Teacher ,Tanjore style

gitanjali · Post by **gitanjali** » 26 Mar 2007, 01:23

Can you suggest a good teacher doing Tanjore style in chennai or anywhere in Tamilnadu as well as in the US.Teacher in any other style is ok too as long as they are good.Anybody who has the experience of learning from India please suggest me some names.

Umesh · Post by **Umesh** » 26 Mar 2007, 09:40

Sudharani Raghupathy, Meenakshi Chittaranjan, Alarmel Valli (I think she takes only a few select students though).

I don't know if Vyjayantimala teaches any, but she is also Pandanallur/Thanjavur style.

I know of many teachers in the U.S., but can't tell you much about their styles.

gitanjali · Post by **gitanjali** » 26 Mar 2007, 19:42

Umesh,
Thanks for the info.
I talked to Alarmel valli's mom.I think she is Pandanallur and wouldn't teach just dance pieces .We need to be in their school and learn it step by step the proper way.

I Talked to Sudharani .Since she was not available last summer we couldn't get her to teach.I think she doesn't teach herself and her senior students teach.Sudharani suggested Meenakshi chittaranjan but I heard ok reviews of her from some people.Have you seen the performances?

Does Vijayanthi mala teach?If so where?Have you heard about Narthaki nataraj,Tanjore style.She is a favourite of Anita ratnam.

If you know good teachers in US please let me know.I have a very talented child in hand and I get bowed down by the responsibility of giving enough input for her,choosing the right guru etc.Any advice on how to provide the input due to her would be appreciated.Anytime I take her to a teacher they want her to learn basics again even though she is now in Varnam level.Is it ok for the child to be learning basics again and again.

mahakavi · Post by **mahakavi** » 26 Mar 2007, 19:46

I can recommend two teachers--Padmini Chari of Houston and Sudha Srinivasan of Chicago--both are senior disciples of Adyar K. Lakshman.

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 26 Mar 2007, 21:55

Adyar Lakshman is a torchbearer of the kalAkshEtra style - definitely not tanjAvUr style. Smt.
Nirmala Ramachandran is a very senior exponent of the pandanallUr style - she may still be teaching. She was one of the honorees at the Cleveland Aradhana lasst year.
I think that the dancers from the Kanak Rele School of dance from Mumbai are also from the tanjAvUr (or tanjAvar as they call it) style of dancing.

UMESH,
While we are on this topic, can I go off on a tangent and ask you to list the salient features of the various styles and how they differ? (tanjAvuR, vazhuvUr, pandanallUr, kalAkshEtra, kAncIpuram, mysUr etc....) - I use very vague criteria to differentiate them - the beautiful leaps of the vazhuvUr style, the deep araimanDIs of the pandanallUr and kalAkshEtra style, the seating of the musicians for the mysUr style, and the interesting entries and exits of the kalAkshEtra styles....

gitanjali · Post by **gitanjali** » 26 Mar 2007, 22:11

I had the oppurtunity to watch Tanjore style and was impressed by how unadulterated it looked without racy jathis .Their korvais are beautiful combinations without any chaos.I fell in love with the style.

gitanjali · Post by **gitanjali** » 26 Mar 2007, 22:23

I would very much want to know about the different styles though my mind always wants the style in its ancient form since I'm unable to appreciate any innovations people might introduce.They have their own place .To me I want her to learn the art in its original form and in my opinion I thought it was the Tanjore style.I had talked to Adayar K Lakshman sir last summer and he was willing to teach her.I don't know if he will teach himself or one of their disciples will teach though.I have heard that Kalakshetra style is stiff and lacks grace .Is it true.My daughter is very feminine and graceful and I was wondering may be Kalakshetra style may not be the way to go for her due to this reason.
Umesh ,please go ahead and enlighten us on different style and the criteria on which one should choose one particular style over the other.

