Kavita Chhibber

He is a legendary dancer of Bharatnatyam and Kathakali, and along with his wife Shantha has always thought out of the box, right from the days when thinking about cultural art forms strictly adhered to orthodox tradition.

Any production created by the duo, stands out for its meticulous attention to detail, great aesthetics, outstanding choreography, and often an easy to understand contemporizing of a classical or classic subject while staying within the realms of tradition.

In an exclusive interview, Guru V.P. Dhananjayan, who is in the country presenting the Indian Dance Ballet, Ekaantha Seethaa, produced by the Cleveland Cultural Alliance, talks about his life and why he feels that Indian art and culture must be given its due.

You come from a family of 8 kids, the son of a school teacher from the village Payannur, in Kerala which had a rich tradition in arts and culture and ayurveda. What are the earliest memories of growing up?

There is a very beautiful Subrahmanya temple in my village and as a little boy that temple was the focal point of my life. My grandmother who was told by astrologers that I will leave home around twelve according to my horoscope and will be in an ashram, thought that I would become a sanyasi(ascetic) like Shankracharya. My uncle used to practice yoga with me whenever he visited from Rishikesh in what he thought was preparation of my leaving home.

As a result she, a very scholarly lady started insisting I study Sanskrit and read the Bhagvad Gita. I would not even get a cup of tea until I read the slokas from there. She was a great influence in my life. I used to also write Malayalam poetry at that time.

I used to go to the temple, participate in all the temple rituals and I would be fascinated by the sound of the chenda(a cylindrical percussion instrument used extensively in Kerala his home state) and totally enraptured by the drum beats. I would stay there totally immersed in it unlike boys of the same age. I would sneak out of the house in the evenings and follow adults and stay out late at night to see the Kathakali performances that took place there. My father would yell at me and even beat me up but as soon as I heard the chenda beat I would be mesmerized and sneak out. I didn’t understand much-I was only eight years old, but I was fascinated by the colors and the music of Kathakali. Sometimes I would fall asleep, but I think it was that early exposure that must have contributed to all my artistic awakening later.

Your going to Kalakshetra the great Gurukul run by Rukmini Devi Arundale and Chandu Panicker for the cultural arts was a major twist of fate.

Yes. The great Chandu Panicker used to come and recruit young boys to learn Kathakali and Bharatnatyam and my father probably saw some spark in me that he decided to choose me among the sons to go and learn. So in essence I did leave home at 12 and went to what was an austere ashram like surroundings, and so the prediction came true but not the way my family had imagined.

The Kalakshetra of the 1950s and 60s was a very austere place. The training was very intense and comprehensive. The boys’ hostel was separated from the girls and was at the other end. Guru Panicker was already 83 years old then. So we young boys would wake up at 4 a.m. and carry hot water across a long trek for him to bathe while he made us practice eye exercises and other things while he was bathing.

Then we had to walk quite a distance again and get him his breakfast and we would practice extensively after 5 a.m. The memories of those times are wonderful. We met so many senior musicians and artists who were legends in their own field. They would come to us and share stories and tips, guiding and correcting us generously.

You have mastered Kathakali and Bharatnatyam. These days people say just learn one dance form not two as you will mess up both.

There is no such restriction. In our time I learnt Bharatnatyam, Kathakali, Mridangam and Carnatic music all simultaneously and when ever we had a little free time we also took painting and other culture related classes. Plus I was also studying. For us dance and music were all complementary. All classical dancers must understand and study classical music and literature to be well rounded. Not only did I learn Sanskrit, I also learnt the local language, as well as English so I was able to analyze our literature so well.

Today things have changed because of the financial aspect. At Kalakshetra as per the gurukul system all our education was free. Now people have to see their budget and decide how much they can afford for their children’s lessons. Then you get a diploma. In our times our diploma was our never ending thirst for knowledge. It was many many years later that Rukmini devi started giving out diplomas.

Soon after we had trained long enough, we started teaching at Kalakshetra, and that is what both my wife and I did. We never thought of making money or making a name for ourselves. We just felt we had to follow the tradition of giving back to an institution that had given us so much. As long as things remained as I expected I stayed. Only when things started to change that I decided to leave.

Leaving Kalakshetra must have been a very tough thing. Rukmini Devi Arundale was a national figure and had huge political connections. To leave and try to make it on your own must have been tough.

