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A birthday to remember
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HOMAGE Special people have special birthdays. Rukmini Devi Arundale was born on February 29 and this year offers a rare occasion when her students can celebrate it.
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During her lifetime, a birthday that came once in four years was useful in more ways than one.
Rukmini Devi Arundale.
Greatness can never be run of the mill. Why then should great people have ordinary birthdays?
Such was the case with Rukmini Devi Arundale, legendary dancer, one of the pioneers in the revival of classical dance in modern India, founder of Kalakshetra and the woman who triggered the revolution that made dance acceptable as a career in households that prided themselves on their respectability.
Her birthday fell on 29 February. During her lifetime, a birthday that only came round once in four years was useful in more ways than one. One was that since it was never quite her exact birthday, organisations and educational institutions round the country that owed their inspiration to her celebrated it any time from early February to late March. The doyenne would relish the idea. Once, being felicitated at the Besant Theosophical High School - that she had founded in Chennai - during March, she noted that some weeks ago she had been in Bhopal, and it was her birthday. "Then I went to Bombay and I found it was still my birthday. And now I am back in Madras and I find it is still my birthday."
Date or no date, for students of Rukmini Devi, her memory is to be celebrated this season. This February provides a bonus, or does it? As Kalakshetra alumni prepare to remember their mentor with dance performances on February 29, they also find the rare phenomenon of clashing dates.
In memory
Swagata Sen Pillai who has been marking the occasion diligently in Delhi every year for over a decade, presents Smriti Pravah at the Poorva Sanskritik Kendra, East Delhi. And in Gurgaon, Navtej Johar dances at Epicentre.
Says Swagata, "Smriti Pravah series is my annual offering of respect and reverence to Athai. The twoday festival has been held formally every year for the past decade. It began informally in 1991 with participation by my friends from Kalakshetra from across the country and abroad along with my institution Kinkini Dhvani. The years I spent at Kalakshetra gave me much more than a degree of proficiency in the art of Bharatanatyam. Athai's vision of how to live life to the fullest in step with traditions and in harmony with one's surroundings has left a lasting impression upon the way I view life and art today."
Smriti Pravah which covers February 29 and March 1, starts at 6.30 both days, includes Kalakshetra alumni Archita Mehta, Tripti Bhupen Pande and Uma Poonacha.
Navtej, who has made a name as a contemporary choreographer, will do some traditional Kalakshetra pieces at his performance.
"Kalakshetra gave me a very complete and distilled education. It taught me that it is not enough to be well trained, talented and hard working, that art is something much more, that it is a part of a larger fabric of life and is connected to even the things that may seem ostensibly unrelated. And that it is important to remain connected and see everything from one-remove with a sympathetic, aesthetic eye. On Athai's birthday, I'll be performing `Meenakshi' (Dikshitar's kriti in Poorvi Kalyani) and the Natabhairavi tillana."
Jayalakshi Eashwar says she will be holding a show not only for her students but also for those learning various forms of dance at Triveni kala Sangam.
ANJANA RAJAN
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Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
|
