U.S.-based Bharatanatyam exponent Vidhya Subramanian was recently in New Delhi to present Vinimaya – Reciprocity between sringara and bhakti at the India Habitat Center. Revolving around the relationship between love and devotion, this graceful composition celebrates the spiritual union of the human with the divine. Moments after her expressive recital, I caught up with the dancer for a brief chat about various aspects of her performance. Excerpts:
You have mentioned before that you view the dance form as a medium of worship, ‘an instrument of bhakti’. How do the devotional and sensual elements work together?
I think they go perfectly and beautifully together. I did my Masters in Theatre Arts where my focus was on Bharatanatyam, and my thesis was on the reciprocity between sringara and bhakti. Often in classical dance forms, we get caught up in the differences between bhakti pieces and sringara pieces, but I discovered and understood during my research that there is no big divide. There is a sense of borrowing from each other; one cannot exist without the other. In the ashtapadi today, Radha is recounting her first love encounter with Krishna where she describes that ultimate union, the union of the souls rather than the bodies, and that is where bhakti comes in.
How does the emotive aspect fit into the formal structures of the dance which are quite stylised?
Abhinaya is a huge part of the classical dance forms. We have lokadharmi and natyadharmi. The stylised is known as natyadharmi. There is abhinaya in nritta as well — expression in pure dance. For example, if you take the varnam which I performed today, when you’re segueing from the abhinaya to the jatis (percussive patterns of ornamental or ‘pure’ dance that punctuate a varnam), you’re still the nayika. You don’t become just a dancer doing pure dance movements. You’re still that woman who is the central character in that piece. If you separate the two, the seamlessness is lost.
Would you say that dance and theatre are closely interwoven in your style?
For me, theatre is a big part of it. I have actually worked in theatre — in “Noor” written and directed by Feisal Alkazi — and during that experience, I learnt a lot about how dance can borrow from theatre. I’m sure this was part of the training in the olden days, but I wish it were part of the training even now. To give you an example, through workshops and rehearsals for a theatre performance, one learns to dispel the notion of the ‘I’, the ‘me’; the dancer ceases to exist, you’re just the character playing that role. In solo performances, you’re alone and imagining another character, but it’s still a conversation. My abhinaya guru [Kalanidhi Narayanan] taught us how to think conversationally when you are emoting, and that is something we can borrow from theatre.
You didn’t use a live orchestra today. Do you generally prefer that to studio recorded pieces?
Yes, I usually perform with a live orchestra and I definitely prefer that. There’s a huge difference between the two, the mood is different; one has a sense of freedom. In abhinaya, there is room for creativity, more space for extempore ideas to come through, and that is possible only when you have a live orchestra.
You mostly do solo work. How do you develop your solo pieces?
Sometimes it starts with an idea, sometimes it is just the varnam — a composition I simply adore. Each time it’s a different impetus. But yes, music is a big driving force.
Then comes the research — it’s crucial to know the lyrics inside out, to know the meaning, to understand what’s behind it. Your ideas of course come out of your creativity and imagination. It’s very hard to say where they come from. It may be something you see, it may be something your child does…anything could be an inspiration. It’s never just yours; it’s what you borrow from the world.
Would you say your style is greatly based on the narrative aspect, i.e. on storytelling?
I think it is primarily emotion-based. The narrative aspect is a big part of all our classical forms, but I think emotion rules for me, both in pure dance and abhinaya.
You mentioned that there is a certain baring of the soul that happens each time you go on stage. Which aspects of this piece do you feel very intimately connected to?
In general, it is the idea of connecting with the nayika’s emotional state wherein I transfer my feelings on to her . . . I am her.
Also, the idea that] were we to see spirituality in every relationship in life, wouldn’t they all be beautiful?
