The Kalakshetra Baani Festival 2016 was a landmark event in the city’s cultural calendar. It brought together practitioners from hereditary nattuvanar families, senior dancers, dance historians, scholars and younger dancers, after a gap of many decades to represent the stylistic traditions of the great masters. It was more poignant since many doyens of Bharatanatyam, who were present at the last such gathering — Sruti Foundation’s Bani Festival in 1989 — gurus Vazhuvoor Ramiah Pillai, Mahalingam Pillai, K.P.Kittappa Pillai, V.S. Muthuswamy Pillai, etc are not with us anymore.
The six-day Baani festival presented lec-dems on the schools of Vazhuvoor, Pandanallur, Kalakshetra, Mysore, Kattumannarkoil Muthukumara Pillai, Thanjavur Baani through Kittappa Pillai and Kanjeevaram Ellappa, Tiruvidaimarudur and the Kandappa Pillai-T.Balasaraswati. Besides, Padma Subrahmanyam threw light on margi-style Bharatanrithyam and Braga Bessel highlighted Kalanidhi Narayanan’s abhinaya style. In addition were insight lectures by experts and discussions with musicians and dancers, followed by evening performances by celebrated artists such as Dr. Vyjayanthimala Bali, Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam, Rhadha and Alarmel Valli. A session on dance in films was presented by dance-scholar V.A.K. Ranga Rao.
Modern dance history as we know it begins with a few families of which Gangaimuthu Nattuvanar (1760), his son Subbaraya Oduvar and his grandsons, the Thanjavur Quartet — Chinniah, Ponniah, Vadivelu and Sivanandam - are best known. The quartet changed the face of Sadir (as the dance form was then known) in the 1800s, by laying down a presentation format that is followed even today.
The Kandappa Pillai-T. Balasaraswati Baani was represented by the senior torch-bearer of the tradition and art critic Nandini Ramani , who was a disciple of Kandappa Pillai’s son K. Ganesan and the famous exponent Balasaraswati. She spoke of a style consisting of rigorous nritta enriched with musicality. While the jathi korvais seemed simple and fast-paced, Kandappa would quietly set each korvai with a different eduppu (start), usually not from the first beat of the tala cycle, and end in sama. Another distinct feature was the unbroken musical rendering even during nritta portions. Usage of the five jaathis was considered important in the jatiswaram pallavi and in the varnam and thillana korvais. But their usage would be in non-typical ways and not obvious. Balasaraswati followed the Thanjavur Quartet margam and considered the jatiswaram very important. It usually commenced with poi adavus (steps without stamping) before blending into the sama pada of the pallavi after which came the korvais in the various jaathis.
The style was devoid of any glamourous movements or poses. The dancer was supposed to maintain a serene expression, not even a broad smile that may detract from the execution of steps. The overall effect was unhurried . Each varnam had its own jathis, most often not interchanged. The thattu-mettu sequences were straightforward, usually in chatusra, unless there was a turbulent note in the lyrics, in which case it would change to tisra gati for greater effect.
The abhinaya, often referred to as visualised music, had strict boundaries — no loose hands or poses, with clear, minimal hasta mudras. The elaborations or sancharis were conveyed with minimal fuss. Sensitivity to sangatis in the music was most important and the movements had to resonate with the musical flow. The pace of emoting was unhurried and was accompanied by an occasional skip of a line to walk back and forth- a must for visranti , says Nandini. Abhinaya was performed while standing and there was no concept of rehearsed movements. According to the gurus, abhinaya has to flow spontaneously.
Pandanallur Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai (1869-1954) was the visionary behind the famous Pandanallur Baani, known for its geometry, purity of tradition and understated emotions. Senior dancer Meenakshi Chitharanjan , disciple of the doyen’s son-in-law Chokkalingam Pillai and grandson Subbaraya Pillai, spoke of the baani’s training module, with support from Nattuvanar Pandanallur Pandian. “Great importance was given to adavu teaching. At the start of every class, we practised the adavus on the right and left, in all three speeds. Some adavus such as the ‘thai ha thai hi’ and ‘tha thai thai tha’ were practised as combination adavus. After we learnt the adavus, we were taught items, but only those of the Thanjavur Quartet,” she informed
The cornerstones of the Pandanallur baani were, ‘Araimandi (half-seated stance), Amaidi (unhurried), Attami (side to side neck movements), Azhuthathil azhagu (firm stamping yet graceful).’ The entries and exits had no fuss — Meenakshi was told to walk in briskly, dance and exit briskly. The nritta was usually in medium tempo. The students were told not to stamp too forcefully; the flow was to be maintained without jerks. Every movement in the adavus had to be given its full attention, whether it was a forward bend in ‘thaiyyum tha tha' or an expansive step in 'thaa thai thai tha’, performed with a ‘punn sirippu,’ a slight smile on the face, that can even mask mistakes! The jathis were like crackers — short and crisp with steps on the right, repeated on the left, with a different ending part. Fractional moments of silence and pauses (karvais) and movements taken in the offbeat (usi) , added to the rhythmic charm.
Abhinaya was minimalistic. Importance was given to the lyrics. The baani does not attach much importance to the story-telling aspects, the sancharis. The hastas of this baani are simple, clear and always to beat. In the 1970-80s, though Bharatanatyam as an art form had gained acceptance, the masters were still very cautious about teaching love songs to young learners. Since their repertoire was restricted to the Quartet, they sometimes did not have a choice. Meenakshi had an interesting anecdote about how she was asked to handle lyrics when she was about nine, in the ‘Mohamana’ padavarnam, in which the infatuated heroine longs for Tiruvarur Tyagesa’s attention. She was asked to hiccup and breathe out to show sadness and despair!
As regards the music, Meenakshi avers that it was the music that guided her masters’ sensibilities towards choreography. They insisted that any creative flourishes in the singing finish in samam, otherwise there would be no difference between a varnam and a padam. The Pandanallur baani believes in the credo, ‘Do a little to convey a lot, rather than do a lot and convey little…’
Style guide
Baani or tradition refers to the stylistic differences between various schools of dance established by their descendants. Baanis were named after the village the masters came from. Most of the hereditary Oduvar families are from Thanjavur. And most are related, either by birth or by marriage. In the past, masters such as K.P. Kittappa Pillai denied any stylistic differences; Kalyanasundaram Pillai today acknowledges them and admits to a sense of competition that existed between the families, but certainly no enmity, he is quick to add.
Cynics may question the relevance of baani in an era of individualism. Dancers train under different gurus, or borrow ideas from another style and incorporate it into their own. True, but the argument is redundant in reality as a tree needs to establish root systems before it can grow a beautiful canopy. Well-known dancer Rama Vaidyanathan conveyed it clearly, ‘Baani is very important in the training process. There has to be an organic growth from the guru’s style to your own, and this can happen only after many years of engaging with the established traditions.’ Another well-known dancer Meenakshi Srinivasan made a pertinent point that, ‘We got our core values only from baani.’ Scholar Ashish Khokar takes a sociological view, ‘Baani represents family and who does not want to belong?’
In this context, it must be said that it was heartening to hear the passion and involvement of the young inheritors of the baanis in a panel discussion — Nrithya Pillai (Vazhuvoor), Harikrishnan Kalyanasundaram (Tiruvidaimarudur) and Aniruddha Knight (T. Balasaraswati).
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