The Dhananjayans are one of the legendary dancing couples of India. They met at Kalakshetra (Chennai) where they trained for a number of years in Bharatanatyam under Sarada Hoffman and in Kathakali under Chandu Panicker. Here, under the watchful eyes of the legendary Rukmini Devi Arundale, they learnt everything about dance, choreography, dance drama production, and even administration. But most importantly, they learned about "the three Ds: Discipline, Devotion and Dedication".   The Dhananjayans have served as performing artistes and teachers in the Dance and Academic Faculty of Kalakshetra. In 1968, they founded the Bharata Kalanjali Academy in Chennai. The academy is not only a premier place for dance training,  but also a research destination for Fulbright and ICCR scholars. The Dhananjayans have also realised their dream of bringing art integrated education to rural children, through their gurukulam "Bhaaskara" in Payyanur.   They have numerous international collaborations and awards to their name, including the 1994 Sangeet Natak Akademi (Presidential Award).

 

Rajeswari (Raji)  Harikrishnan is a student of Bharatanatyam and Carnatic Music. She has trained with Dr. Joyce Paul at Arpan since 2004, and with Shri Immaneni Ashok at the Sadhana School of Music since 2005. Raji has participated in Arpan's Ehsaas 2007 dance program, Kala Prayanam at Northwest Folklife 2005 and has also debuted as an actress in Stagecoach Productions' "Aurangzeb" at The Music Academy, Chennai, in 2001. Raji is an alumna of IIT Madras and Columbia University (NY), where she majored in Electrical Engineering. Currently, she works for Microsoft Corp., and volunteers for the Seattle chapter of Asha for Education. She is passionate about dance, biking and the environment.

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The Living Art of Bharata: A talk by the Dhananjayans at Arpan

 

written by Raji Harikrishnan

 

In the Seattle area, it is not often that we get an opportunity to host senior Bharatanatyam dancers from India. And given their packed schedules, it is rarer still for them to find the time to conduct a comprehensive workshop or a leisurely discussion with aspiring dancers in the area.

So, when Joyce Akka announced to us in class that the Dhananjyans would be visiting Arpan, the excitement was palpable.

"Really?! Wow! Will they be conducting a workshop, Akka?"
"When is it? I have a deadline at work next fortnight; I hope I won't miss the workshop!"
"What will the workshop be about, Akka? Will we learn a new item?"
"Oh God, they'll have a fit if they see our aramandis!"

When all the chatter had died down, Akka duly informed us that the Dhananjayans were not going to conduct a workshop. Instead, they would be giving a talk, or as Dhananjayan Sir had put it, it would be more of an interactive discussion rather than a lecture. The topic that Sir had chosen was "The living art of Bharata vs. the art of living courses: A comprehensive study of the essence and significance of the art of Bharata".

And so, on a rather rainy evening in June, we all assembled at Arpan's studio in Redmond. Sipping hot chai, we gathered around Dhananjayan Sir and Shantha Akka, eager to hear them speak on a topic that sounded quite enigmatic and abstract to most of us.

The topic, Sir explained, was about the philosophy of Bharatanatyam. He pointed out that when he referred to the word Bharatanatyam, he did not mean just the dance form associated with the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu; he was in fact referring to any 'Bhaarata Natyam' i.e. any of the several dance forms in India. These multiple dance forms have common roots in that they are all said to have emanated from the Natya Shastra authored by sage Bharata. There are theories that the Natya Shastra was not written by one single person, but by several Bharatas who authored it over a period of time spanning multiple generations. Often regarded as the fifth Veda, the sheer complexity and magnitude of the Natya Shastra lend credibility to these theories.

Since times immemorial, Indian culture has always accorded a special place for art in the life of its people. Art was not merely seen as a form of entertainment; it was instead regarded as something that touched people's lives physically, mentally and spiritually. Bharatanatyam went beyond being just a dance form. It was in fact, a 'drishya kaavyam', a visual educational system.

