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Premier
Institution of learning for Dance, Music & Allied Subjects
| "The Dhananjayans
are special in two ways for the dance world... as performers, with her
art and his artistry, they hold the audience spellbound... as teachers, her
precision and his purity of line, are eagerly sought out by knowing students
of Bharatanaatyam."
-
V A K Ranga Rao, 1982
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Finding their own path...
Dhananjayan
and Shanta were part of Kalakshetra from 1952 -1967/68.
After graduating
from Kalakshetra in 1962, Shanta returned to Malaysia where she started
a dance school with the help of Malaysia's minister Sambandan. She ran
the school for nearly 3 years. Seeing the good work she was doing, Rukmini
Devi wrote to her and asked her to join Kalakshetra as a performer and
teacher. Shanta continued to be associated with Kalakshetra till 1968 but
Dhananjayan quit Kalakshetra in 1967 to make it on his own as a dancer.
Though he received no encouragement, he went all out to prove that there
was a future for a male dancer to make a career out of dance.
Dhananjayan
started his independent teaching career with one student. Chitty Lakshmi,
a cousin of Yamini Krishnamurthy, was Dhananjayan’s first student. Since
the Dhananjayans were still living in the Kalakshetra premises and there
was no space available to set up a class, Chitty was the only student who
had the privilege of Dhananjayan going to her house to teach her dance.
That was the only instance that he has ever taken a class outside his house
/ school.
Establishing Bharata Kalanjali
 The
Dhananjayans finally moved out of Kalakshetra in 1968 and took up a modest
house at #3, 5th Cross St, Sastri Nagar. The principal reason the Dhananjayans
left Kalakshetra was because of their strong conviction that they could
develop themselves to their fullest capacity by striking out on their own.
After Kalakshetra,
life was a struggle because Dhananjayan did not have a big job, and in
the dance sphere, he was not even established.
With no base
and no financial backing, it was an uphill task for them when they started
Bharata Kalanjali. The dance class had a thatched roof and Sumathi Meenakshisundaram
was the first student. (Sumathi still continues to be involved in the activities
of Bharata Kalanjali). The only support in those times was Shanta’s parents.
As a dancing
couple, they faced many hurdles in the years to follow. They had a lot
of ideas and wanted to propagate them. They worked hard to fulfil their
aspirations to make their school internationally recognized as one of the
premier institutions for dance training. At Kalakshetra they had few chances
to compose and choreograph their own dance dramas; such chances came later
in their lives. With their own institution, they were able to do a great
deal of composing and choreography while still in their thirties. Not restricted
by rules and regulations of an academy, they evolved a teaching style and
philosophy that incorporated what they had learnt at Kalakshetra but also
struck off in new directions.
Like anybody
striving to come up, the Dhananjayans had their own share of struggles.
To support his immediate family as well his family back home in Kerala,
Dhananjayan spent three years shunting between his residence and office
in Parry’s Corner where he held a clerical post in the TTK Group of Companies
under T T Narasimhan, the brother of T T Vasu. Office work during the day,
teaching dance in the evening was his routine. Though mundane office work
was not his cup of tea, Dhananjayan thanks his stint at TTK because it
taught him to type, to be articulate and to manage an office. Since he
was in the export department, he even learnt how to run a business. These
skills came in useful in running his own institution.
Slowly, students
from the neighbourhood joined Bharata Kalanjali and in 1970, when the number
swelled to a remarkable 50, the Dhananjayans became full time teachers
and performers.
 In
1972, the Dhananjayans conducted the arangetram of their first student
Chitty Lakshmi at Kalaivanar Arangham.
In 1976, they
shifted to the present premises at 6, Jeevarathnam Nagar, Adyar with a
small thatched cottage at the back of the house. It was rebuilt in 1985
as a proper building with proper facilities for the students, like a dressing
room and washroom. An ambience befitting an aesthetic centre of learning
was also created.
Their student
Aspi Mullah's arangetram took place in 1974 at the Christian Arts Centre.
Another student V R Devika's arangetram was presented at the Thiruvanmiyur
temple. These were noteworthy, as after many years, an arangetram was conducted
in a temple. More importantly, it proved that one could conduct an arangetram
in a simple manner at a simple arena.
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