Daughter of the legendary Bharatanatyam guru, Dhandayudhapani Pillai, Dr. Uma Anand has been carrying forward her father’s legacy since she was a 20-year old, when she lost her father.
The nattuvanar hailed from a family of musicians and was basically a singer. Uma’s grandfather Natesa Pillai was a singer and a nagaswaram vidwan. his brother was Thirunallar Ramakrishna Nattuvanar, from whom Dhandayudhapani learnt initially. When he joined Kalakshetra as a musician, he came under the guidance and influence of the great guru Meenakshisundaram Pillai. Soon, he developed his own style and later became a well-known guru himself.
With this background, it is not surprising that Uma became a sought-after guru. She began learning dance from her father at the age of 5. During the last year of his life, Pillai had asked her to take classes and she continues to do so till date. In 1998, she joined the Annamalai University, where along with teaching, she also did her PhD. in dance. Her guide initially was vidwan O.S. Thyagarajan and later, thavil vidwan, Haridwaramangalam Palanivel. “They helped to some extent on the tala aspect, but as far as dance was concerned, I had to study on my own,” says Uma. Even while teaching in Chidambaram, she would visit Chennai during weekends to teach. She retired in 2013 from the University.
Uma was a batch-mate of actress-dancer Srividya when she was learning under Pillai. Those days, Uma would perform at anniversary programmes along with others. Only after her father’s demise did she begin giving performances, though not too frequently. She finally, stopped when she was in her 30s. She says, “Teaching took up much of my time and I didn’t get enough time to practise. Without sufficient practice, one shouldn’t go on stage.”
How about the students at the University, do they become performers or teachers? She replies, “Students hailing from other parts of Tamil Nadu mostly become teachers since it is very difficult to get opportunities to perform on stage. One needs to have influence and should be prepared to spend considerable amount of money for every recital, which is not possible for most of them.
Students from abroad such as Mauritius, Sri Lanka and Malaysia come here to learn, and when they go back, they establish dance schools there.
Financially, it is more beneficial to be a dance teacher; one can’t make a living as a performing artist.”
“Many leading artists run their own dance schools. They manage to present recitals from the fee they get from students. Quite often, it’s group programmes, as only for that can one expect a decent crowd. Even then it is difficult to sell tickets; sponsorship too is not easy to come by.”
Uma visits Toronto, Canada, every year for six weeks to teach at the study centre conducted jointly by the Annamalai University. They follow the same syllabus as the University and exams are also conducted. She is quite well known there. This past year, though she couldn’t go to teach due to family problems. But she was invited to preside over an arangetram and went for four days, all expenses paid.
“There are many schools teaching Bharatanatyam there and parents spend lavishly for arangetrams. Some of the young dancers have come and performed in Chennai. Competitions are held at Cleveland, U.S., and the winners get a chance to perform here.” She conducts workshops in other countries as well.
Dhandayudhapani Pillai had composed several pieces for dance in Tamil, particularly varnams, which are quite popular among dancers. He had brought out a book on these compositions. Uma has transliterated them into English and has published them along with his biography. In fact, she has added a few which are not available in the earlier version.
His lyrics are in a simple language and the compositions are replete with ragabhavam.
Uma used to sing earlier but now she has a few regular vocalists who provide vocal support for recitals of her disciples. With her cheerful and friendly demeanour, Uma continues to attract students and some of her earlier students, who have given up dancing, still keep in touch with her.
