Be classic but go for change: Rama Vaidhyanathan

A certain grace ornaments her words, a certain charm exudes her movements, and an enchanting power floors the connoisseurs of her performance. She’s danseuse Rama Vaidhyanathan. The Palakkad-born Bharatanatyam exponent has reinvented the dance form with her extraordinary skills in choreography and versatility in the last three decades. Deeply rooted in tradition, Rama has evolved her own individual style without forsaking the core principles of Bharatanatyam.  

Daughter-in-law of renowned Guru Saroja Vaidyanathan, Rama had trained under the legendry dancer Yamini Krishnamurty. A teacher at the Ganesa Natyalaya Delhi for the past 25 years, she has been a trainer of the dance form all over the world.

Rama was in her native place for a dance workshop ahead of her travel to the US for a unique performance which would bring together ancient miniature paintings from North India with Bharatnatyam and Hindustani music. “It is basically a coming together of three different streams of expressions: painting, dance and music,” she said.

“I will show the paintings and enact the story that is told through the dance using Hindustani music. It is going to be a solo performance, which I have already premiered in Chennai and Delhi.” The workshop in Palakkad was to introduce the young dancers to her style, she said. “When the young dancers learn a new rendering, their minds would open to a new level. They are introduced to my process, too. This is important, theory-wise.”

The idea of a workshop is to share choreographic kinetics to the youngsters, she said. “They can do what they want as they can develop it or keep it as it is,” she explains. “Workshops like this are very important as students get inspired and get more opportunities.” The renowned dancer has a word or two about the way Kerala approaches the dance form. “Kerala lacks the essential exposure in terms of cultural journey,” she said. “I have observed that there are a lot of talented dancers in Kerala. They are very hardworking, too. The flipside is that they lack exposure. They need to get opportunities outside Kerala. Most of them stick to dancing within the state which limits their growth. It is very important for them to step outside and participate in festivals in other states as well.”

There are lot of opportunities for classical dancers outside Kerala, she pointed out. “There are other classical dance forms in Kerala which, too, should have more visibility outside,” she said. Rama says some contemporary artistes with just a few years of experience litter the original form. “Indian classical dance is not only about the body, it is the development of the mind and the soul of dance and one should understand the purpose why they should dance,” asserts the dancer.

“That development takes place only with years of experience. One should impart it to students only after one has passed through that phase. It is not like a physical exercise, it is not like a computer programme. It is emotional, and it is a sense that you have to develop in you.” Rama, however, defends experimenting with the right spirit. “I feel there is nothing wrong in experimenting, but you have to show the beauty of Bharatnatyam rather than trashing it. This is because you can’t push the boundaries without taking risks or without experimenting.” If you don’t push boundaries, there will be no evolution, she pointed out.  

How would one go about experimenting with the dance form? Rama has a definite answer for that, too. “Focus on parts which is not done before,” she suggested. “But we have to ensure the classism of the dance form, and its beauty, should be maintained. In fact we should experiment in such a way to reflect the versatility of the dance form.”

Rama’s daughter Dakshina Vaidhyanathan is also a devoted dancer, who has begun to step into choreography recently. Rama believes Bharatanatyam is classic and elite, but it should be more democratised, unmindful of caste and creed. “I think Bharatnatyam should be performed by anybody who has talent for it,” she said. “It has to become more global. Now we can see the art form is influenced by a lot of other things, such as the western symbolism of light design, costuming, face sketching and all those technical aspects cannot be stopped. We have to accept the natural process of evolution and its influences with other classical forms such as Kuchipudi. Thirty years ago you would not dream of playing Bharatnatyam to a French poem. It is fine as long as the beauty of the form is maintained,” she says.