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Magazine
ACHIEVEMENT
Dance of a lifetime
RUPA SRIKANTH
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Gurus V.P. Dhananjayan and Shantha reflect on their 55 years in dance and their association with Kalakshetra.
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It is 55 years since they took to dance; though Shantha came to it by design and Dhananjayan by accident, it has remained A calling all their lives.
Photo: R. Shivaji Rao
Call of the dance: Shanta and V.P. Dhananjayan at a recent performance.
It is almost 7.35 am and I am quite hesitant to intrude so early in the morning… But I need not have worried. Guru Dhananjayan, crisply dressed in his trademark white and gold dhoti-kurta, opened the door. With a gracious smi
le, he welcomed me into the study and takes his seat behind the table. There is a contented look about him; an air of one who is happy with how his life has turned out…
It is 55 years since they took to dance; though Shantha came to it by design and Dhananjayan by accident, it has remained their calling all their lives. And when one thinks of the Dhananjayans, one immediately thinks of Kalakshetra. They both grew up there having spent almost 15 years in the glorious cultural setting created by Rukmini Devi. This is where they say they learnt not only Bharatanatyam and Kathakali but stagecraft, aesthetics, discipline and about life itself. They left the institution 40 years ago; however, as they say, “You can take someone out of Kalakshetra, but you cannot take Kalakshetra out of them!”
Kalakshetra days
Guru Dhananjayan reflects nostalgically, “We are lucky to have been in Kalakshetra during those golden years… We learnt so much watching and travelling all over India with Athai and the other stalwarts in Kalakshetra. Rukmini Devi was always open to ideas and gave choreographic space to the dancers. I remember once when Shantha choreographed Bharatanatyam for a Malay song in Kuala Lampur, she was very appreciative and even enquired how she had gone about it. Her only stipulation was the all-important matter of aesthetics. Rukmini Devi enhanced dance by establishing a systematic training, which was a good mix of the Gurukula system and academic learning. There was a feeling that the style was too rigid; she went back to the Natyashastra and streamlined the Pandanallur style. The mandala rekha or the bodyline was considered the very foundation for dance. But for Rukmini Devi dance had only two categories: good and bad!”
Shantha and Dhananjayan particularly remember their teachers, N.S. Jayalakshmi, Peria Sharada, Sharada Hoffman and Chandu Panicker among others, for instilling in them the concepts of ‘good dance’. Jayalakshmi teacher, a luminary who taught in Kalakshetra for more than 50 years, reciprocates this affection.
“Both Shantha and Dhananjayan were always very focused. Till today Shantha thinks only of dance. When she was barely 12 and was playing the role of Lava or Kusha, we visited the Hanuman temple in Sucheendram in the South. While all the other dancers prayed that they become good dancers, this young girl alone prayed for strength! When questioned she replied, ‘If I have strength I can practice and dance well’.”
They also made some very close associations in Kalakshetra like Professor A. Janardhanan, the retired principal of Rukmini Devi College of Fine Arts, Kalakshetra Foundation, son of Kathakali maestro and faculty member of Kalakshetra.
Asan T.K. Chandu Panicker, a contemporary of Dhananjayan, feels his father who brought Dhananjayan to Athai always treated Dhananjayan as his elder son. He recounts how the morning after the” Paduka Pattabhishekam” dance drama in which Dhananjayan was Rama and Janardhanan was Lakshmana, Guru Panicker told Dhananjayan, “I hope you will look after Janardhanan, I’m very old.” And he turned to Janardhanan and said, “Always look up to Dhananjayan as an elder brother.”
On their own
The couple went through some difficult times when they decided to strike out on their own. They took both dance and theory classes for students outside and spread the knowledge of the Natyashastra and the Abhinaya Darpana that they had gained in their alma mater. They started their dance school, Bharata Kalanjali that has since provided Chennai with a generation of well-trained dancers. They choreographed new pieces to add to their repertoire. They introduced varnams with the nayaka-nayaki bhava hitherto not customary in Kalakashetra. They introduced new ideas like bhava in the charana swaras in the contemporary Thuraiyur Rajagopala Sharma varnam, ‘Ninnenera nammi naanura’ and they interpreted many Tamil padams of Periasamy Thooran, Bharatiyar and Rajagopala Sharma that they took to every nook and corner of the state. They are proud to say that they were the ‘pioneers’ who spread the word of the ‘Kalakshetra-style solo natya.’ Today they have grown to be well-known all over the world and have a wide repertoire of solo choreographies, dance ballets and contemporary productions to their credit.
Dhananjayan’s passion after he turned 60 is BHAASKARA or Bhaarateeya Saamskaarika Kalaa Rangam, a centre for art, culture and education that he is establishing in his hometown in Payyanur, Kerala. Spread over 40 acres, the centre seeks to provide art-integrated education to the rural children as well as be a cultural hub like Kalakshetra or Shantiniketan.
Dhananjayan has also carved a role for himself as a socially conscious citizen and one who is interested in nation building. He is actively engaged in issues such as Chennai’s sanitary system and has lobbied for smoking to be banned in airports, in the railway compartments and in-flight. In his words, ‘Someone has to bell the cat!’
As both Shantha and Dhananjayan reminisce about their illustrious past and achievements, one can see that Athai’s dictum has been followed in spirit: ‘Whatever you do, do it well…’
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