatanatyam in the Diaspora’ (September 6-9, 2001) respectively,
were proof of the more assertive Indian dance presence. While the
first of these events was mounted by Samskriti, under the guidance
of dancer Rathna Kumar, the Chicago conference was presented by
Natya Dance Theatre run by Hema Rajagopalan, ably assisted by her
daughter and disciple Krithika Rajagopalan, in conjunction with
Columbia College, Chicago. The scene in the States today is a far cry
from the days when a Ragini Devi (mother of late Indrani Rehman)
who nurtured an inner conviction of having been an Indian in her
previous birth, began learning Bharatanatyam from Gauri Amma of
Chennai and Jetti Tayamma of Karnataka. Sukanya the daughter of
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Indrani, one of the panelists in the Chicago conference, recounted
how her grandmother had happened to stumble on the Natya
Shastra in 1928. She even subsequently authored a book on Indian
classical dances. When Ragini Devi returned to her homeland
America, it was to see modern dancer Ruth St. Denis creating,
through her imagination, dance images of an India she had never
visited, though she did travel to this country much later in life. Ragini
Devi, in the attempt to make what she had learned in India
communicate to the western audience at home, even set
Bharatanatyam movements to western music. The western world
was to be soon treated to excellence in Bharatnatyam through
dancers like Ram Gopal, Shanta Rao and later the great
Balasaraswati. In Canada and in the UK, Indian classical dance has
made more headway it would seem with both Kathak and
Bharatanatyam becoming part of the educational curriculum.8
In Europe, France remains number one for learning and teaching
Bharatanatyam followed by UK and others. The French have taken to
Bharatanatyam and Carnatic music like fish to water. For 35 years,
Guru M.K. Saroja went to Paris each year and trained over 300
students, of whom Vidya now heads Mandapa’s Bharatanatyam
section. Dominique Delorme, Shakuntala, Malavika, Amala Devi,
Manochaya are famed performers / teachers in France.
Germany has Arup Ghosh in Munich, Alexandra Romanova, Angelika
Sriram, Katja-Shivani, Margit Kuffemann and Rajyashree Ramesh. In
UK many dancers have settled and continue to teach like Pushkala
Gopal, Usha Raghavan, Geetha Upadhyaya, Anusha Subramanyam,
Chitra Sundaram, Chitralekha Bolar, Geeta Sridar, Deepa Ganesh,
Nina Rajarani, Chamundeeswari Kuppuswamy etc. Institutions like
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Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and Universities like Roehampton teach
Bharatanatyam which is even included in school syllabus. Mavin
Khoo, Mayuri Bonham, Seeta Patel are some prominent dancers of
Bharatanatyam.
The presence of Bharatanatyam dance classes at several major
London Tamil temples signifies a new link between the dance and
religious ritual and religious expression in the contemporary diaspora
setting. It also signifies the increased importance assigned to the
dissemination of dancing within religious practice. Bharatanatyam is
currently being promoted as an important subject for study in three
of the main London Tamil temples. Many community elders, dance
teachers, temple devotees, and religious leaders consider it to be
relevant to religious festivals in several other Tamil temples where
performances by teachers, professionals, and students can be seen.
It is taught at most of the Tamil Saturday and Sunday schools, some
of which have significant links with the LTTE (of Srilanka).9
Toronto saw its first Bharatanatyam School in 1975 with the opening
of Menaka Thakkar’s Nrtyakala. Lata Pada founded Sampradaya in
1990 in Mississauga. Trained in Thanjavur style of Bharatanatyam,
she and her dance company present Bharatanatyam and
contemporary works. Sudha Khandwani opened her Kalanidhi Fine
Arts of Canada in 1992. Her notable contribution to the diaspora is
by way of conferences and international festivals. Hari Krishnan,
artistic director of dance, is known equally for his traditional
Bharatanatyam as well as his contemporary works. Jhanak Khendry’s
Bharatanatyam started in 1955 in Chidambaram and later in
Kattumanarkoil under Guru Muthukumara Pillai, in Hyderabad with
T.K. Narayan. In 1968 he met U.S. Krishna Rao and Chandrabhaga
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Devi of Bangalore in New York City, who gave him the best of the
Pandanallur tradition for the next thirty years. Jhanak Khendry Dance
Company started in 1978 in New York and registered in Canada in
1981. In Montreal, Mamata Niyogi-Nakra, a disciple of U.S. Krishna
Rao and Chandrabhaga Devi, has been teaching the Pandanallur style
she imbibed from her gurus through her institution Kala Bharati that
she founded in 1981. In Vancouver, Canadian dancer Jai Govinda
(real name is Benoit Villeneuve) is carrying on the good work with his
Mandala Arts and Culture. Established in 1994, the academy
specializes in Bharatanatyam and is recognized by Heritage Canada
for its excellence in teaching. Balasaraswati’s disciple Priyamvada
Sankar and her Sankar's School of Bharatanatyam and Vasantha
Krishnan’s Nrithyalaya Foundation are both based in Quebec.
