Elegance personified
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Although a classicist in her framework, Alarmel Valli is also a liberal in the interpretation of her dance.
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Alarmel Valli believes that we should master our own idiom to overcome the cultural imperialism from the West.
HER SYLPHIC charm and candid disposition are mesmerising. It takes some time to come to terms with the fact that here is a seasoned exponent of `Bharatanatyam' (of the Pandanallur school)) who is not just an acclaimed performing artiste but a profound thinker with an insight into the vast treasure of classical dance. Her name sounds as elegant as herself - and she is Alarmel Valli.
"Pandanainallur is actually a village in the Thanjavur district that gave rise to some of the greatest masters of the Tanjore quartet, like Meenakshisundaram Pillai. This school of dance is rich in movement vocabulary, it is precise and is established on clear, pure lines. It is always lyrical and overt drama is an anathema to this style. If I were to quote my gurus Chokkalingam Pillai and Subbaraya Pillai, it lays stress on subject (sarakku) rather than the glitter (minakku). If a dancer believes in writing poetry in the language of dance, this style is ideal," explains Valli. A Virgo with a penchant for perfection, Valli pursues her art with single-minded devotion. She narrates how she persisted with her performance "with blisters and cuts on my feet, which got burnt due to the dance floor that got heated up with high voltage lighting. I had to wrap bandages and continue with my schedule, which was running into days. Dance is not just glamour and limelight. It means making choices in life."
She wants all aspiring young dancers to realize this. For her, dance is definitely not developing new themes in a jiffy and dishing it out at the first opportunity. "I am not against keeping with the times. It is not a new or an old theme that matters. My approach to my art is definite and different. I like to absorb the dance, internalise the movements and make it as natural as breathing.Every detail then acquires a new dimension. Dance matures like wine with age. That is why I don't understand the craze for novelty in classical dance. Each time you dance it attains a new colour and a discerning audience who are willing to invest time and effort to appreciate will be able to feel the presentation."
Everything that is new, according to Valli need not necessarily be creative. "There should be an universal appeal in the theme whatever be its content and it should be strictly within the framework of classical dance." Valli is expressly a liberal at heart. Only she would like to define the term a true liberal as one "who can appreciate the entire gamut of artistic expression, modern or classical."
Admitting the pressure on dancers to cater to `contemporary' themes in dance, she feels that it is a sad dilemma where the choice is tough going by economic considerations.
Dance has to be dynamic, she says, where universal emotions are taken up and translated into art to suit the contemporary mind.
"I represent contemporary Bharatanatyam and my art is constantly developing. I innovate and explore but within the classical format which has tremendous scope for expansion. I'm not against fusion either. Good fusion between two different arts should be able to create a third dimension," she states emphatically.
How does she see the Gen Next in the dance context? "There is a lot of interest to learn classical dance but all for the wrong reasons."
"The present generation and the ones who have given birth to this generation are being overpowered by artistic imperialism of the west. They are losing faith in themselves. They are made to believe that the only formula for modernism is following the west. We are soon turning out to be carbon copies with a sprinkle of Indian seasoning. Our core elements are getting westernised."
"We are ready to toe the western line and become aliens to our innate culture and tradition instead of being proud inheritors of a rich heritage. Why it works is because the economic clout is in the West. The only way to overcome this is to master our own idiom and have conviction that it will work and then go global on our own terms,'' she signs off.
R.K.
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