A Kuchipudi evening in Delhi

Nava Pallava 2007

Kuchipudi has evolved from a dance operatic form to the present day solo and stage ballet form over a period through a series of experimentation is what the experts who practice this art say. Any living art form naturally has to take the sights and sounds of the period and incorporate in its repertoire. This was quite evident in the evening performance of the quiet and almost demure artist Prabir Datta and his disciples at the PSK auditorium in Delhi today August 18 2007.

Meliflous music, extremely colourful costumes and sheer energy of two male artists backed by the graceful troupe of senior and junior artists took the audience through an evening of entertainment in pure Kuchipudi peppered by bold experimentation by the seasoned artist Prabir Datta, an unique male dancer from Bengal who learnt and practices the difficult dance form Kuchipudi unique to Andhra Pradesh in National capital Delhi. There cant be a better example of national integration than this!

Coming back to the Dance programme which was dedicated to celebrate the 60th year anniversary of Indian independence and also at a personal level to the memory of Prabir's departed mother who died this day seven year's earlier, the renowned artist was able to offer a highly entertaining and thought provoking kuchipudi dance performance. The programme had a rich blend of tradition and modernity with the Vande Madaram rendered anew by A R Rehman, the celebrated music composer of Tamil Nadu bringing up the rear as the last programme.

Prabir was only matched by Arindam's own highly energetic stage show which saw him rule the stage in gay abandon with sheer strength and expression. In the Ramayana Sabdam which itself is a difficult and long dance song to render, leave alone with a group coordinating its movements, Arindam was everywhere smoothly taking up the leadership and guiding the other fellow artists through the complex story of Ramayana starting with the aranya Kandam and ending with Rama Pattabishegam.

The song weaves the delicate story with the staccato one line stanza which shifts scene after scene bringing forth the vanity of Seetha in seeking to possess the magical deer, her admonition of Lakshmana, his seeking out the deer while Ravana coming in to seize Rama's consort and the Eagle king Jatayu fighting him, Rama coming to know of the abduction from Jatayu, the brothers meeting Hanuman and then his master the monkey king sukreva and the amalgamation of the monkey soldiers, the vanquishing of the lankan king Ravana, restoration of the kingdom to Sukreva and donning of the Royal mantle at Ayodya by sri Rama all were reenacted with exacting precision and even repetition of every scene by the different pairs of artists on stage. Quite an amazing show which left the audience breathless

Rabindranath Tagore's song that followed afterwards was like the proverbial autumn wind after a cyclonic storm! the lilting music and the graceful steps of the audience guided by Prabir himself in the middle was an experience which the audience well deserved.

If it was experience, sheer expression and of course tremendous energy by the pair of male artists, it was elegance, grace and beauty that was on display with the senior artists from prabir's troupe and the show was rounded off by the sheer grit and determination of the youngsters from the group to win everyone's heart. The show was compered with elan by Smitha Raman, a Bharatanatyam dancer.

The last time one saw Nava Pallava was in its maiden launch year and this year round it has matured as a group even though it is regret that one had to wait a full one year to be treated to such an evening of Kuchipudi. Hopefully one need not wait another year 's to see the Nava Pallava on stage again.

Kuchipudi past and future

While the dance performance like Nava Pallava greatly helps to bring to centre stage the living art form like Kuchipudi and also helps to expose many young artists to the real experience of facing the audience.

The programme also endorsed the willingness and boldness of the successive artists to experiment with the art form and not be rigid in maintaining its "purity" for its own sake. An interesting article by shobha natarajan one of the foremost exponent of Kuchipudi based in the US in the website link http://www.boloji.com/dances/00117.htm highlights the need to revisit the past to plan for the future in Kuchipudi.

Some excerpts from the article.

"While its close cousin, Bharatanatyam achieved recognition and international fame, Kuchipudi was lagging behind and was confined to its village setting. In the forties, a few teachers ventured into big cities like Madras and Hyderabad, and started training female students as well as directing dance sequences for the cinema. New dance pieces were added to the existing repertoire and soon Kuchipudi gained popularity. It is now considered one of the six major dance styles of India. Some of the front-ranking dancers are Yamini Krishnamurthi, Swapnasundari, Raja and Radha Reddy, and Sobha Naidu."

"Having performed Kuchipudi in several parts of the world, I find that it always makes a direct and immediate impact on audiences. Through performances, classes, collaborative stage ventures, and research, I hope to do my share in helping Kuchipudi get wider exposure on the world dance map. The responsibility now rests on the younger generation of Kuchipudi dancers to take this art form to a new higher level"

The message to young artistes is quite clear!

Personally I think any aspiring artist should get their basics clear by first reading and learning about the dance form and gaining as much knowledge about it as possible. While it is a good idea to go asking your Guru about it, considering the way any dance is being taught and learnt at present with one class a week for one hour sandwiched between senior and novices, there is hardly any time to interact with your Guru. The next best source is the Net which is definitely a great source of information. Take for instance the great dance guru Shoba Naidu Kuchipudi Art Academy website http://www.kuchipudi.com/ It is a veritable library of facts and details about Kuchipudi dance form and its practice. It is definitely important for any student to first get to know about the greatest exponents of this art form. The simplest thing to do is to click on the following link http://kuchipudi.com/htmlfiles/person.htm which will take you to the pages which will give amazing information about the dance gurus of the past beginning with Chinta Venkata Ramayya (1860-1949) founder of Venkata Rama Natya Mandali the earliest known organised attempt to propagte this dance form. You want to know about various dance styles of Kuchipudi read more

The website is also designed extremely well and contains so much of content that it should be a Must Visit section for all the budding Kuchipudi students young and old.