The novelty that always was...
FAITH IN TRADITION Veteran Bharatanatyam exponent Rhadha
Destiny changed its landscape, with Dame Luck suddenly befriending her. She had always been the also ran, languishing in virtual anonymity in the shadow of sister Kamala who was the guaranteed applause getter. A less hardy person may well have hung up her ankle bells long back, calling it a day. Not so Rhadha, who at the age of 65 seems to have emerged from the unknown to incredulous success, with the Sangeet Natak Akademi award being conferred on her last year. The Bhairavi Indian Fine Arts Society in America conferred on her, in 2003, the Nrithya Rathnakara award.
"I am being recognised for my work after so many years. During the Vazhuvoor Ramiah Pillai Anjali in Chennai in December last, my performance was greatly appreciated. Padma Subrahmanyam, very pleased with my performance once remarked, `Why have I not seen Rhadha before?' Though I did not dance too often, persons like Venkatakrishnan of Shankarabharanam and the Krishna Gana Sabha gave me solo opportunities."
Known as a teacher
Rhadha continues, "I was more known as a teacher. When Kamala went abroad, a lot of youngsters came to learn from me. At that time a very young Srinidhi Rangarajan wanted to learn from me. But Subbudu Mama put her under Rajaratnam Pillai. I have always stuck to the Vazhuvoor style and to learn this school of Bharatanatyam youngsters came to me. Unfortunately, my guru's own son Samraj the natural heir to Vazhuvoor's legacy, always proved to be a difficult person and did not attract students."
On mentioning that dancers of that school like Chitra Visweswaran have not totally stuck to the Vazhuvoor mould, Rhadha says, "When people start doing their own work, changes do come in."
A firm believer in the one-to-one teaching method of old, Rhadha scoffs at group classes where individual weaknesses go unnoticed.
"Each dancer is different and I tailor my teaching to the needs of the person. One dancer can smile a lot, one can open her eyes wide - simple gestures, which in some others will look funny. For instance, some dancers can never learn to perform the Sarukkal adavu, for their bodies just lack the balance. No point forcing movements on bodies that will never be able to negotiate them. Even when I teach Vadyar's famous "Sadinchine" Tyagaraja kriti, I teach what the individual student's prowess can accommodate."
Rhadha feels that Bharatanatyam should never lose its subliminal quality.
"I stick to the old rhythmic compositions of my guru - no new jatis from mridangists as dancers today believe in .The beauty of Vadyar's jatis is that they never discard that air of unhurried aesthetics. All this kinky off-beat, `araikaal edam' jatis and putting in too many clever tricks ruin the reposeful dance. Versatility kills aesthetics."
Early success
"With Jaya Jaya Devi, which I did for the Cleveland group (ran for months and was a big success), my name as a choreographer got established in the States. I go for workshops and I have composed for works performed by students of several gurus. Contrary to the general feeling, students in the States are very committed and with the Tyagaraja Utsav in Cleveland, even the knowledge of music is amazingly good."
Rhadha's firm faith in tradition brooks no arguments. Retrieving what is lost and forgotten, and reinventing the old is original enough for her. Dance is a ceaseless encounter with new points of recognition discovered in the old.
"What is new? A work on Drug Abuse, Dowry and Untouchability, the usual topics for all so-called modern work. There are innumerable untouched jatiswarams and tillanas and varnams - work on them. When Sucheta Chapekar the dancer reinvented the works of Sarfoji Maharaja, how thrilling that was! Even today one talks of Balamma."
As for so-called `innovations', Rhadha believes they are all buried in the debris of new fangled confusion.
The legacy left behind by our gurus has perennial significance for her. No dilemma here about how to negotiate change, for one who believes that the more things change, the more they remain the same.
LEELA VENKATARAMAN
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