In his father's footsteps
G.S. PAUL
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Vempati Ravi Shankar carries on the legacy of his father, Vempati Chinna Sathyam, and has also carved a niche for himself as an outstanding choreographer and teacher.
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THE HEIR: Vempati Ravi Shankar has choreographed many ballets and around 60 solos.
Vempati Ravi Shankar can rightly be called the illustrious son of his legendary father, Vempati Chinna Sathyam, considered the colossus of Kuchipudi. The young performer of international acclaim is an outstanding choreographer and teacher at Kuchipudi Art Academy, Chennai. Founded by his father in 1963 for the rejuvenation and popularisation of this dance form of Andhra Pradesh, the institution is the alma mater for scores of celebrity dancers in India.
Great privilege
"It was a great privilege to be born to a great maestro, but my father never wanted me to take up dancing as a profession," recalled Ravi who is in Thrissur for a 10-day workshop organised by Navaneetham Cultural Trust.
The struggle Chinna Sathyam had undergone in his life to carve a niche in the field of dance must have been fresh in his mind. Old timers still recall how he had to walk all the way from Kuchipudi, his native village, to Chennai during the Forties, fired by the ambition of becoming a consummate Kuchipudi dancer.
Sensing the disenchantment of the young boy for whom dance was a passion even at the age of five, Bala, one of the senior disciples of Chinna Sathyam, took him under her wings. The training went on for 10 years, that too without her guru's knowledge. Finally on a Sankranthi day, the guru was persuaded by Bala to watch the performance of Ravi. But he made no comments.
"I was disappointed as he never corrected me," Ravi said. However, when Chinna Sathyam told his wife that their son was perfect in his artistry, Ravi's joy knew no bounds.
However, Chinna Sathyam would not promote his son as the `son-rise' syndrome rampant in every field was anathema to him. He would assign him only insignificant roles like that of a peacock, a deer or a cow in his ballets. Finally on Manju Bhargavi's (also a disciple) plea, he was included in the troupe for performances in Czechoslovakia in 1989. The solo performances by the boy won rave reviews. That his father held him in high esteem was known only when Ravi was asked to conduct a workshop in Canada for two months in 1990. "This was both a surprise and challenge; for I had never been a teacher," Ravi reminisced.
Ravi felt that he had immensely benefited by constantly watching his father's performance and teaching methods. Chinna Sathyam would start his choreographic sessions at 4 a.m. No one was allowed to watch this. But Ravi's mother would wake him up by that time and the boy would peep through a hole for hours, unnoticed by his father. He remembered that Chinna Sathyam took utmost care to see how the movements were aesthetically choreographed, that too from the point of view of the audience.
Deft choreographer
No wonder then that his power of observation coupled with a flair for research made him a deft choreographer with many ballets and around 60 solos to his credit. Interestingly his father's dance dramas `Ardha Nareeswaram,' `Abhignana Sakuntalam,' `Sri Pasa Parijatham,' `Kirataarjuneeyam' and `Gopi Krishna' were all choreographed by Ravi himself. As for his own, the recent one `Nava Durga' and those based on Swati Tirunal's kritis presented in Thiruvananthapuram in 2004 were landmarks.
Referring to the popularity of tarangam in Kerala, Ravi felt that such an item was necessitated to attract people at a time when Kuchipudi was on the verge of ruin. It was only Narayana Thirtha's compositions that were attempted. But the veterans of those days used to do excellent footwork on the plate in all the varieties of the talas.
Nowadays, he felt, the item had become just an acrobatic exercise with the pot on the head and in some cases candles on the palms.
"I am really afraid some of them may add a spoon in the mouth, if the craze continues; but this is not traditional Kuchipudi," he averred.
He exhorted the dancers to stick to a single dance form so that the purity of each is never compromised.
An accomplished vocalist trained by Balamuralikrishna, Ravi insists on intense music training for any dancer. Knowledge of Sahithya, apart from talas and ragas were essential for a dancer, he added.
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