Sir went on to explain how Natya did not equate to just dance. Nritta, or dance, occurs in the domain of the physical body and cleanses it, paving the way for the mind to create and express its thoughts. Natya encompasses not just the physical activity but the mental and spiritual aspects of the artistic process. Bharatanatyam is often looked upon as a temple dance, and its spirituality is assumed to be wholly Hindu. Sir spoke about how this was a widely prevalent misconception. In reality, the spiritual aspect of Bharatanatyam is not tied to any religion, but simply follows the philosophy of Dharma, or the way of order and righteousness. Natya is a combination of this spirituality with physical activity and artistic thought. Art requires and instills discipline. This discipline enables Natya to serve as an effective medium of education.

The style of communication in Bharatanatyam follows certain rules: either the grammar of the highly stylized and codified Natya Dharma, or the more free-flowing, extemporaneous and casual Loka Dharma. Natya Dharma employs defined mudras or bodily gestures to convey messages to the audience. The reason for using mudras is simple: body language is universal and transcends barriers of spoken language and region. Mudras convey the idea of an object or an entity by reproducing its form. This concept is captured in the phrase “aakruti prakruti cheshtai”, i.e., to recreate the form observed in nature. Different dance forms have developed their own distinctive delineations and grammar to cast these mudras into sahitya (literature). The use of mudras is termed nritya and is combined with expressions or emotions, i.e., abhinaya to convey an idea or a thought. Natya therefore, is the confluence of nritta, nritya and abhinaya.

 

 

With Guru Rukmini Devi	With Guru Chandu Panicker

 

Sir elaborated on how, contrary to popular belief, mudras and abhinaya are not difficult to understand. Even the uninitiated can interpret the message being depicted by the mudras because these gestures simply imitate what is already present around us in nature. An open mind and concentration are the only things needed to decode the seemingly complex language of natya. Children, by nature, are good at this. Sir narrated an incident that occurred when he and Akka had visited a tea estate, and had conducted a talk for tribal children in the area. These children, all six to eight years old, were not familiar with Bharatanatyam; their only exposure to dance was through Bollywood cinema. Akka and Sir demonstrated several mudras combined with abhinaya and asked the children to guess the meaning. And every single time, the children correctly identified what was being shown to them even though they had no knowledge of the grammar of Bharatanatyam. The misconception that the classical arts are difficult to understand, Sir said, is peculiar to adults. Children are willing to open their minds and learn through observation, and by employing these very same techniques, adults can understand and appreciate natya as well.

The Natya Shastra provides a framework for aangikaabhinayam (bodily gestures and expressions; aangika = body). The beauty of the framework is that it is extensible. And this is what makes the Natya Shastra timeless. It is as relevant in today's age as it was thousands of years ago. Sir and Akka gave us a simple example of how the mudra Chaturam could be used in both hands to draw the outline of a computer monitor, and how Kunchitha Pathakam could be used to depict a mouse. (Needless to say, this example struck just the right chord with the audience, which consisted primarily of software engineers). When expressions are combined with mudras, they form a potent combination for conveying the artham, or meaning. For example, simply showing Simhamukham does not effectively depict a deer. What completes the picture of a deer is the combination of this mudra with eye movements and expressions that show the timid nature of the deer. Likewise, merely forming Sarpashirasthatha with the hands does not convey a snake; the expressions in the face, especially the eyes, should come together to convey the impression of a snake. Kartarimukham is effective in showing a creeper when both hands circle upwards with the eyes tracing their movements, thereby creating the effect of a winding, climbing plant. It is also important to pay attention to the nuances in these gestures and use them appropriately. For example, Simhamukham is used to depict a deer, a bull or a lion. What is important is to know how to tailor Simhamukham to make it appropriate for the sahitya. When depicting a lion, the middle fingers and the thumb should flex a little, giving the mudra a feline countenance. When depicting a bull, the hand should be lowered so that the wrist is straight (i.e., with the middle fingers pointing downwards); this is because cattle walk with their heads lowered and their horns facing forwards. The Natya Shastra itself recommends, “svayam vitarkya kartavyam hastaabhinayam budhaih”. In other words, it is not enough to blindly follow what the texts say about a mudra; it is imperative that we each apply what we observe in nature to the mudras and use them intelligently.

