Knowledge grows when knowledge is shared. Different ideas in a group give rise to thousand ideas. Senior dancer Anupama Kylash recently shared her experiences on great Telugu poet Sri Annamacharya that his kirtanas or Padams keertanaspadams are very much adaptable to dance. Kuchipudi and Vilasini Natyam practitioner, Anupama, says: “The bhakti literature of Annamacharya is waiting to be explored. His pada kavitas are suitable for dance and abhinaya .”
With over 600 performances and a doctorate from the University of Hyderabad, on the Shringara Sankeertanas of Annamayya and suitability to dance – with special reference to nayika bhavas , Anupama organised three workshops spread over two days each across the city last month. In the first workshop held at Saptaparni, Anupama lectured trained Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi dancers on Annamacharya Nayikas .
According to Anupama, the songs of Annamaya, with their fine imageries and subtle nuances of emotion and sentiment are a great treasure trove to dancers and choreographers. The Kuchipudi exponent says: “Annamaya used the medium of Shringara with sublime aesthetics to depict the love saga of Lord Venkateshwara and his consort Alamelmanga. He wrote many lyrics with himself as the central attraction as a wide variety of nayikas who lived and breathed for Venkatapati.” She adds that the saint’s nayikas are ‘ jeev nayikas ’, and play so many characteristic and uncharacteristic patterns.
In the second workshop conducted at Our Sacred Space, Secunderabad, on the language of dance was for dance teachers, dancers and dance lovers. This was an interactive session, wherein Anupama gave a verse and the participants had to interpret it. In short a dance theatre. The Kuchipudi specialist says there are four types of abhinaya . “Firstly Angika – body movement, secondly Vachika – speech, thirdly Ahirya – costume and lastly the Satvika – the final stage of Indian dance to create aesthetic pleasure. Dance has to come from the heart.”
In fact as a child many take to dance because of the rich costume and jewellery. At the Sacred Space workshop, those who could not dance enjoyed the dynamics of dance, while the dancers enacted with a challenge. However, in short it was a challenge on how a dancer could communicate through dance.
In the last and final workshop at Feet on Earth studio, Sainikpuri, Anupama dealt with Laya in Indian dance forms, with emphasis on South Indian dance forms. A purely technical workshop, spotlight is on the structure and usage of rhythm. “The structure is common to different dance forms and what varies is interpretation.” The idea of conducting a workshop arose after a visit to the US, early this year, where people were interested in theory of dance. “For a dancer to choreograph a composition, she must be aware of the structure of jattis ,” Anupama says.
