The 21st Natya Kala Conference - a report

This is a little late to be publishing a report on last year's Natya Kala conference, held during December 15-21, 2001, at the Krishna Gana Sabha in Chennai. However, this is such a thorough and detailed report that we think it is never too late! The report is by A Seshan, Economic Consultant in Mumbai, who was formerly Officer-in-Charge of the Department of Economic Analysis and Policy in the Reserve Bank of India. He is a music and dance enthusiast and writer, who attended and took copious notes on all days of the conference.

Dec 15 Dec 16 Dec 17 Dec 18 Dec 19 Dec 20 Dec 21 Wrap-up Gallery

December 21

The concluding day's session started with a lecture demonstration by Malavika Sarukkai who spoke on "The Expanding Canvas". She made the initial statement that Bharatanatyam is not to be equated solely with a repertoire that evolved at a particular point of time under certain social and historical circumstances. If it were done so it would be confining the potential to narrow parameters denying it vitality and natural acceptance of change. The canvas of Bharatanatyam, which till now seemed richly filled with the emotions of bhakti sringara, sambhoga and vipralamba sringara, has started to expand revealing other spaces. As a woman and as an artiste she has been questioning herself, trying to redefine the areas of her search. Other emotional spaces need attention and through dance she gives expression to them. Since there are no structures to fall back upon she has to keep in mind "ouchitya" (appropriateness) and the need to evoke rasa - contemplative savouring. These are two vital principles that give a firm foundation to the artiste and give stability to the production. The language of Bharatanatyam provides her with the powerful and evocative language and the alphabets with which she could choreograph her dance - both abstract movement and interpretative abhinaya. In this connection she referred to reading the heart-warming story of Thimmakka in Karnataka who, being infertile, took to planting trees as a soul-satisfying compensation. Today there is a beautiful Thimmakka Avenue in her village with a number of trees nurtured by her. Her demonstration of the piece on Thimmakka showed the sancharis she had conceived and the gatis she had used for stillness and various movements. The songs in such evocative ragas as Yamuna Kalyani, Subhapantuvarali, Kalyana Vasantam and Varali were rendered mellifluously contributing to the success of the demonstration. She made the pertinent point that an artiste does not get tired even after dancing for two hours simply because all the internal circuits are well connected and alive with energy. A remarkable aspect of her demonstration was the effortless manner in which she executed arai mandi, the basic stance of Bharatanatyam. It was a long time since the writer had seen such an execution.

Adyar Lakshman presented the Mohana Tillana with Western orchestra recorded in Vienna, Austria. This piece, composed by Madurai Krishnan and choreographed by Lakshman, was modified by a musician named Thomas Navratil who converted it to western notation by employing the Finale Music Scoring Software using harmonic scales without disturbing the melody of Mohana raga. It took four years to accomplish the work without making any change in the composition. The music and the demonstration were lively and opened new vistas for experimentation.

A surprise item before the wrap-up session was the enactment of the tillana of Oothukkadu Venkatasubbier in Gambhira Nattai entitled "Kalinga Nartan". A unique tillana with a long sahitya besides vocalisation it was choreographed by a young dancer by name Narendra Kumar. The song itself became popular thanks to Aruna Sayeeram although Raja and Radha Reddy had presented it many years ago. The finale showing the conquest of the serpent was fantastic and brought the house down. Narendra Kumar is reported to be popular among dancers due to his amiable nature and he has a great future ahead of him.

21st Natya Kala Conference report -> Dec 15 Dec 16 Dec 17 Dec 18 Dec 19 Dec 20 Dec 21 Wrap-up Gallery