Rediscovering her roots

I SAW Sucheta Chapekar for the first time performing an exquisite swarajati in Chakravakam, sung by guru Kittappa Pillai. Every note in music and dance was fine-tuned. It was difficult to believe that a Pune native could identify herself so completely with a Thanjavur genre.

Sucheta continues to live in Sadashivpeth, the Mylapore of Pune, in a house tucked into a lane, unassuming and gentle like the artiste herself. The dance studio is flanked by a little shrine with an orange god. I watch as Sucheta puts a student through the Ganapati stuti in Hamsadhvani. The movements are pure Bharatanatyam, but the language is Marathi, from the verses of the 17th century Thanjavur ruler Shahaji. I recall how, in the 1970s, Sucheta had pulled out Shahaji's dance compositions from dusty texts at the Saraswati Mahal Library, and presented them at the Madras Music Academy, with Kittappa Pillai's musical score and choreography. A pleasing challenge to Pillai, as Shahaji had been the patron of his nattuvanar ancestors.

For Sucheta it was a pioneering journey, a rediscovery of her roots in far off Tamil Nadu, where, under the Maratha kings, local culture had been nurtured, and enriched by influences from the North. Her initial guru Parvati Kumar had introduced her to the compositions of King Serfoji. Kittappa Pillai used to visit Parvati Kumar who experimented with new alloys for his cymbals, "That's how I saw Kittappa Pillai for the first time, making the room ring as he tested their resonance," Sucheta recalls. Her father had already pointed out that though she had technical skills, she lacked something essential. Watching Kittappa Pillai made the young girl realise that the missing element was musicality, the soul of Bharatanatyam. She also found that the real grandeur of the genre was inherent in the slower kalapramanam, not in reckless speed.

Thus began a 15-year association with "Vaadyar", starting in 1970, when Sucheta approached the Thanjavur doyen with the request that he compose the music and dance for the Marathi, Hindi and Sanskrit darus and padas of King Shahaji. Pillai's family knew some of the old obsolescent ragas like Padi, Gummakambodi and Gauri, mentioned in the text; he also decided to set the tunes in Desya ragas like Behag, Kapi and Kanada, using a gleamimg Begada like a Kshetrayya padam, when he thought the verse demanded it. He was also familiar with the older forms of dance compositions which were part of his family heritage. Sucheta noticed how he always stressed the bhava of the lyric, occasionally taking liberties with the sastra to retain the impact of the words.

"No, communication was not hard, though I knew little Tamil and less Telugu." They could always resort to abhinaya to get over the difficulties!

Teaching methods differed. While Parvati Kumar had explained everything in detail, Kittappa Pillai would say little, and dole out small doses of teaching everyday. "Idu podum," he would say unrelentingly. Having left her child at home and travelled to Thanjavur or Bangalore for classes, Sucheta shed tears. "But he was right. Everything he taught me then - whether "Sami ninne" (ragamalika), "Sumasayaka" (Kapi), "Saminee" (Khamas), "Yemataladira" (Huseni) - is still imprinted on my mind as nothing before or since."

Pillai was also struck by Sucheta's knowledge of dance notation, which made it possible for her to reproduce exactly what was taught the day before. And she tried to learn not just performance numbers from him, but his whole approach to composing nritta and abhinaya. "His abhinaya inhered not in the hastas, but in the musical expression, in the the variations he brought to each line. His singing had an audio-visual quality that you cannot find in a mere vocalist."

With such an accent on the music, how did Pillai react to Sucheta's evolving a totally different kind of music for her Nrityaganga productions, with Hindustani music for traditional Bharatanatyam? "Actually, I was so groomed in Carnatic music that this was quite a revolutionary move for me," Sucheta chuckles. But the need to communicate to audiences in Maharashtra and the northern States made her take that step. Pillai had his reservations, but "He was touched by Hindustani music, and came to accept my departures."

The disciple recalls not only the Vaadyar's severe discipline, but his impish smile and sparkling eyes as well. Her lec dem on the rare compositions of Pillai at the Natyakala Conference, Sri Krishna Gana Sabha (16 Dec) is a tribute to the guide who helped her explore a world of beauty, and find her own niche there.

GOWRI RAMNARAYAN

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Entertainment
Next     : Milestone in modern dance