SEVENTY YEARS OF KERALA NATANAM by
G Vinodini, Trivandrum
|
 |
| Dec
2002
The year was
1931.
There stood
Lord Krishna on the stage, spreading warmth and brilliance!!
Lord Krishna
stood holding the gesture of the flute in his hands and his legs were crossed.
The audience were spell bound.
The soothing raga Bilahari played on the flute in the background, filled the silence. There was a loud applause from the onlookers. A bejeweled and coy Radha entered the stage with graceful movements. She danced to the famous keerthana of Deekshithar “Baala gopaalayaasumaam….” Now it was Krishna’s turn. The still figure of Lord Krishna had transformed. His steps, movements, gestures, postures and abhinaya were all blended wonderfully with the padam from Geetha Govindam “ kisalaya……”. This was followed by a kummi ‘Devaadi Devane…”. The curtain went down amidst thunderous applause from the viewers. The audience in the Opera house were enthralled and they had good reason too. They saw the maiden performance of an experimental form of dance, an epoch in the history of Indian Dancing. A new style of dance ‘Kathakali Natanam’ (later known as ‘Kerala Natanam’) was staged. Guru Gopinath, a youth of twenty three, enacted Lord Krishna and American dancer Ragini Devi (Esther Sherman) was Radha. This novel dance style, classical in nature and modern in approach, has now completed 70 years of its existence. Signal
service to Kerala and Kathakali
Kerala Natanam as a new form of dance began gaining awareness and appreciation. Performances were held in many cities of India including Dhaka (now in Bangladesh). These dancers were invited to many universities for lecture demonstrations, which invoked widespread interest and knowledge of Kathakali, While Ragini Devi talked on Kathakali dance, Guru Gopinath presented the Navarasas and the Gesture language. The fruitful result of presenting Kerala Natanam was that Kathakali was brought to light from anonymity and obscurity. Madam Maneka, a Kathak exponent, included Guru Krishnan Kutty - a Kathakali artist - in her troupe and Uday Shankar invited Madhavan, a student of the first batch of Kathakali at Kalamandalam, to join his troupe. Kathakali evoked the interests of persons like Ram Gopal from Bangalore, Sunalini Devi, youngest sister of Sarojini Naidu, Krishnahatti Singh, Shanti Dev Ghosh who came down to Kerala to the little village of Cheruthuruthi in Trichur where Kerala Kalamandalam, the institution for Kathakali training was functioning. Tagore’s
appreciation
These were the most valued words of appreciation given to the dance style ‘Kerala Natanam’ by the great poet and cultural reformer Rabindranath Tagore, after viewing the performance of the Gopinath-Ragini Devi team, at Viswabharathi in January 1935 Though Ragini
Devi was instrumental for mooting the idea of short classical dance
performances derived from the traditional Kerala dance or dramaturgy known
as Kathakali, it was Guru Gopinath and his wife and dance partner Thankamani
Gopinath, who groomed it as a classical style of dancing having its
own style, identity and beauty. Ragini Devi later lost interest in performances
and withdrew from the stage. But Guru Gopinath took this as his mission
and completely departed from the orthodox Kathakali to concentrate on Kerala
Natanam.
