The classical weekend

This last weekend can be called a classical one for me, primarily because I attended a Bharatanatyam Arangaetram on Sunday (6th June). The venue of the event was the mini hall at Music Academy. And the girl who gave the Arangaetram (along with her friend) is the daughter of my boss.

My parents too were invited to the event and that would probably explain why I was there at the venue at the exact indicated time. We found a very comfortable spot in the row of seats, away from the blow of the AC vents – the outside temperature was lower than normal due to an unforeseen spell of rain the previous night. Couple of my friends had also come, along with their spouse and kids wherever applicable, and they occupied seats around mine.

The event started pretty much on time, with the usual lighting of the kuthu villakku, invocation to Pillayar etc. The girls then started their dance recital and I must admit that I didn’t understand what was happening.

If you know me, you will also know that I am slightly cut away from all traditional art forms like Carnatic music, Bharatanatyam or even fine arts like paintings, sculptures etc. Not that I am very proud of it, but that doesn’t alter the truth. Earlier, I used to not even listen to classical stuff or watch it. But my years in LA have enabled me to at least develop a great level of tolerance. And the tolerance didn’t develop because I listened to lot of classical music there, but it was mainly because I was made to listen to lots and lots and really lots of Illayaraja music. Again, if you know me, you will also know how much I abhor that brand of music, though there continue to be a lot of fan(atic)s for his music.

Anyways, I reckoned that when I could listen to Illayaraja music, simply because I had quite a bit of a symbiotic relationship with many of the folks there, then I might as well give some space to Carnatic music. And believe it or not, when my parents had come there, I even attended a vocal concert by Unni Krishnan. Furthermore, I even attended a flute concert by Shashank, though I had some other agenda behind attending that programme. ;)

Coming back to this dance recital, the two girls went about their routine and I was really having no clue about what was happening. I didn’t know if they were dancing good or bad. All I noticed was that my boss’ daughter was dancing slower than the other girl on the stage – she seemed to be a step slower.

Now, if it is any of the free-form dances, all you need to see is if the dancers are in sync with the music. So, I decided to apply that same logic here. I could then see that the girl I deemed to be slower, was actually more in sync with the beats/rhythm of the song and the other girl seemed to be rushing through the motions. And that seemed to be the opinion of my parents and I found out today, that a couple of my friends also felt the same way.

Even as the dance was going on, my friend made her 4-5 year old son sit on the seat next to mine. I tried to engage him in some conversation sans words. I was simply moving my head in many directions and he also mimicked my moves. I raised my eyebrows and he made sincere attempts to do the same. I again returned to the head movement and I guess that irked him. He simply pointed a finger at me and then at the stage and repeated that one more time, just to ensure that I didn’t lose the message! This was the second public snub that I got in a span of 10 days – the first one being at the hands of the priest at the temple when I went for the poojai of my new car.

I had spotted couple of other friends standing at the entrance of the hall and I then decided to join them. We all went out to just have a break from culture and after 10 minutes or so, returned to the hall. I went back to my seat to watch the remaining part of the show.

After a total of around 90 minutes, the event came to an end. The chief guests then came on stage and were asked to speak a few words. The first one was actress Devayani – of Kolangal fame. All that she could manage to say in her best saettu Tamizh, was best wishes to the kids, their parents and the dance teacher. Next, was the wife of cinema director K.S.Ravikumar, who too repeated the script, but in a Tamizh accent soaked more in Tamil Nadu. The main chief guest (!) was Dance master Raghuram. This guy is the brother of the dance master mentioned earlier and also happens to be related to the famous Bharatanatyam exponent Padma Subramaniam. (Digressing as usual, she was the one who gave away my Bachelor’s degree during the convocation held for my batch in my college).

This dude basically came up to the mike and said the usual stuff for around two minutes. Then he said that the parents had asked him to point out any mistakes or areas of improvement as well. He then said that everyone had gathered here only to bless the kids and not really to find faults. Then, he rambled on a lot about how great his sister was and how great he was and how divine his sister was and how he was still rooted to the classical arts though he was in the cinema industry. There was a subtle message that he and his sister were equal, if not better, than their aunt Padma Subramaniam.

He suddenly referred to a conversation he had with a legend of Bharatanatyam – Dhananjayan – who’d apparently asked him why the dance movements in movies had become so crass. His response was that none of the dances he choreographs are vulgar. That none of the dances his disciples (also relatives) like “Kala Master” or “Brinda Master” were bad either. He proudly said that his retort to D was whether he thought the Bharatanatyam form practiced today was of the same standards as it was 30 years ago. It seems he also asked D to take care that this form remained pure forever.

Then came the “coup de grâce” to the kids, after he started his speech saying that he wasn’t going to point out faults. He claimed that these two danced without involvement. He questioned them that when they had such supporting parents and such a divine teacher, why were they not showing involvement? He went on to equate that to a situation where their parents brought curd rice made of thick curd out of cow’s milk and served it to them on a golden plate and yet, these kids refused to eat? Didn’t they eat because they weren’t hungry or didn’t they eat because they didn’t want to?

I guess, he at realized that he may have gone a bit far, because, he immediately said that they were dancing very well. They seemed to have good movements, seemed to have good samudrika lakshanam for dance and just that they didn’t show involvement. And that too, they showed 90% involvement and they only need to bring that additional 10% on board to ensure that they scale greater heights. It was a line of speech that we managers frequently use during performance appraisals!

Anyways, the event finally wound up and my parents were quite famished by then. There were some last minute gifts being distributed to the orchestra folks and since there was quite a lot of crowd, we decided to leave the hall without formally saying bye to my boss.

And yes, I think I am interested in watching some Bharatanatyam performance in the near future!