“Although I’m often not able to retain the items which I choreograph now, I still remember all his original compositions,” laughs Kanaka Srinivasan, speaking of her guru, the late Vazhuvoor exponent B. Ramaiah Pillai, as she prepares to present a three-day dance festival in Delhi in honour of the legendary dancer.
Organised under the aegis of her institution Nrithyaranjani, in collaboration with the India Habitat Centre, this festival, which commences on July 1, will, as the veteran dancer believes, create awareness about the Vazhuvoor baani of Bharatanatyam and promote her guru’s distinctive style. At the same time, it promises to provide a solid platform for her young disciples to present their art.
Ramaiah Pillai was a pioneer in the way he sought to expand the scope of the form. While retaining its essential classicism, he brought in refreshing trends and introduced new themes and songs by contemporary poets like the freedom fighter and poet Subramania Bharathi.
Speaking of the thematic innovations brought on by her guru, Srinivasan says the nayika and the nayika bhava, and the notion of sringara – which used to be the main theme of a varnam – are no longer the only themes that dancers can explore. And it is such aspects of her guru’s work that she aims to bring to light through this festival.
On the first and second day, students from Kanaka Srinivasan’s troupe will present original compositions of Ramaiah Pillai. Natanam adinar, a celebration of the celestial dance of Shiva, will open the performance on the first day. While an opening invocation to Shiva and a depiction of his dance might have become more common in performances now, Srinivasan explains that it was not a part of the margam in those days, when compositions were typically based on subjects like the union between the Jeevatma and the Paramatma. The Natanam adinar will be followed by Kuravanji, a piece which presents the nayika who falls in love with the lord as he passes by in a procession and pines for his love.
While the Alarippu was the piece traditionally presented at the start of a performance, Srinivasan says that it was her guru who had introduced the trend of opening a show with Pushpanjali, a piece which will also incidentally open the performance on the second day of the festival. Pillai is known to have brought Carnatic vocal compositions, previously confined only to vocalists, within the purview of dance, an aspect which will be central to some of the choreographed pieces which are to follow.
Asked if any changes have been allowed to his original compositions, Srinivasan says that the pieces will be presented almost entirely as he had choreographed them.
On the final day of the festival, the dancers will present pieces choreographed by Srinivasan herself. She says that while padams and javalis were typically performed in those days, a composition based on a Meera bhajan, one of the slated pieces of the evening, will point once again to the new trends introduced by the natyacharya.
