‘YouTube draws many to Bharatanatyam’

The moods she reflects through defined postures, clear mudras and fluid movement range from robust to playful to love-struck, all in the span of an hour. Her expressions mirror the verses spoken by Tamil poets while her feet keep time with fast-paced complicated rhythms. All in all, Bharatanatyam danseuse, Kavitha Ramu, is truly a pleasure to watch. Her recital, Kadhambham, which refers to a garland of colourful flowers in Tamil, consisted of dance routines that she had woven around her favourite poems. Although most poems circled around the theme of Lord Shiva, each was unique in its content.

The dancer started out with Nandy by Narendrakumar, which glorifies Shiva’s vahana, and then moved on to some of Andal’s verses wherein a woman in love asks a conch shell about her beloved lord. The soft, flowing movements of this piece were a direct contrast to the bold postures and fast footwork of Nandy. Each piece that followed was a testament to the dancer’s skill. She closed the recital with, what she herself claims is her favourite poem of the lot, Ethilum Ingu Iruppan, which talks about Lord Shiva’s omnipresence.

Later, as she sat in the dressing room answering questions, the indefatigable Kavitha hardly seemed winded. The jingle of bangles and ghungroos interspersed her words as she looked back to how it all began.

Origin story “I fell in love with the dance form very early when my mother put me in classes because I was always dancing around the house and I started performing when I was just eight years old,” says the dancer, who underwent her early training under Neela Krishnamoorthy, Padma Subramaryam’s elder sister. Kavitha firmly believes that the special rapport she shared with her teacher encouraged her to pursue the dance form. “I remember that I used to perform all these really interesting pieces like that of the gypsy girl and the fisherman,” she adds. Later, she went to Chennai when her father got a transfer from Madurai where her family had resided for more than a decade. In the metropolis, she was lucky enough to receive training from the renowned Bharatanatyam artist, K.J. Sarasa.

On styles and form “My teachers both followed the same school of dancing, called the Valoor style,” Kavitha explains, pointing out that this was just a happy accident as she does not personally believe in the concept of style. “What people think of as the styles are the little variations which are added in while performing adavus. For instance, between the Pandanaloor style and the Valoor style, the way in which some adavus are performed change a little. However, the basics are the same, so I prefer perfecting adavus to sticking to a particular style,” the dancer explains. “Learning from both my teachers though, is what really made me realise that I wanted to establish myself as a dancer even as I pursued my academic career.”

The balancing act The balancing act continues even now as the danseuse keeps up with the full-time career of district revenue officer in Tamil Nadu alongside her dancing. According to her, though, it is not too difficult a feat to accomplish. “I make sure that I practice at least thrice a week and also take yoga and fitness classes to strengthen my knees because a lot of the steps in Bharatanatyam consists of aramandi which is the half-sitting posture and that is very taxing on the knees. I go for both yoga and high intensity functional fitness training. Aside from that, I keep my performances restricted to weekends and sometimes I take a couple of days off work. Except in November and December, when the dance season is at its peak, there is not much strain as such,” she explains.

Discipline is the watchword for the dancer and she ensures that her practices run for at least 45 minutes. “I have no upper time limit for my rehearsals. If I am composing something for an upcoming program, practices can even go up to four hours. If not, I go through the adavus to warm up and then I perform the items, which are already recorded. In case we are preparing for some presentation, then I have my team coming to compose jatis and bols.

Acting through dance Although physical training is essential for Bharatanatyam, there is a lot more that goes into the dance form, Kavita reveals. “You have two aspects in any dance form, which is nritya and abhinaya. Nritya is about the footwork; abhinaya is about the facial expressions. So, it is part of the learning process from the time you start learning items. Till jatiswaram, you have only footwork. Once you start the varanam, you start the abhinaya and the nritya. However, if you immerse yourself in the dance form, the expressions come automatically,” she explains.

Milestones Kavitha’s achievements are many. There are some, though, which are closer to her heart. “I choreographed this World Tamil Conference where I did navarasas based on Tamil classics. I also did some choreography for the Saf games. There is another important choreographic venture, which is rather a milestone. It’s a gospel album in Telugu which I choreographed and it has hit ten million likes and has been performed at more than 100 different churches around the world,” the Bharatanatyam artist recounts.

Contemporary and traditional forms Aside from her satisfaction with where her own career has taken her, Kavitha is also quite happy with the Bharatanatyam dance scene across the world. “A lot of people are getting into Bharatanatyam after seeing videos on Youtube,” she says, “they get much more exposure than they would otherwise and this encourages them to enrol in classes and workshops. It is not just happening in India but all across the world, especially in the US.”

Aside from the traditional school, Kavitha also has a positive outlook on the different Indian contemporary dance styles, which incorporate elements of Bharatanatyam.

“There is a lot of Bharatanatyam base-work that is used in most contemporary forms done in India. I think that this is a great step towards ensuring that the dance form gets even more of a following than it does. In contemporary dance forms, you can explore more themes than you do in traditional Bharatanatyam. Also, many youngsters will go for these performances and then maybe also come in for a traditional concert,” the danseuse adds.