Dream project takes off
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Swapnasundari on her labour of love, the revival of Vilasini Natyam.
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Swapnasundari
Swapnasundari's work for the revival of the female dance traditions of India's Telugu speaking region is over a decade old, and at the Vilasini Natyam festival she presented this past week at the India International Centre, it was interesting to see the progress made. Clarifying that her work should not be seen as a `project' as that might be associated with a one-off production, she agrees that whereas at first she was the only performer of the style, "you could say it has taken an institutionalised form." While four of her students took the stage with her, in coming years more will be performing.
Some of the stage devices found in the presentation of the theatrical aspect of the dance (as distinct from the ritual or ceremonial dances) were interesting, but there are others too. These presentations were traditionally done with lighting provided by flaming torches or mashaals. Emphasising that Kuchipudi and Bhagavata Mela, well known forms of the region today, belong to the purusha sampradayam (where only male dancers performed), and have not influenced the form she has helped revive at all, she says, "This is an umbrella term where I am trying to include all the women's traditions of temple and court dance."
Though her painstaking research has yielded over 100 adavus (basic dance units) and a large repertoire, Swapnasundari stresses that she does not want to create a "brand" by perpetuating this corpus of compositions alone. "Right now I'm teaching the coastal area tradition, but we have the southern Andhra tradition where the natyarambham (arm position) and the way of holding the body are different. I will teach those too," she states.
ANJANA RAJAN
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