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 27 Mar 2007, 02:59

Gitanjali,
All of these styles are very graceful. These days, it is very difficult to find an artist or teacher who is an exponent of just one style in all it's purity. For instance, Smt. Vyjayantimala has worked extensively with Adayar Lakshman (kalAkshEtra style). Smt. Chitra Vishweran's style is the vazhuvUr style, and so is Smt. Kamala Lakshman's and Smt. Rhadha's (Kamala's sister), but they have their own individual stamps and it is difficult to even gleam similarities except for the trademark leaps. Shobhana learnt from Smt. Chitra, but there is very little similarity between the styles of the two now. Smt. Nirmala Ramachandran has several senior students who are from Bharatakalanjali (the school that the Dhananjayans run), trained in the kalAkshEtra style.
I think that more than the particular style of dancing, what you need to look for is a teacher who will communicate the fact that this art form is not merely a movement of arms, legs, and other upAngAs to a beat, but the visual interprettation of music - that it is a driSya kAvya or visual poetry. Unless the teacher is able to demonstrate that it starts and ends with the music, dancing will remain a physical exercise (however graceful the danseuse is), and will lack the power to move the watcher. So, more than the styles (each is graceful, and beautiful, and sublime in it's own way), I would try to find a guru who can spark this in your daughter.

Umesh · Post by **Umesh** » 27 Mar 2007, 03:35

Ravi, I'm pretty sure you've got the major differences down... judging from some nice posts of yours I have read about the diff. styles. The criteria is vague because no one really performs a style in its "pure" form these days, and what's to say our notion of pure is even correct. It's pretty safe to say that even the great gurus who pioneered the styles we know today were influenced by others. On Medha Hari's site; it goes something like, "a rare blend of Vazhuvoor and Pandanallur styles"... whatever that may mean, I don't think it is unique to her.

I've learnt Vazhuvoor, Bharata Nrityam, and most recently Kancheepuram (only one varnam) and Pandanallur. I'll just note down some differences I've experienced that come to mind, but I'm sure I'm missing a lot...

- Traditionally Vazhuvoor dancers enter from the wings, whereas I *believe* most of the other styles start right on stage. However, this is very iffy, since I see people from the same school doing different things... it's very item-specific.
- Also in Vazhuvoor Lokadharmi ("real") abhinaya is predominant, as opposed to Natyadharmi (ritualistic, dansical, etc. etc.). Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam's abhinaya is largely lokadharmic, and Vazhuvoor dancers tend to stress this, but not to DPS's extent. Pandanallur is very subtle in abhinaya and hence very natyadharmic.
- The Kancheepuram style is very concerned with logistics and the view from the audience. To type it out would be long and confusing, but there are subtle differences (e.g. an adavu performed in the order left diagonal/right diagonal/center rather than the right diagonal first in a teermanam; this is done sometimes because certain adavus performed on opposite sides [meaning right-handed part of an adavu performed on left diagonal] make the dancer's body more "available" to the audience). The adavus in this style, from what I can tell, are less linear than the Pandanallur style but also less fluid than the Vazhuvoor style. There are also frequent pauses in the jatis (which are quite long) where the dancer strikes poses. There are some unique ways of performing some traditional adavus, like the "profile" Naat Adavu... someone must demonstrate!
- Pandanallur incorporates more standing (or sama-sthana) movements than Vazhuvoor. It's also big on playing with rhythms and footwork (Kittappa Pillai was known for this). There's some calculation behind the korvais, and usi (offbeat) is used often.

I might strike "deep araimandi" from the list for Pandanallur and Kalakshetra, even though many people cite this as a difference between these two and Vazhuvoor. There is only one araimandi and one muzhumandi in Bharata Natyam. Technically, we're all expected to sit the same; Kalakshetra just beats you more when you don't :-p. And nowadays I see some Vazhuvoor dancers with more beautiful araimandis than Kalakshetra grads...

And gitanjali, I had the same notion of kalakshetra until I saw CV Chandrasekhar perform. You cannot deny that there is grace in his dancing. Kalakshetra adavus have a simplicity that is nice because it keeps the line of the body intact. The geometry it creates is something vital to Bharata Natyam that should be appreciated. This is also true for Pandanallur/Thanjavur. The criticism of Kalakshetra has been that it is done too forcefully and hence destroys the beauty of the dance... but it depends on your taste. There is little softness in the execution of adavus; everything is very crisp and firm, and according to some, this is not always appropriate. In addition, abhinaya in Kalakshetra may be described by some as limited, due to RDA's efforts to "clean up" the art form. The debate goes on...

gitanjali · Post by **gitanjali** » 27 Mar 2007, 06:09

Thank you Ravi and Umesh.It did help a lot..

meena · Post by **meena** » 27 Mar 2007, 07:09

Umesh

thanks, very nicely u have explained.