Universities are also proving to be important resource centres and
learning curves, especially with established dancers settled and
teaching there like Anne Marie Gaston in Canada, Lata Pada, Hari
Krishan, Devesh Soneji - all in Canada. In USA, there is east coast with
NYC Tisha School where many like Avanthi Meduri got her doctorate
on Bharatanatyam. Rachel Mattson did her doctorate basing on
Hindu concept of case of Ragini Devi, Indrani Rahman’s mother.
Many more studies are coming out of Columbia, Chicago (Hema
Rajagopalan, Parijata Hombal Verghese) and on the West coast with
Judy Mitoma at UCLA.
Prominent Bharatanatyam schools in the USA to name a few are
Rangoli Foundation for Art & Culture (Malathi Iyengar, CA), Arpana
School of Dance (Ramya Harishankar, CA), Lasya Dance Company
(Vidhya Subramanian, CA), Abhinaya Dance Company (Mythili
Kumar, CA), Natya Dance Theatre (Hema Rajagopalan, IL), Nrityanjali
(Jothi Raghavan, MA), Nritya Sudha's Hindu Temple Rhythms (Sudha
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Chandra Sekhar, MI), Soorya Dance Company (Prasanna Kasthuri,
MO), Nrithyanjali Institute of Dance (Ramya Ramnarayan, NJ), Nritya
Saagaram Dance Academy (Satya Pradeep, NY), Nritya School of
Bharatanatyam (Padmini Chari, TX), Anjali Center for Performing Arts
(Rathna Kumar, TX), Arathi School of Dance (Revathy Satyu, TX),
Arathi School of Dance (Asha Gopal, AZ). Even in Alaska there are
Bharatanatyam teaching schools and this way the Indian diaspora
community stays in touch with its cultural moorings.
Many Indian parents in the US want their children to learn
Bharatanatyam and perform. Many dance teachers are also
grooming their daughters to continue their lineage like Hema
Rajagopalan – Krithika Rajagopalan, Malathi Iyengar - Lakshmi
Iyengar, Viji Prakash - Mythili Prakash, Mythili Kumar - Rasika and
Malavika, Ranee Ramaswamy - Ashwini and Aparna Ramaswamy etc.
The number of Bharatanatyam dancers in the US is in close
competition to the number in India and is increasing because of
many schools coming up in every other locality.
D. Keshava in Basel, Switzerland and TTB (TeatroTascabile di
Bergamo) in Italy are some most prominent institutions of learning
and promoting Bharatanatyam in last 30 years. There are dance
schools in Spain, Kazakhstan (Akmaral Kainazarova), Argentina,
Brazil, New Zealand, Reunion Islands, West Indies, Ukraine (Ganna
Smirnova), China and even Pakistan where dancers like Sheema
Kermani pursue their passion against all odds. Chandrabhanu,
Anandavalli, Padma Balakumar, RevatiIlanko and others champion
the cause of Bharatanatyam in Australia.The ICCR has also started
sending many dance teachers for short periods to many countries
like Poland, Japan, Belgium, Netherlands, Mauritius and China.
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In South Africa those who learnt dance in the 40's, 50's and 60's in
India and who had migrated after marriage to South Africa had
managed to set up modest schools and conduct arangetrams and
performances in their local constituency. When apartheid was
dismantled in 1994, the world exhaled in relief and the Indian
community heaved a sigh of relief. KWA Zulu-Natal Dance Theatre
(Vasugi Singh), Kantharuby Dance Academy (Kantharuby Munsamy),
Natyamani Manasa Bharatanatyam Academy (Manasa Devi
Govender) are well known.
In Singapore, Neila Sathyalingam with her husband and Santha
Bhaskar with her husband established themselves with Apsarasa Arts
and Nrityalaya Aesthetics Society/ Bhaskar's Arts Academy. The
Temple of Fine Arts, Suvarna Fine Arts of Ajit Bhaskaran Dass and
Ramli Ibrahim’s Sutra Dance Theatre are reputed schools of
Bharatanatyam in Malaysia with many more in the field.
“We have a large established Indian population in Southeast Asia
that is closely connected to India. The Indians living in Singapore,
Malaysia and Indonesia consider themselves to be a part of greater
India and classical dances are a part of their lives. Indian culture is
trying to broaden its perspective and transcend the barriers of both
India and diaspora,” says Ramli Ibrahim, one of the best-known
exponents and teachers in Malaysia of Bharatanatyam and Odissi.
Ibrahim has groomed some of the finest dancers in Malaysia at Sutra
and at the same time placed Indian classical dance in the context of
the Malaysian experience.10
Other than Indians learning, one reason foreigners are learning too is
the West’s return to spirituality. Many new age trends are taking
shape and roots in USA, Europe, Australia and the near east and such
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people, both Indians and those coming in contact with them, are
fostering a close interactive relationship with these art forms.