| The Dhananjayans’
lives revolve around their students and their performances. Their relationships
with their students are quite different from those of traditional dance
teachers. The students love the relaxed atmosphere at Bharata Kalanjali
and the personal attention they receive. They are free to discuss any aspect
of their lives with their gurus and are encouraged to bring out their personalities
in dance as well as in their private lives. The Dhananjayans are proud
to claim that they have the distinction of performing items choreographed
by their students.
Consistent
training in Bharata Kalanjali has shaped many such students into excellent
human beings, teachers and professionals who are leading very happy, satisfying
lives. Some of them have become University rank holders, brilliant doctors
and academicians.
The Dhananjayans
proudly affirm that they have achieved at least 90% success in this. Maybe
about 2-3% of Bharata Kalanjali students have taken up dance as a career
but the others are using the discipline learnt here in their own careers.
STUDENTS
FROM OUTSIDE INDIA
In those days,
Kalakshetra offered only short-term training courses to foreign students.
Those students furthered their training with Bharata Kalanjali since they
followed the same tradition as Kalakshetra. One such student was Katherine,
who stayed with the Dhananjayans as a paying guest. Katherine was the first
foreigner whose arangetram was conducted by Bharata Kalanjali and it took
place at the Museum Theatre.
This was the
first arangetram of Bharata Kalanjali. Katherine is still active in her
field and runs a dance school Kalanjali in California with her husband
Kunhiraman, who was a teacher in Kalakshetra.
More foreign
students followed Katherine and the added revenue was not only helpful,
it helped the Dhananjayans to better the facilities. They took a bigger
cottage and the thatched roof now covered a bigger space. It was very convenient
to hold classes and rehearsals.
The steady
influx of foreign and Indian students boosted Bharata Kalanjali’s reputation
in the dance field. One such excellent student from America was Sheila
Christian, who stayed with the Dhananjayans for a long time and gave her
debut performance at R R Sabha, Chennai. Overwhelmed by the performance,
Kamala Lakshman who had been in the audience, came backstage after the
show, hugged Sheila and openly declared that Sheila was much better than
the Indian dancers! Sheila who had also learnt to play Carnatic music on
the veena, is presently based in Alabama and celebrates the 25th anniversary
of her dance school Natya Ananda in June 2003.
Katherine was
given a sponsorship by the American Consulate to travel all over India
to perform under the USIS banner and as her gurus, the Dhananjayans got
the wonderful opportunity to accompany her and be part of the impeccably
organized programs. At that time, the USIS used to encourage such art activities.
The highly sophisticated organization of these programs and the professional
treatment meted out, helped the Dhananjayans when it came to organizing
their own programs.
Once Sheila
completed her training, she also benefited from a USIS sponsorship.
Another remarkable
student is flamenco dancer Gloria Mandelik in Spain who does not do so
much Bharatanaatyam, as a combination of the different dance styles she
works with.
Bharata Kalanjali
became something of a resort to foreigners!
Many of these
dancers were wanted to fill in for the foreigners’ roles in movies, but
the Dhananjayans did not encourage this. In those days, dalliances with
cinema would have attached a stigma to the name of the institution and
they did not want that to happen to something they had struggled to achieve.
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