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 27 Mar 2007, 07:17

Umesh,
Thank you for your detailed post. I really appreciated your explanation of the kAncIpuram style - I have not seen an exponent of this style. My point about the araimanDI was slighly tongue-in-cheek. But it comes from watching Urmila Satyanarayanan (pandanallUr style) - when she dances every fold of the periya visiri is stretched to it's limits. And my daughter's teacher, who is from a kalAkshEtra parampara has a fabulous araimanDI and so does Professor Chandrasekhar. But there are many others where it is hard to tell if there is indeed one - my daughter loves to call it kAlmanDI! The kalAkshEtra style also has very specific pAtra pravESa and exiting (usually from and into the wings) - unlike the pandanallUr style where for the most part the dancer is at the center of the stage when the curtains go up and the spotlight come on.

Umesh · Post by **Umesh** » 27 Mar 2007, 09:35

Glad I could help. Ravi, good to know of these specialized entrances and exits. Admittedly, I know little about the style. Will look out for them next time.

Ravi, forgive me if I am wrong, but I believe Urmila Satyanarayanan is noted as being a practitioner of the Vazhuvoor school. She was with KJ Sarasa for 15 years. I've seen her only once and vaguely remember the performance (the araimandi, however, I remember quite clearly!), so I can't personally comment on her style...

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 27 Mar 2007, 11:14

Umesh wrote:Ravi, forgive me if I am wrong, but I believe Urmila Satyanarayanan is noted as being a practitioner of the Vazhuvoor school. She was with KJ Sarasa for 15 years. I've seen her only once and vaguely remember the performance (the araimandi, however, I remember quite clearly!), so I can't personally comment on her style...

Umesh,
http://www.hindu.com/fr/2004/07/09/stor ... 320400.htm
In this article she says that she started with Sri Dandayudapani Pillai, and after his death, Smt. Sarasa took her on, and did not change her style, but added her grace to it. I have always assumed Sri Dandayudapani Pillai's style was heavily influenced by the pandanallUr/kalAkshEtra style because he taught there for many years. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Umesh · Post by **Umesh** » 27 Mar 2007, 19:12

That's true. He had his own style... I don't really know what one would classify it as. I've seen it referred to as the Dhandayuthapani Pillai style, different from the traditional styles. There are reviews of US in the Hindu commending her and her students for imbibing the "Sarasa-Vazhuvoor" style but I guess she is another one of the mixes!

Umesh · Post by **Umesh** » 27 Mar 2007, 19:27

Gitanjali,

To address one of your questions earlier... yes, it's completely fine to learn the basics again, because the basics with different teachers are different. When I finished my arangetram and proceeded to another teacher for training, I was surprised to find myself starting from adavus again. However, this was a must, to correct things I was doing wrong and to familiarize myself with a different style (but even in the same style, gurus often utilize various sets of adavus). Think of it like a review before moving forward. Your daughter is young and she has time for this. It will only take her a short time to go through the basics. If the teacher is good, he/she will know of her potential and will accelerate the process.

gitanjali · Post by **gitanjali** » 27 Mar 2007, 21:47

Umesh,
Thanks for your input.I appreciate your time and effort.

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 28 Mar 2007, 02:06

Umesh wrote:In addition, abhinaya in Kalakshetra may be described by some as limited, due to RDA's efforts to "clean up" the art form. The debate goes on...

Well, RDA's efforts were restricted to removing carnal love or true SringAra rasa from her abhinaya. It did not extend much further than that.
The kalAkshEtra abhinaya is also extremely nAtyadharmi just like the pandanallUr style from which it evolved (pandanallUr Meenakshisundaram Pillai was RDA's guru and worked alongside her for a few years at kalAkshEtra). Smt Nirmala Ramachandran (pandanallUr) in a lec-dem mentioned that if students belonging to the pandanallUr school wanted more lessons in abhinaya, the male naTTuvanAr-guru would send them to one of the women dancers for further training. In that respect, they seem to have differed from the likes of Sri Kelucharan Mahopatra and Sri Birju Maharaj (to name just a few of the masters of oDissi and kathak) who were/are unrivalled experts in abhinaya in addition to intricate footwork.