Thus a new classical dance form or an entirely new school of dancing was innovated, evolved and systematised, under the leadership of Guruji But he never tried to renovate Kathakali and never claimed his new style a renovation or modification of Kathakali. Kathakali
practice course and syllabus reduced
Only a genius like him could do such a scientific reduction of training period from 12 years to 6 years without compromising its classical, theoretical and practical basics. That is why N V Krishna Warrier, editor, literary person and art critic, placed Guru Gopinath in the group of great achaaryas, whose names were to be primarily revered by Kathakali artists and students. It is saddening that Guruji, Thankamani and their notable disciples are no more. Kesavadas, Guru Chandrasekharan, PTK Menon, Balakrishna Menon, Dancer Thankappan, Lalitha and Ragini of the famous Travancore sisters, all passed away. Guru Gopalakrishnan of Kodungallor, dancer Chellappan and Bhavani of Kottayam, Prof Sankaran Kutty of Trivandrum are among the old disciples living now. Among the younger generation, Viswakalakendram Pankajavally is the only one who teaches the guruji’s style of dance. Definition
“Kerala Natanam or Kerala Dance is a novel art form evolved from Kathakali and is comprised of nrutha (absolute or pure dance) nritya (dance with music and gesticulations) and natya (dramaturgy) and aamgika (body gestures), vaachika (verbal), aahaarya (costumes and make up) saatvika (of temperaments and involuntary status) abhinaya (acting), in accordance with the taala mela (rhythm) order of the percussion instruments used in Kerala.” Kerala Natanam
is comprised of Nrutha, Nritya and Natya based on traditional Kathakali,
without detracting from its basic tenets but has some of its complex involutions
and intricacies. Though it has originated or evolved from Kathakali, it
is neither Kathakali nor an attempt to reform or redefine it. In simple
words Kerala Natanam is a classical dance following rudiments of
‘Naatyasastra” and practicing basics of Kathakali techniques.
* It is ideal for solo, duet and group performances and is designed for dramaturgy - Nataka Natanam and ballets. * It is universal because it is stylised and choreographed with a universal audience in mind. It is more lokadharmi in approach without deviating from the classicism. * It was this dance, which made dancing popular, communicative and enjoyable to masses. * It needs comparatively a shorter period for learning and needs no body massage or ‘uzhichil’ as required in Kathakali training. Differences
from Kathakali
He took the fundamentals of aangikabhinaya in Kathakali in toto while only adapting some of the components of aaharya, vaachika and saathvika abhinaya to suit the needs of modernisation, synchronisation, sophistication and stylization and to reach his system of dance to the people at large, including the uninitiated and the novice as also the connoisseur. The footwork of Kathakali, which did not have much variety, was made into graceful movements. The Mudras or hand gestures from the treatise, ‘Hasta Lakshana Deepika’ and the Teerumanams and Kalasams, as used in Kathakali, were accepted almost in their entirety in Kerala Natanam. The ‘Abhinayam’ of Kathakali was retained in all its glory. Most of the pure dance items like Rangapooja, sari dance and Kummi and the dance-drama episodes and situations in his repertoire like Vamana- Mahabali, Siva-Parvati, Bhasmasura-Mohini, Sundopassunda-Tilottama, Sitapaharanam and Gitopaddesam, which won tremendous national and international popular acclaim and rave reviews by aesthetes and art critics, were culled out from well-known Kathakali plays, chiselled, modified and refined. For the musical accompaniments, Kerala Natanam has completely deviated from Kathakali. It replaced the Sopaana system of musical rendition with the Carnatic style. In addition to Slokams and Padams, it used Malayalam musical compositions and poetry. Well-known songs of various composers, like Swati Thirunal, Erayimman Thampy, Muthuswami Deekshitar and others, along with such ancient works as ‘Bhagavad Gita’, were selected for choreography. A new orchestra was introduced. Though Kerala percussion instruments like maddalam, chenda, idakka were given prominence in the beginning, Mrudangam and north Indian Instruments like tabla, harmonium, sarangi etc were also used later. Drastic
change in costumes
Since the orthodox make-up and costumes were changed in favour of those found in the paintings of Raja Ravi Varma and others, the common man easily identified mythological characters. The performer adopted makeup and costume suitable to the character, which he/she presented on stage. This freedom is one of the characteristic features of Kerala Natanam. The Kathakali make-up and costumes were very elaborate, costly, and difficult to procure. Persons who learnt Kathakali found it practically impossible to exhibit their talent other than in regular Kathakali programmes. There was a need to remedy this situation, to make it possible for a Kathakali actor to stage a dance programme without the aid of costly make-up and costumes. It was these needs, which Gopinath tried to fulfill. Guru Gopinath firmly resisted the temptation of presenting a mixture of various styles of dance and stuck to the basic Kathakali style, with suitable innovations and modifications. Such innovations were masterly and splendid. The Kekiyattam in Kathakali was beautifully modified and presented as Peacock dance. At a very young age this performance made Guru Gopinath the recipient of ‘Veera Srumghala’ from the Maharaja of Travancore. Movements of an elephant briefly shown in Kathakali were improved and charmingly brought out in Gajendra Moksham. Scenes from Vana Varnana became Hunter dance. The original
slokas of Bhagavad Gita were used in his Gitopadesam with telling effect.