 

 

Shantha and Dhananjayan 'Duo'	Shantha teaching at Bhaaskara

Facial expressions are a very powerful way of communicating ideas. They constitute the most important aspect of communication in the natya tradition. To our great delight, Sir demonstrated the Navarasas: Shringaram, Karunyam, Veeram, Roudram, Hasyam, Bhayanakam, Adbhutam, Bhibhatsam and Shantham. It was a pleasure to observe how he used all parts of his face, including the eyes, eyebrows and the mouth, integrally, to bring out the emotion he was trying to convey. Expressions are very powerful in conveying emotions. Shantha Akka and Sir recalled an incident in 1976, when they had been invited to the United States to attend an international conference on arts and education. A public school in New York invited them to give a talk to some of their students. While the school authorities were happy to have the Dhananjayans over, they were also very nervous about how the artists would be treated; the students in the school had a reputation of being unruly and disruptive. The authorities warned the Dhananjayans that the students might be rude and disrespectful to them. Here was a challenge for Akka and Sir! They had to communicate successfully to an audience of teenagers, belonging to a foreign culture, who had little or no familiarity with India, let alone its music and dance. And to make matters more interesting, these children were notorious for disciplinary problems. Akka and Sir accepted the challenge. The talk that started off in front of a raucous bunch of adolescents soon had the audience mesmerized, watching a stranger convey emotions so effortlessly to them, transcending barriers of language, culture and race. All except a group of four backbenchers who kept sniggering and attempting to disturb the rest of the class. Finally, even they could not hold out any longer when Sir demonstrated Roudram. He turned his gaze so intently on these four boys (the effect further heightened by the live instrumental music in the background) that after a while, not only did they stop misbehaving, they in fact started to tremble. Talk about true rasaanubhava!

 

 

The Dhananjayans and students at Arpan

 

Sir quoted the familiar shloka “Yatho hasta tatho drishti…”. Literal translation aside, he explained how the essence of the shloka could be interpreted as follows: the eyes can transport the audience to a place beyond the reach of the hands. Where the eyes stop (at the horizon), the mind can step in and transport the audience even further. This is achieved through bhaava, or expression, which in turn invokes rasa or enjoyment of emotion. Natya is thus a rich and versatile medium for communication.

Art foms like Bharatanatyam are complete educational systems in themselves. Art has always been very tightly integrated with day-to-day life in Indian culture. Our samskaaras (traditions) have been handed down from one generation to the next through these very arts. Sir and Akka stressed the importance of understanding and respecting the values imparted by these samskaaras and appreciating the visual educational medium that imparted them to us.

In the Q & A session that followed, the Dhananjayans patiently fielded questions from the audience. They shared their journey as dancers with us-- their adventures traveling to foreign lands and communicating through the medium of Bharatanatyam, their experiences working with ballet dancers and Western musicians in the highly celebrated "Jungle Book" theater production in Ohio, their memories of the time they spent learning with Rukmini Athai. They spoke of how one could follow tradition and innovate boldly at the same time. They talked about the work they were doing to teach the arts to underprivileged children. They showed us simple warm-up exercises that would help prevent injury and demonstrated a few positions and adavus. And they reiterated, over and over again, the importance of having a solid grasp of the fundamentals in Bharatanatyam before rushing headlong into 'items'.

Till that evening of 9th June 2007, most of us at Arpan had only heard of the Dhananjayans. We had never had the opportunity to see them perform, let alone meet them in person. We had come for the talk, all agog with excitement and anticipation. As the evening unfolded, we sat spellbound, listening to two master raconteurs share their learning and experiences with us. As aspiring dancers ourselves, we began to see the beauty of the art form we were learning in a new light. Interacting with Sir and Akka was a pleasure. Their humility, warmth, and dedication to the arts were truly inspiring. Arpan will always cherish the memories of that evening we spent with the Dhananjayans.