THE DHANANJAYANS
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| Mar
2002
Vannadil Pudiyaveettil Dhananjayan and wife Shanta Dhananjayan, popularly known as the Dhananjayans have become one of the legendary dancing couples of India. Dhananjayan was born on 30th April 1939 in Payyannur Kerala. An Economics graduate, he joined the Kalakshetra on 5th October 1953. He has a Post Graduate Diploma in Dance (Bharatanatyam & Kathakali) with distinction from Kalakshetra, Madras and was a leading male dancer under Rukmini Devi (Founder, Kalakshetra) from 1955 to 1967. |
| Dhananjayan
was born into a poor family, but he had a flair for Sanskrit dramas. As
a youngster he had seen the occasional Kathakali performance in his village.
His father happened to meet Chandu Panicker, who was teaching then at Kalakshetra,
in a train compartment, when the latter was looking for a boy to be trained
as per Rukmini Devi’s wishes. Even though Chandu Panicker had already selected
Balagopal from the same village, Dhananjayan’s father requested that his
son be taken along too and if he did not meet with Rukmini Devi’s qualifications,
to send him back. Fortunately, not only was he accepted, but he was also
given a scholarship to study at Kalakshetra where the rigors of his education
and way of life prepared him to meet the challenges of life as a dancer
later on.
Shanta Dhananjayan born on 12th August 1943, joined Kalakshetra after finishing her schooling in June 1952. She has a Post Graduate Diploma with distinction in Bharathanatyam and Kathakali from Kalakshetra and was a leading female dancer from 1955 till 1968. Chandu Panicker taught Kathakali and Sarada Hoffman taught Bharatanatyam. The training imparted at Kalakshetra was painstakingly precise and the dance dramas produced there taught the students set designing, discipline and administrative acumen. The Dhananjayans have served as performing artistes and teachers in the Dance and Academic Faculty in Kalakshetra. |
 Dhananjayans with Rukmini
Devi
 Dhananjayan with Chandu
panicker
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| DANCING
DUO – THE AWESOME TWOSOME
When Guru Chandu Panicker was taking the 2 boys Balagopal and Dhananjayan to meet Rukmini Devi, Dhananjayan saw the 10-year-old Shanta for the first time at the Theosophical Society gardens. Shanta was a serious girl totally devoted to her dance and she made up her mind even at the age of 12 to marry Dhananjayan though she did not reveal her feelings to him. They were later paired as Rama and Sita in ‘Sita Swayamvaram’. Dhananjayan has played the role of Arjuna when 93-year-old Chandu Panickar played the role of Santhanagopalan in the premises of the Subramanya Temple in Payyanur. Dhananjayan on his part made his feelings clear to her when he was 18, but Shanta kept him in suspense and he thought maybe she did not wish to marry someone lower in economic status. Shanta left Kalakshetra after her post graduation and took up a job in Malaysia. When her parents started to look for an alliance for her, she revealed her interest in Dhananjayan and returned to India to marry him. |
| They
do not experience any conflicts in dance because of the mutual understanding,
which has grown over the years. So, they complement each other beautifully
in their personal life as well as in their dance career. Dhananjayan is
62 now, but he and Shanta still continue to enthrall audiences all over
the world.
Despite dancing together for 50 years, they manage to keep routine and boredom at bay by working on varied themes, involving themselves in different projects, collaborations and workshops apart from being totally involved in guiding their students’ recitals. Dividing their time between Bharata Kalanjali in Chennai and Bhaaskara in Kerala, keeps them busy year round. The varied activities, which take up so much time and energy, keep their spirits vitalized and their outlook fresh. |
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| The Dhananjayans
have 2 sons. The elder lives in the USA while the younger son Satyajit
who’s a good dancer is carving out a niche for himself as a photographer.