Ashta Kalasam was incorporated into a Kambhoji Varnam. Purappadu, with
modifications, was adopted as opening item.
Viswa
Kala Kendra
In 1946, when Guru Gopinath moved to Chennai, he started a dance school called ‘Natana Nikethan’ at Gopalapuram. Lots of students from Chennai and from other parts of the country and abroad came to Natana Nikethan for learning Kerala Natanam. In 1959, ‘Kerala Kala Kendra was established in New Delhi (which is now known as International Centre for Kathakali), where he was redoing and choreographing the famed ‘Ramlila’. In 1962, Viswa Kala Kendra was founded in Ravipuram, Kochi and later shifted to Vattiyoorkkavu, Trivandrum. It is still functioning in Trivandrum offering courses in Kerala Natanam for children, for dance teachers etc Guru Gopinath and Thankamani had choreographed more than 150 dances including many ballets or naataka natanam. Ramayanam Ballet, Naraayaneeyam Ballet, Mahabharatha Ballet, Yesunaadha Vijayam Ballet, Divyanaadam Ballet were the longest among them which are 5 or 6 hours long employing more than 50 people including the musicians and stage managers. Books
The following
can be used to know more about Kerala Natanam
No fixed
dress code for Kerala Natanam
One creative aspect of Kerala Natanam is the freedom it offers to the dancer to use costumes and make up suited to the character presented. As in Bharathanatyam or Mohiniyattam, the dancer’s dress code was not fixed. The school youth festival manual insisted on a dress code, which was totally against the spirit and identity of the style. This sparked off a controversy, which has not subsided yet. Even at the time Guruji was living, Kerala Natanam experienced set backs as untrained copycats distorted it by doing away with the classicism it has. So also, dance troupes mushroomed all over Kerala and started presenting ballets under the disguise of Kerala Natanam. Then the Gopinath style of classical dance - Kerala Natanam - slowly started getting diluted and polluted. Now Viswa Kala Kendra Trivandrum, the dance institution founded by Guru Gopinath in 1962, is offering Kerala Natanam courses in typical Gopinath style for both children and dance teachers. G.Vinodini is the youngest daughter of Guru Gopinath and Thankamani. She is Chief Administrative Officer, Viswa Kala Kendra, Trivandrum, which teaches Kerala Natanam. Ragini
Devi
Her real name was Esther Herman. She was born in Michigan. Fascinated by Indian dance, she devoted her life to the classical dances of India and later married an Indian Ramlal Bajpaye. Ragini Devi’s career in India was unique in the annals of art. She was among the first to rediscover Kathakali, hidden in obscurity, and present it through out India invoking national and international interest. Gopinath & Ragini Devi’s dance troupe has performed in almost all major centers in India in 1932. Her book ‘Dance Dialects of India ‘ is an authentic reference. Raja
Ravi Varma
Hastha
Lakshana Deepika
Guru
Gopinath Natana Granam
Ramlila
Thankamani
Gopinath
She was taught by Mankara Kalyani Amma, an old exponent of Mohiyaattam. Thankamani belongs to the Mulakkal tharavad of Kunnamkulam, Trichur. After her marriage to Guru Gopinath in 1937, she became a Kerala Natanam expert. Actually Thankamani was the winning force behind Guruji as she was responsible for teaching the troupe and managing it. She is also
remembered as the heroine of the third Malayalam film ‘Prahlaada’
directed by K.Subrahmanyam, father of the great dancer Padma Subrahmanyam.
SOLO:
DUET:
GROUP:
|
 |
 |
