Utpal K Banerjee speaks to Kuchipudi exponent T Reddi lakshmi about the gap between theatrical and social dance
Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies in which motion, form, or both are specified. Choreography may also refer to the design itself, with the word choreography literally meaning ‘dance-writing’ — from its Greek origin — that first appeared in the English dictionary in the 1950s. ‘Choreographer’ was first used as a credit for George Balanchine in the Broadway show On Your Toes in 1936. Interestingly, half a millennium ago, dance-masters at the French court were organising the floor-patterns and theatrical and artistic contexts of their social dances: to initiate a choreographic form, the ballet de cour. In the centuries that followed, the gap between social dance and theatrical dance widened until ballet in the 19th century achieved an independent existence and has thrived ever since.
Passing on a Tradition, Guru and Disciple — IIC Spring Festival of Dance, was a recent attempt to assess and evaluate how choreography in classical Indian dance context has been shaping and moulding from generation to generation. The first generation gurus were the illustrious pioneers like Kelucharan Mohapatra who, with four other gurus of ‘Jayantika’, revived the Odissi tradition from the female Maharis and male Gotipuas, and another like Vempati Chinna Satyam who similarly helped to resurrect Kuchipudi legacy from Yakshagan and Bhagavat Mela in Andhra Pradesh. It were these gurus who defined the grammar of choreography for their respective styles and passed them on to meritorious disciples like Madhavi Mudgal and Jayarama Rao —to become the second generation of worthy torch-bearers.
Two petite dancers — Shobha Bisht and Deepika Bisht — were now Madhavi’s own disciples to take the stage. Very thoroughly groomed, the duo began with Jagannath Ashtakam that delineated the devotee’s utter surrender to the divinity, with choreography depicting many undulating movements of the Rathayatra and rolling patterns of the idols when they are put on the chariot. A hymn from Kalidasa’s Ritu Samharam came next in raga Vasant. Then they depicted an elaborate pallavi where the music and the movements bloomed into a complex pattern. After a Jayadeva ashtapadi: lalita labanga lata… came the vigorous moksha to attend the highest bliss — as the finale.
T Reddi lakshmi, ace disciple of Rao, followed with the Kuchipudi recital. With a striking pravesha daru (stylised entry), she executed an Annamacharya keertana in raga Hamsadhwani, mainly depicting dashavatara (ten incarnations). Next came the Kuchipudi classic, Satyabmama, Krishna’s proud queen penning a note to her consort. Swara Pallavi was a prized item, with abstract dance rhyming and a sonoroussargam. A love-lorn khandita nayika ( loquacious heroine) was the theme of a lighter javali, much akin to Jayadeva’s ashtapadi: Ya hi Madhava, ya hi Keshava…The finale was Tarangam, the inevitable brass-plate dance of Kuchipudi repertoire.
Extracts from interaction with the Odissi guru:
How much do you permit the regional flavour in your choreographyIJ
The regional flavour mostly comes from the gamut of Odia songs which are very mellifluous and are aptly interpreted in the choreography.
But someone like the flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia, who has intimate knowledge of Odisha, feels that there is a corpus like classical Odissi music…
It’s perhaps fair to say that the Odia songs that provide the literary support for the dances don’t add up to specific and distinctive classical ragas in their own rights.
Once the grammar is learnt , how much innovation do you permit among your disciplesIJ
Once the basic grammar of the dance form is assured, I’m all for innovations: either with the theme or with presentation.
Extracts from interaction with the Kuchipudi guru:
How much lokadharmi (catering to popular appeal) dance does your Kuchipudi permitIJ
One must realise that Kuchipudi, like other classical forms, are originally from lokadharmi roots, and classical grammar has been evolved only later on by the cognoscente. The roots still remain Yakshagan and Bhagavat Mela.
How was the classical grammar constructedIJ
My guru Vempati China Satyam and, following him, I have drawn the grammar entirely from Natya Shastra and Abhinaya Darpana.
Yet some abhinaya does tend to be playing to the gallery…
I don’t agree. In fact, Kuchipudi, with its strong male dance lineage, is opposed to lokadnarmi, unlike, say, hand gestures in Jaipur gharana of Kathak.