|
Entertainment
Words and connotations in dance
KANCHIPURAM DHANAKOTI Ammal's response to a peremptory order by a patron in a sabha, without as much as a by your leave, to sing a song from the Ramayana, took the form of the lyric in Kedaragowla ``Yarada nee Korange?" (Hey! Who are you, oh monkey?). While abiding by the letter of the command, the singer, by the choice of the song had conveyed to the patron what she thought of his boorish behaviour. The episode was recounted by writer Dr. C. S. Lakshmi, in her incisive and articulate talk on `The Word and its Resonance', during the Natya Kala Conference. Words, she said, according to the context in which they were used, at times as a metaphor, could convey varied meanings.
The ``Angikam Bhuvanam" verse with its reference to the all pervasive nature of Sivahood, was understood by Lakshmi, when she was a child, as the Moon, stars and sky being contained within her own body - a point when expressed, promptly earning her the retort from elders of being insolent.
Dr. Lakshmi mentioned how words at certain points in history, acquire loaded connotations. Thus, in the dance world of the 1930s and Forties, the word, bandied about in speeches and in writings by critics, was `respectability.' And Lakshmi always wondered whether it was the dancer or the dance whose `respectability' was being so vociferously championed.
One relates to words through one's own life experiences. Lakshmi's own love for learning the dance was discreetly referred to by her parents as being for `health reasons,' for it was believed that a girl who could not boast of physical beauty was a misfit in dance. Her middle class background with its way of playing down the role of the body of woman, made sringar a difficult emotion for her to express, and even her first novel was on platonic love. Despite all her love for the art, she became, to her chagrin, the eternal Parasurama in the dance ballets. Sometimes words were communicated without their being voiced. The speaker recollected an instance when she was having Rudra veena lessons at Delhi where half an hour of `riyaaz' (practice) with the grim determination to acquire the kind of proficiency that would leave all those who heard her jealous, was interrupted by the Ustad (guru) who decided that she had rehearsed enough for one day. Then he quietly concluded, ``Remember, one does not play the Rudra Veena to impress anybody." Her innermost thoughts had been grasped, without a word having been uttered.
Words traverse time and what was written in one age, may well be relevant in another age. A writer's approach that the same word could resonate different messages depending upon the context and one's life experience, was somewhat different from what critic V.A.K. Ranga Rao maintained in his talk about abhinaya where the dire need was to understand the intent of the author or poet of the text, on which the dance was to be based. This for him was the `dharma' of every dancer, particularly the established artistes whose lapses, in the absence of a full understanding of the text, he described as the height of irresponsibility. The speaker had plenty of holes to pick in the interpretation of well known Padams and Javalis, as presented by acclaimed institutions and dancers! When the text is couched in poetic metre and music, what is the part played by the text only in swaying the listener? Dr. Lakshmi gave the example of the Tiruvachagam, which always moved her to tears. Wondering why, when she was by no means a religious person, she finally realised that it was the poetry and the music, which held her enthralled.
Music and the kind of spaces it can create for the dancer, which was the theme in one of the sessions of the Natya Kala Conference, had some inspired lecture demonstrations, starting with Dr. Rajaram, Director Kalakshetra going down memory lane, reliving the experiences on some of the do's and don'ts his grandfather the great Vasudevacharyar discovered during his long musical journey of creating scores for Rukmini Devi's magnum opus production - the Ramayana Ballet. ``Don't think of a raga or a tala while composing for a dance drama," he cautioned. The first need was to familiarise oneself thoroughly with the poet's imagination and Kavir antargatam" (innermost workings of the mind and heart of the poet). The tune one composes to suit the poetic metre and the word and its emotion, may or may not fall easily into the grammar of a raga. Thus in the Guha boat scene, Vasudevacharyar's tune to catch the flow of the river Ganga which Valmiki in the Ramayana describes, was stuck to even when found to lie outside the pale of any orthodox raga structure. ``One can always call it `Ganga lahari' (meaning `the waves of the Ganga') was his final remark. Music and dance share a tricky relationship. While providing the foundational platform keeping in mind melody, grammar and emotional considerations, music while being present throughout, cannot become the main focus of a performance, taking away attention from the dancer. O. S. Arun talking of his experiences with dancers spoke of the dancer having a feel for music, as the best type of artiste to work with. He was right in stating that he had benefited by singing for dancers, for this had given his music a rare feel for bhava. Actually, the dancer/musician relationship should be a fulfilling one for both artistes.
As Karaikudi Subramaniam said, he `saw dance in music and music in dance'. When Jayamma sang and Balamma danced, the blend saw music and dance of equal stature blend in a unified experience - the shared space by two parallel streams of art creating unique chemistry. There was no thought here of who was the greater partner. Indeed here was a case where one saw the music and heard the dance, for if Jayamma's music evoked visual images, Bala's dance had supreme musicality.
The limits imposed by text and music, are not quantifiable. It was interestingly mentioned in the introduction to the Nangiar Koothu demonstration, ``The text is a pretext to sway away from the context." The word has to be interpreted in the dance, which may reveal new meanings or just meander round obvious cliched elaborations. Its highest expression should create an aesthetic experience, even when thematic choice and focus are guided by the text. How many singers have not sung the line from the Tyagaraja Attana Kriti ``Bala Kanakamaya..." and yet the same line rendered by Sanjay Subramaniam seems to hold up the line against the sunlight allowing it to illuminate every pore of its melodic and textual richness. That weight is bestowed on the word by the artiste. As Dr. Lakshmi said, ``When Balasaraswati performed `Krishna nee begane baro' or `Jagadoddharana,' she did not just dance to a lyric. She transcended them and created an aesthetic experience."
LEELA VENKATARAMAN
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Entertainment
|
