The first thing that strikes you about Lakshmi Vishwanathan is her contentment. She smiles remembering the highs and lows, which underlines an acceptance of the good and the bad, which in turn reflects her spiritual leaning. She has been honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award recently by Krishna Gana Sabha during its International Dance Day celebration, for her years of dance, choreography, research and writing. Lakshmi is touched by the honour. She does not seek attention but when it happens, it is really nice, she feels.
The years sit lightly on Lakshmi Vishwanathan, who is often described as a poetic dancer. With a career spanning over 50 years, she combines tradition with innovation without diluting the classicism. Creative without being pedantic, she is a dancer who represents the essence of the Thanjavur bani, mastering a vast repertoire and adding to it her own compositions and choreography. She has directed several dance-theatre productions, studied the history of dance and authored books.
“Krishna Gana Sabha award came as a surprise,” she says. “I think getting an award is one way of being in the news, even if you are not performing,” she adds with her customary candour.
“I view my dance journey as a yatra — a pilgrimage — and one of discovery as it has been a spiritual, a knowledge-seeking path. It is not only about performing. It is an expression through either a small song of Avvaiyar or a big varnam, which I have not danced before, or a pasuram or a Kshetreyya padam. All this searching , brought me closer to our own culture. This coming together of poetry, music and dance has been an enriching experience.”
Lakshmi had her arangetram, when she was seven, in 1953, at the Rasika Ranjani Sabha, Mylapore, where her performance was presided over by E. Krishna Iyer, founder-secretary of The Music Academy. Soon she was performing in some of the oldest sabhas such as the Indian Fine Arts Society and Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha. “I still have the silver bowl (chandana pela) given by the Indian Fine Arts Society.”
Lakshmi came under the tutelage of Kancheepuram Ellappa in 1968 for a five-year intensive training. In him she found the ideal teacher and learnt a vast repertoire. “I learnt Carnatic music too. I graduated in English Literature from Queen Mary’s College and chose dance as a career. I learnt Kuchipudi, which lent a new dimension to my Bharatanatyam style. My guru supported me in my endeavour.”
Trying new things
Her first European tour was in 1971, followed by many more as the years went by. “Recognition motivated me to do better and try new things. Of course, there have been ups and downs when it came to performance, but I diversified into research and teaching. I had a Government of India fellowship and had foreigners as students. I was doing long workshops abroad, where I taught ballerinas Bharatanatyam steps,” she says.
Continuous interaction with such people honed her skills as a writer. “I expanded my repertoire and continued dancing at all the festivals including those abroad. It was then that I started writing articles for newspapers. I also interacted with international artistes. In fact, recently, Mark Morris, one of the greatest choreographers who does modern dance to classical music, and I presented the South Indian festival at the Lincoln Centre. I love the musicality of Mark’s production and choreography and he is a good friend, who loves South India. It was a prestigious, 10-day event, and it is great to be looked upon as an authority on such things.”
It is therefore not surprising that Lakshmi has emerged as a cultural ambassador. “What more can you ask for when institutions such as Krishna Gana Sabha recognise you as an expert on dance and its allied subjects,” she says. “I have reinvented myself by choreographing and interacting with young dancers, working on new productions and also doing solos, one of which is ‘Life of M.S. Subbulakshmi.’ I like experimenting. It is the theatricality of dance that I find so interesting,” she reveals.
“Indian dance is the only genre that uses a lot of facial expressions. Different rasas and moods can be invoked to convey a single emotion. Last year in Singapore, I presented the padam, ‘Yaarukkagilum Bhayama’ at a workshop and the students were eager to know how I would approach it. I showed them 20 ways of doing ‘bhayama.’ I feel happy when I put my experience to good use. Wisdom is something you cannot share, but knowledge you can.”
What would be the highlights of this yatra? “My concept of moving away from mythology — it is kind of path breaking as the Krishna-Rama themes are usual; none of my big productions were based on mythology. I wanted to tell real stories. One of my major works is the four aspects of the freedom movement. With the Gandhian philosophy at the core, ‘Chaturanga’ had Bharatiar’s patriotic songs. It was telecast on National TV, and in Singapore too. It was fulfilling to present a theme like that without changing the technique of Bharatanatyam.”
Lakshmi mentions dancing at unusual places such as Israel and Iran, where people have not seen much of Indian dance, as other high points. “In those places, the audiences are highly cultured; they have hundreds of artistes and their response to Bharatanatyam was heartening. In Iran, people stood close to the stage to observe. Some elderly women even pressed cash into my palms after the show. It was at once funny and endearing. When I danced at Jacob’s Pillow, U.S., the whole season was sold out. In some of the European cities and cultural forums, audiences don’t stop cheering until you do an encore. It was quite demanding on the first occasion, but I got used to the experience,” she explains.
Aura of temples
“One evening, I danced at the Big Temple, Thanjavur, right next to the Nandi, much before the Natyanjali came about. It had rained an hour before and there was a huge rainbow. It is not something that I can ever forget — dancing under a rainbow in a temple so venerated. I might do a dance based on the Brihadeeswara —already done 30 years ago — but today as I write my notes I get new ideas. I was giving a series of lectures in Singapore on the Thanjavur temple – the response was so tremendous that they all wanted to visit the temple with me to experience all that I spoke about. When I wrote a book on Kapaleeswara Temple, Mylapore, I took the Rotarians on a morning visit. All arts are connected, I truly believe in that. Keeping the doors of the mind open is so important.”
What about collaborations with other senior dancers? “I have not really done that. I continue to work with young dancers from different schools. I prefer that as they have to listen to me. I don’t see myself listening to anyone else! Having said that I did Gita Govindam along with Sonal Mansingh and Sadanam Balakrishnan in three styles — Odissi, Bharatanatyam and Kathakali. It would be nice, however, if I could be a guest choreographer at Kalakshetra, where there is a group of people willing to work.”
So what next? “I'm planning a different kind of dance theatre to celebrate Tyagaraja’s 250th birth anniversary. I had done Tyagaraja Ramayana many years ago and also Navarasa Sita. I had also done Krishna Darshan through songs from different languages. Come to think of it, I have done the mythological bit too.”
Looking back, would you have changed anything? “I don’t think I would change anything artistically. But I might have used technology, where thousands can instantly see my art,” she says.
A word for aspirants? “Enjoy what you are doing without expecting too much in return. Take your art seriously, and excel in it. Don’t succumb to insane competition.”
