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Photo:S. R. Raghunathan

Indians at heart Eelanallur S.Sathyalingam and his wife Neila Sathyalingam

They say nothing grows under the shade of the banyan tree, but nature always finds its way. Metaphorically, the phrase is most often associated with the late Rukmini Devi Arundale, known as a staunch disciplinarian and uncompromising guru. But here too, the adage has taken a twist.

Her institution Kalakshetra, symbolised by its spreading banyan tree, under which classes, performances and college assemblies have been held for decades on its campus in south Chennai, is no longer restricted to Chennai. Its students, now stalwarts in their own right, are all over the world. And all seem to have taken a bit of the banyan with them. Take Eelanallur S. Sathyalingam and his wife Neila, from the earliest batches of Kalakshetra students — he joined the institution in 1949 and she in 1954. Singapore citizens today, they run Apsaras Arts Limited, a thriving centre for Indian performing arts.

Schooled in the strictest discipline of Kalakshetra in its heyday, they have had an insider’s view of the Indian and international art scene, particularly in the context of Bharatanatyam and Carnatic music. For the past three decades they have been teaching as well as presenting dance productions, and their collaborators include a host of well known artistes from Chennai as also their adopted country. Every year they visit Chennai.

“Our fights are all for music and dance,” says Neila, trained in Bharatanatyam and now immersed in choreography and direction. “If a teermanam goes wrong,” begins Sathyalingam, a Sangitha Siromani holder from the University of Madras, “how can I, as a musician, let it go?”Is it any wonder the duo, whose three daughters also trained in Bharatanatyam at Kalakshetra, were featured in a TV series, “Love of a Lifetime”? Recalls Neila, a great-grandmother at 69, “We were the first couple from Kalakshetra.”

Sathyalingam was a teacher and Neila a student — he taught music and English to the dance students — and Rukmini Devi asked him to leave the institution if he wanted to marry Neila. Understanding her moral stance, he obliged. But, notes the septuagenarian, “Ours is a Kalakshetra life.”

The reference is not merely to a worldview but also to the artistic approach, open-minded yet disciplined, outspoken yet fiercely loyal.

Once refugees from the strife-torn Sri Lanka, the couple and their children were given shelter and livelihood by their guru. Today’s Kalakshetra students, declares Sathyalingam, cannot have the passionate spirit of those who studied under Rukmini Devi.

The increasing commercialisation of the art scene worries them. With Bharatanatyam performances resembling endurance tests, the emphasis ever more on a gymnastic display of skills than the inner qualities of the ancient art, he exclaims, “This is because people are paying to perform.” Talent is no longer the criterion he rues, stating that this season, even a student of his own student has paid an organisation for a platform. Sathyalingam too was offered an ‘award’ in return for a donation.

Neila, more restrained than her husband, points out there are exceptions. But she admits the local artistes feel that “NRIs” — read, people earning in foreign exchange — have “spoiled” the atmosphere, by making lavish donations to sabhas in return for a platform for themselves or their children. But there are positives to NRIs flooding the Indian metros, especially during the winter months when the performing season is in high gear, and the credit for igniting this interest should go to people like themselves, say the Sathyalingams.When she started teaching dance in the late 1970s, says Neila, a recipient of the Cultural Medallion for outstanding service to the arts, it was a cultural “desert” for her. Today, not only do Indian dance institutions flourish, but Apsaras’ latest production, “Sivagami”, a dance theatre work based on a story by Tamil writer Kalki, has engendered tourist interest in Mahabalipuram, which is the backdrop of the tale, she says.

Whether “Sivagami” will draw Singapore to Mahabalipuram remains to be seen, but the show may certainly come to India in the coming year. With a combined cast and crew of 55, logistics pose a hurdle. But, given their track record, surely not an insurmountable one.

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