W hen you walk down the small by-lane in which Anuradha Vikranth’s Drishti Art Foundation is located, you do not expect a dance studio to pop up amidst rows of quiet, unimposing and beautifully built houses that mark the street. A small board announces its existence leading you to a narrow corridor at the end of which is an artistically done up studio swathed in warm lighting and a big mirror panel. As I stood marvelling at the space, I was told that Anuradha is rehearsing next door. What greets you there is even more appealing: a broad semi-open air studio with a roof alone as its shield. In this little portion of urban Bengaluru, the chirping of birds meets the dancer’s bells rather freely.
Anuradha stood there in front of a huge rectangle on the floor outlined using rangoli powder. The inside of this rectangle was also filled with white powder. Anuradha was rehearsing a piece in which, a virahotkanthita nayika , Valli, pining for her lover Skanda, is looking for ways to get her message across to him. She is desperately hoping Skanda, seated on top of the hill, will come back and be with her. After sifting through options, she chances upon the peacock and realises that there cannot be a better messenger than Skanda’s own vahana (vehicle).
A familiar story, an elaboration of nayika bheda , one thinks and just then, as the narrative reaches the point when the peacock is chosen, Anuradha steps into the rectangle and traces the outline of the magnificent peacock using her feet. Choreographically, while the dancer’s upper half of the body is portraying the features of a peacock, its beauty, mannerisms etc., simultaneously, her feet draw the bird on the floor, thereby ‘creating’ it. The process at Anuradha’s rehearsal was seamless. One was torn between watching her feet and her face—both of which were immersed in bringing a peacock to life on stage.
Anuradha will present this narrative titled ‘Mayura Sandesha’ this weekend, as part of her school’s annual dance festival, the 12th Drishti Dance Festival. “This is an adaptation of the Chitra Nritya technique which has conventionally been used in the Kuchipudi idiom. I’m so fascinated by this concept and feel that it fits right into this narrative. With the help of Dr. Veena Murthy Vijay who has conceptualised and directed this piece, I went about choreographing it,” says Anuradha.
As she spoke about how organising a festival is terribly challenging but deeply fulfilling too, I realised that in her demeanour both on and off stage, Anuradha manifests a sense of ebullience that is infectious. It is this enthusiasm that drives her choreographic projects, her dance school and even a dance magazine that she has been running for over ten years now. Drishti, the dance festival itself, which she and her husband Vikranth, have been hosting for 11 years now has only grown in scale and continues to host a variety of artists from across the country.
A disciple of Narmada and Padma Subrahmanyam, Anuradha began learning dance quite early in her life. “My mother noticed that I was quite restless as a child. She wanted to channelize my energy into something constructive and it was she who introduced me to Nirupama Rajendra, my first teacher. Nirupama was very young back then, and was herself a student of dance. But I could not have asked for a better beginning. She and I were like friends. I was one of her first students and was all hers,” remembers Anuradha. A glimpse of Nirupama’s own optimism and cheerfulness is visible in Anuradha and not without reason.
“Later, when Nirupama immersed herself in Kathak after marriage, she suggested I continue learning under her guru and that was Narmada. By then I had already done my Rangapravesha. At the age of 18, when I went to her, my practise was transformed again.” Anuradha would travel for about 25 kilometres each day from R.T.Nagar to Girinagar to learn under Narmada. “The commute used to be very tiring but the minute you see her, all your fatigue vanishes. After class, she would feed me, ensure my stomach is full and then send me off.”
Training under Narmada fortified Anuradha's foundation in dance and also gave her a dictum that she abides by even to this day. “In Narmada aunty’s class, the same varnam would be performed differently by different students. If I was doing a natadavu during a jati, someone else would be doing a jaradavu . She would say that a dancer should choose those movements which look good on his or her body or one that he or she is comfortable doing. So, within the Pandanallur framework, she would say a composition needn’t be set in stone. She showed how there is room for flexibility but one that at the same time does not step out of tradition.”
The journey took a different turn when Anuradha met Padma Subrahmanyam. “It is every dancer’s dream to learn under her. It was my father who first took me to see her perform in Bengaluru. She presented Ragithandeera , a Purandaradasa composition and I was so moved by the performance that I was in tears. Much later, when I got a chance to do my MFA under her, I just couldn’t believe it. She has a wealth of information that is waiting to be absorbed.” Towards the end of her MFA, Anuradha was asked if she would be willing to learn the Karanas. “I couldn’t believe my ears! I continue to go to her to learn them. The Karanas have a unique way of making you realise the different nerve centres and bones in your body. The training is demanding and challenging but extremely fulfilling. So many disciplines inform dance-- philosophy, temple architecture etc. to name just a few.” She points to a large painting enlisting the different types of Karanas fixed against the wall in her studio and one gains a sense of the complexity of the subject.
The Secretary of the World Dance Alliance-Karnataka Chapter, Anuradha feels that Bengaluru is self sufficient when it comes to the infrastructure for dance -- whether it is in terms of opportunities or facilities. “If there is something that is lacking, it is a consistent debate and discussion on theoretical aspects of dance, a sustained intellectual enquiry where scholars, practitioners and artists get together and delve deeper into the tenets of dance. Something like the Natyakala conference in Chennai.” Drishti, also the name of the quarterly she runs, is an endeavour in this respect. Where does she find the energy to handle so many things at once? Is it necessary to be a multi-tasker in the age of severe competition? “I’ve always enjoyed doing things at my own pace. I believe a dancer’s journey is more inward-driven than through external factors or competition. None of this was planned, really. Things just fell into place.”
January 21, 6.15 p.m., Chowdiah Memorial Hall, ‘Drishti Puraskar’ will be given to Padmini Ravi and Bala Devi Chandrashekar. This will be followed by ‘Arpana’, a performance by Drishti Dance Ensemble, ‘Mayura Sandesha’ by Anuradha Vikranth, ‘Aakash’ by Natya STEM Dance Kampni and ‘Lasya Mohana’ by Gopika Varma and her ensemble. Entry is free.
