REVOLUTIONARY NEW REPERTOIRE IN BHARATANAATYAM (1969)

In those days, people who left Kalakshetra were looked upon as defectors. In 1969, the Dhananjayans presented their students in select corporate shows, at hotels, weddings, conferences and for tourists. Dhananjayan had left Kalakshetra in 1968, but Shanta was still a member of faculty there and when Rukmini Devi questioned her about presenting Kalakshetra items outside the institution, the Dhananjayans realized the need to explore new avenues that would bring out their talent and creativity. This gave them the impetus to create several pieces that were completely out of the standard repertoire.

In 1969, the Dhananjayans presented a full evening�s performance of never before seen items at the Museum Theatre in Chennai. It was the start of a new era in the Bharatanaatyam repertoire that fired the imagination of those used to seeing only standard items. The Dhananjayans adapted works of contemporary composers on which to choreograph their solo items. In the place of alarippu, Dhananjayan produced Naatyaanjali to begin a recital, which had five rhythms and ragas. He renamed their dance interpretation of varnam as Nrutyopahaaram and Tillana as Nrittangahaaram.

�In our programs you will read new names like Natyanjali, Nrittaswaravali, Nrutyopahaaram, Nrittangahaaram, Abhinaya Padam etc. I think these terms coined by me are more appropriate for these dance items.�

Naatyaanjali
Dhananjayan�s invocatory number Naatyaanjali took the place of Alarippu or Kauthuvam. It had a specific significance, not merely a philosophical one. Composed out of various Mandalas, Padachari, Padabhedas etc., and woven into the straits of the five tala (Jaathi) variations, exploiting the anga-pratyanga-upangas, it culminated in the invocation to various deities, thus introducing simple hastas and mudras. A student who is adept in this should be able to know all these theoretical aspects as realized in actual practice.

This inaugural item in Hindola ragam, an item by Guru Elappa Pillai, done only by him and his students was the first solo dance choreography that Dhananjayan did. From the first time he heard the music and saw the item being performed, he was very enamored with the beauty of the piece and asked Guru Elappa Pillai for permission to use it. The liberal Guru happily gave Dhananjayan the music for it.

The title was novel, so was the item, combining the ingredients of alarippu, jatiswaram and sabdam put together. Creative, but without deviating from the traditional format, this proved to be very appealing to the public. The Sanskrit word Naatyaanjali is now a familiar one and to the Dhananjayans goes the credit of popularizing it as the name of an item.

Nrutyopahaaram
A varnam is an offering of dance and mime. In place of the Varnam, the Dhananjayans introduced 'Nrutyopahaaram'. Varnam is a musical term adapted to dance and it does not denote the component constituents of dance, Nritta, Nrithya and Natya that make up such a central piece. The term Nrityopahaaram does.

After Naatyaanjali, the Dhananjayans presented Nrutyopahaaram, a very well known item even today. What was special about this duet was that this Telugu varnam was by Turaiyur Rajagopala Sarma, a contemporary composer, which was unusual for that time. Moreover, this Telugu pada varnam on Krishna in Athana, Adi tala, appears to be the only pada varnam in that raga and is a masterpiece of the Dhananjayans. It revels in the childhood pranks of Krishna with some Vishnu leelas thrown in.

In the 60�s, the pattern of movements were all set, all dance compositions looked alike except for the music. Most of the dance schools had a set pattern of jathis, which would be adapted to different music. For example, the varnam would be different, but all the jathis would be the same.

Usually the padams / varnams are done in a padarthabinayam, vakyabhinayam. In those days the sancharis were not elaborate. It was usual then to depict only nayaka nayaki bhavam apart from compositions from the past. The uniqueness of this varnam is, it is totally based on bhakti bhavam. Dhananjayan brought in a lot of story content, so within the format of the tradition, the story was enacted very effectively, so anyone from 8 to 80 could understand easily.

In the 2nd half of the varnam, which was set in a pace different to the usual varnam, Dhananjayan used the chittaswaraas to enact certain episodes, as an expressive piece. Nrutyopahaaram was thus a unique composition but the critics opined that Dhananjayan was doing abhinaya for swaras! This criticism changed later to approval and not long after, other performers started to present their versions. This solo varnam was thus unique in title as well as execution, but a controversial subject then, to the extent that it was actually discussed in a seminar

�In Chinni Krishna rara nannu palimpa � the story is of Krishna eating mud. The chittaswaraa is the prelude to that. I connected the story where Krishna is playing in the mud, and while playing, the play is shown as swaras. It is not mukha abhinaya, but purely angika abhinaya showing Krishna playing in the mud. At the end of it, when the words start, we do the mudras.�

Such a presentation in Bharatanaatyam was new to the people. Some established dancers welcomed the idea though they themselves were not bold enough to deviate from set patterns. This monumental varnam is celebrated all over the world even today, to the extent that dancers from other schools also perform it. Thus, Nrityopahaaram was a big trendsetter in the varnam format.

Padams
After that came 2 new padams like Periasami Thooran�s Ariya paruvam.

Nrittangahaaram
The Dhananjayans replaced the Thillana, with Nrittangahaaram, which literally describes what is being done, which the term Thillana, being a musical term, did not. The choreography contains chains of rhythmic movements, some non-conventional, that is, demonstrably different from those generally seen in a Thillana. The music, of course, continues to be Tillana-like.

The evening�s performance concluded with a thillana, choreographed to a composition by Balamuralikrishna in Kuntalavarali, its premiere on a dance platform. Balamurali was then an upcoming musician, a bit controversial because of his type of music. The thillana was different and more complicated than the usual format, so no dancers wanted to even attempt to dance for it when critic and scholar VAK Ranga Rao, who had realized its potential, approached some very prominent dancers at the time. Dhananjayan took it up as a challenge, learnt the music directly from Balamurali and composed the dance for it. It was the first time someone had ventured to do the controversial thillana of a controversial musician. When Balamurali saw the thillana, he was in tears and remarked, �Thillana looks as if I have composed the music for your dance�. This was done as a solo by Dhananjayan.

�The traditionalists including my Alma Mater, heavily criticized it for deviating from known norms, and the reviews were mixed. The conservatives criticized it saying there is no alarippu, no jatiswaram, no thillana, the names of items were new and so on. But a couple of years later, people started to themselves experiment. This first program was important because it broke the ice and more invitations to perform followed, but I made no compromise on payments. No payment, no dance program, something I follow to this day. My being adamant over emoluments paved the way for other artists also to be paid for their performances. This fostered competition because the sabhas would then hire other artistes for lesser performance fees! I can boldly say I created a trend for others to follow in the realm of dance items, in the remuneration and bringing in professionalism in dance!�

Revolutionary new repertoire in Bharatanaatyam - Reviews