The sacred framework

Renowned dancer Vasundhara Doraswamy combined yoga and Bharatanatyam which is now among the predominant features of a style named after her by her students, the Vasundhara Bani. Bashful to talk about her vocation, she tells ARCHANA NATHAN that yoga changes one’s outlook to life

January 07, 2016 05:34 pm | Updated September 22, 2016 11:02 pm IST - Bengaluru

Karnataka : Bengaluru : 05-01-2016 : Dancer Vasundhara Doreswamy interacting with The Hindu Metro in Bengaluru on Tuesday  05 January 2016. Photo : Sudhakara Jain.

Karnataka : Bengaluru : 05-01-2016 : Dancer Vasundhara Doreswamy interacting with The Hindu Metro in Bengaluru on Tuesday 05 January 2016. Photo : Sudhakara Jain.

As I stood in the doorway at Seva Sadan waiting for Bharatanatyam dancer Vasundhara Doraswamy, I began checking my notes to see if I had jotted down all the questions I needed to ask her. The task ahead seemed gargantuan: profiling more than 60 years of a life immersed in dance through one conversation! Apart from founding her own school of dance, Vasundhara was one of the recipients of the State Rajyotsava Award, the youngest recipient of the 'Karnataka Kala Tilak',an a-grade artist at Doordarshan, once member of the audition committee of Doordarshan and a member of the Mysore University Selection Committee for dance. Celebrated across the State for imbibing Yoga and its philosophy into Bharatanatyam and for also successfully, linking folklore and classical dance, I wondered which among these, I should focus on.

Finally, right when the clock struck 4.30 p.m. , she walked into the hall, dressed in a radiant maroon silk sari. I nervously walked up to her. “I’m too old fashioned and awkward. I don’t even know what to say about myself,” said Vasundhara Doreswamy, smiling sheepishly, as I greeted her. Taken aback, I smiled. She put her hand on my shoulder and asked if I had learnt dance too and slowly we made our way to the green room. Just before I began recording, she pulled her chair closer and looked nervously at me. “What do I say? Where do I start?,” she asked.

There is a charming humility to Vasundhara, I realised, one that is difficult to capture in words. She has a Bharatanatyam bani named after her and over 3000 students across the world but at heart, she is still a girl from a small town, mightily nervous at the thought of talking about herself.

“Like every parent those days, mine too sent me to dance class at a young age. It was no extraordinary story. I was four when I first began learning dance. Then, my father decided that I should learn Bharatanatyam properly. So, he introduced me to Guru Rajarathnam Pillai who used to come home to teach me. That was it, ever since then, dance has been with me,” she remarked.

After her vidwat in Bharatanatyam, Vasundhara was married to Dr. H.H. Doreswamy who encouraged her to pursue yoga along with Bharatanatyam. “I learnt Yoga from Pattabhi Jois. I began to discern the similarities between Yoga and dance. I went to my guru and asked him if I could do my Ph.D thesis on the relationship between Yoga and Bharatanatyam. He candidly said, I could do whatever I wanted, dismissing me, a young girl and my new found discoveries,” she narrated with a chuckle. Little did she know then that she would chance upon a wealth of knowledge that would not only set her apart from other dancers but would go on to shape every aspect of her life.

What was it that drew her to Yoga? “I think I began to realise how much the practise of Yoga could help my dance. Even theoretically, I was inspired by the fact that Abhinava Bharata mentions shanta Rasa as the mother of all rasas. For me, shanta rasa and Yoga have an incredible connection. Even in terms of abhinaya, I discovered that the practise of pranayama can help dancers emote. Monitoring the gaps and pauses one takes while doing pranayama can help a dancer in expressing karuna and ascharya, for instance,” she explained.

Today, if there is one thing that binds all aspects of Vasundhara’s life, it is Yoga. “Yoga helps preserve memory, be agile, preserve the body and also changes one’s outlook to life,” she said.

Gradually, she began introducing minor changes in her dance, inspired by yogasanas and theory. Did she have to fight the purists? “I have a dictum about dance and even what is now called fusion. One can imbibe principles from various art forms but one must never transcend the framework of a given form. That, for me, is sacred. Art has to uplift people. We shouldn’t stoop low just to please everybody,” she added.

“I’ve never understood this craze for fusing different dance forms. I’m someone who believes one lifetime is not enough to conduct improvisations within one style. The only reason I took to folklore or Yoga was because it would help my dance,” she explained.

Vasundhara bani too, she says, was something that was given its name by her students. “I’m fortunate that my students got together and created this bani. I have trained over 3000 students who are teaching dance across the world.” The Vasundhara Bani puts the focus on the dancer. “A dancer, at the end of the day, has to look good on stage. I haven’t changed the broad framework of the style. But I have introduced minor changes. I have introduced some changes about how dancers enter and exit the stage, etc.,” she said, demonstrating her bani.

She may be shy at heart but her beliefs, especially when it comes to her practise are firm. “I don’t understand when dancers say they lose themselves in their dance on stage. I think a dancer must and is always conscious that he or she is on stage. Involvement is good, but it has its limits. What this consciousness does is help a dancer better his or her practise. It may be a divine form, but finally it is something that we showcase on stage,” maintains Vasundhara. After being a core member of selection committees both at University-level and at television, Vasundhara feels that a lot needs to be done for dancers from the State. “We don’t have many avenues for our dancers here. It is still a struggle when it does not have to be one. If only channels and selection committees woke up to this,” she said.

At this point, one by one, former students and admirers of Vasundhara began to approach her to take her blessings. I stepped back to watch their interaction. Just then, she reached out to me and said, “Why don’t you come to Mysore sometime? We can have a longer conversation then.”

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