It was, but as I said I left because things began to change outside Kalakshetra and I wanted to do things from a creative point of view that were not possible within the walls of Kalakshetra. As long as we were under the shadows of Kalakshetra, people would not have accepted the innovations I wanted to experiment with. I was unable to evolve as I wanted to, so I left. My wife Shantha stayed on for another two years but she also left when they said to her-why are you performing with an outsider? In spite of so many years there suddenly I became an outsider. Yet to this day I publicize Kalakshetra as much as I can acknowledging that I’m what I’m today because of the wonderful training I received there.

Things were tough. We started initially with just one student and were not accepted by society. We had committed the ultimate disloyalty to Kalakshetra by wanting to follow our own dreams. Yet we shared our knowledge with others, we did workshops and lecture demonstrations for those who were interested. Our main exposure was through national and international conferences and tourism programs. We were more accessible than performers from Kalakshetra so people started coming to us to enjoy good performances and lecture demonstrations.

Tourism had started developing well at that time and our lecture demonstrations became very popular both for their educational value and the high quality presentations we gave. We started going to schools and colleges and talking about Kathakali and Bharatnatyam. Foreign embassies and diplomats also called upon us to perform.

The purpose of forming this association was to bring all artists together. All the teachers stuck to their own schools and their own gurus and never interacted outside. In Madras every one coexisted peacefully with no back biting but once they started interacting, a deeper, more positive understanding developed and they started taking the good points of other schools and incorporating the good points of other schools and styles. Kalakshetra’s style has pervaded through all dances and we see the same discipline and excellence that has made our performances so appreciated every where.

You are however not happy with the media and government indifference towards Indian art and culture. Many classical artists joke that you have to become famous abroad before you receive recognition in your own country.

Well, I think it’s our Bharatiya tradition-to honor the artists once they make a name abroad. Even Rabindranath Tagore had to win the Nobel Prize for us to appreciate him at home, Ravi Shankar is another example, even though he is such a musical genius and I have learnt so much from him.

I feel that artists must be given their due financially as well as artistically. In the old days they were patronized by royalty and taken care of financially. Those days are gone and today artists have to earn their own living. Just as a doctor has to be paid for his services, why must an artist who chooses to train as rigorously and devotes his or her life to dance or music not be compensated and be allowed to live comfortably? Even the government fixes very low rates for A grade artists, when we project our country predominantly through art and culture. When other heads of countries visit India, you don’t take them to the cricket grounds do you? Instead they invite us to the Rashtrapati Bhavan to perform before the dignitaries. So why should they not give our art and culture the recognition it deserves?

The media too these days is not interested in publicizing the arts. Their excuse is that it doesn’t sell their publications. Bollywood does. Except for the Hindu newspaper I can’t think of any other publication who takes the trouble to showcase India’s cultural heritage.

In the old days all newspapers featured cultural performances prominently, and their sales didn’t dip. Why do they think they will do so now? Yes corporate houses go for glamour and Bollywood but don’t you as a nation have any duty towards your cultural heritage? When Bollywood shows take place a huge sum is spent on publicity. For classical performances I don’t even see any flyers, forget about other kinds of publicity. There is a select group that appreciates the arts but I hope that the tide will turn and more people will come to see out performances since we are contemporizing and innovating all the time.

How are the audiences today both in India and abroad? You recently met people at the Indian Embassy in a “ Meet the Artists’ session at Washington DC.

A lot of NRIs are very appreciative of the arts and have kept close ties with us. They are very knowledgeable and many are learning and making their children study dance forms or music from India. I’m beginning to see a lot of youngsters at our performances and many students come to India to study at our school Bharatakalanjali. We would love to take our productions to Broadway and shatter this preconceived notion that classical productions won’t be appreciated by mainstream masses. We have a couple of TV programs on classical dances that were broadcast at very odd hours for the Indian audience but the audiences abroad benefited.

The event at the embassy was very good. People realized that our natya shastra is not just dance but an educational medium and a blend of the physical, mental and spiritual. That was a revelation for them. I showed them how all of us use hand gestures and facial expressions unconsciously to convey so much. I also explained to them how it all comes together to form nritta anga hara(a garland of body and dance). Bharatnatyam is the essence of our four Vedas and explains and demonstrates how dance becomes an educational vehicle. India is the only country where our performing art is synonymous with the name of the country-Bharat and Bharatnatyam. No other country can claim that and its time we honored that connection.