Friday Review
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Immaculate artistry
K. K.GOPALAKRISHNAN
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Guru Gopinath blended Kathakali and Mohiniyattom to create Kerala Natanam.
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Guru Gopinath.
“Some days ago, Ragini Devi, the dancer, came here with her party. She gave two performances. Her dancing was hardly worth looking at but Gopinath, her partner, was superb. His expression, his movements, and the strength and vigour with which he danced were simply marvellous. Some people go so far as to say that he is even better than the great Uday Shankar,” wrote Indira Gandhi, during her student days at Santiniketan, in a letter of February 1935 to Nehru. (’Freedom’s Daughter’ edited by Sonia Gandhi.)
That comment speaks about the immaculate artistry of Guru Gopinath. His birth centenary (2007-08) is being celebrated the world over by his disciples and their disciples. And Kalakshetra’s tribute to Sankara Menon this week-end includes Kerala Natanam.
Guru Gopinath (1908-1987) hailed from a family with two centuries of tradition in Kathakali. Bheeman Paramu Pillai, a known Kathakali actor of his times, was his maternal grandfather. Master exponent of chuvannathadi roles, Chambakkulam Pachu Pillai was his elder brother. Born on June 24, Gopinath was trained in Kathakali and had his arangetram at the age of 13. In 1931, he was sent to the newly formed Kerala Kalamandalam for further studies, thus becoming one of the earliest students of the institution.
Collaboration
A turning point in his artistic life was his collaboration with American dancer Ragini Devi (Esther Luella Sherman), the first foreign student of the Kalamandalam. Subsequently, she formed a dance troupe and invited Gopinath, ‘who had an ideal physique of a dancer.’ They staged several choreographed pieces throughout the country and in Europe that brought laurels to them; Chambakkulam Gopinathan became renowned as Guru Gopinath.
Gopinath popularised the refined physical elements of Kathakali minus its intricacies and attire. He blended the fundamentals of Kathakali and Mohinyattom and presented it as Indian ballet. He first named his repertoires as Indian classical dances. Subsequently he changed it to Kathakali Natanam when he started focussing more on the thouryatrika elements (combination of vocal music, instrumental music and dance) and nritta, nritya and natya aspects of Kathakali in his presentations. Later, he renamed it as Kerala Natanam. He structured Kerala Natanam in such a way that it could be performed as a solo, group or dance drama and described it respectively as Ekamga Natanam, Samkha Natanam and Nataka Natanam with repertoires for a male-female duo.
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Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
|