BHARATA
KALANJALI
While in Kalakshetra, Dhananjayan proved to be a hard-working and creative dancer and a shrewd administrator. But his outspoken nature made things difficult and he quit Kalakshetra after marrying Shantha. As a dancing couple, they faced enormous opposition in the following years. They had a lot of ideas and wanted to propagate them. It was an uphill task for them when they started their own academy Bharata Kalanjali in Madras in 1968, in a small thatched cottage with just one student who was Chittilakshmi, a cousin of Yamini Krishnamurthy. But through it all, they worked hard to fulfill their aspirations to make their school internationally recognized as one of the premier institutions for dance training. When they presented their international collaboration Jungle Book based on Rudyard Kipling’s work, westerners started to recognize the magnetism of Bharatanatyam as an art. In their choreography, they try new things but not at the cost of giving up tradition. The mode of interpretation may differ, but the undercurrent of tradition is retained. Dhananjayan feels performing Kalari or yoga on stage is not Bharatanatyam and the deliberate attempts at assassinating Bharatanatyam should be countered. |
| The foundations of their teaching are the 3-D's which are discipline, devotion and dedication. Deeply involved in their students’ recitals, they try and plan out different combinations and methods of presentation for their students. They change an old repertoire by accommodating new challenges and situations. They encourage senior students to attempt their own choreography. Some attempts have been so good that the gurus themselves have been credited with the choreography, which proves the high level of training imparted at Bharata Kalanjali. |  |
| Bharata Kalanjali
has also trained many members of dance orchestra, who are professionally
engaged by other dance fraternity. In Bharata Kalanjali research scholars
are enrolled through International educational foundations such as Fulbright
Scholarship holders and other University students. Government of India
Merit Scholarship holders are sent here for higher studies and Bharata
Kalanjali receives regular ICCR (Indian Council for Cultural Relations)
scholarship holders from abroad. Bharata Kalanjali has many teachers
on their faculty and enrolls the largest number of male students. The dancers
are hired by other Institutions to participate in their productions as
well as for teaching.
Bharata Kalanjali has students from different parts of the world and training is given not only in dance, but also in culture-oriented lessons. It has branches in different parts of the city and country, classes operated individually by senior faculty members, who are otherwise attached to the Institution. Bharata Kalanjali alumni have well established dance schools in different parts of USA, Japan, UK, Germany, Spain, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore and Australia. These teachers visit Bharata Kalanjali regularly for reorientation courses. The Dhananjayans and some of the teaching staff are invited to conduct short and long term intensive courses in these countries. So periodically there is exchange and inter-action between the main institution and its branches. A good example is the Natya-Adyayana-Gurukula (summer dance camp) conducted by the Dhananjayans since 1988 at Satchidananda Ashram organised by the Fine Arts Society of Yogaville, Virginia. |
| THEIR
DREAM PROJECT – BHAASKARA (The Sun)
When Dhananjayan turned 60, he wanted to open a school in his hometown Payyanur to give the rural children art integrated quality education into which he put all his life’s savings. He chanced upon the spot when his taxi broke down near a hillock. BHAARATEEYA SAAMSKAARIKA KALAA RANGAM (BHAASKARA) center for art, culture & education is a monumental project similar to Kalakshetra (Chennai) and Viswabharati (Shanti Niketan) Bengal. |
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| It came up
after a divination ceremony at a nearby temple, which owned the land and
indicated that the barren area would thrive with the coming up of a school.
The temple trustees readily sold it to Dhananjayan.
The Dhananjayans during their lifetime assimilated artistic style, tradition and values from various masters and gurus, and have created a niche for themselves in their chosen field. Today with Bhaaskara, they hope to share with the world at large, the rich heritage they have accumulated over the years. Already working in a small way, the Dhananjayans have worked hard to elicit support from various artists. The institution is spread over 40 odd acres in the sylvan surroundings of Kerala and has an ambience of greenery, clean air and water. When first bought, the place was barren and they have planted nearly 7500 trees all around the hillock, which looks out on valleys on all 4 sides, witness to glorious sunrises and sunsets. There are 36 varieties of medicinal herbs also growing here. The surroundings and environment is all aimed at giving the future generation a wholesome appreciation of art along with understanding of traditional values and appreciating the beauty of nature. The centre envisages a true value oriented, non-formal education integrated with fine arts, combined with academic course from standard one to twelve, leading to University education. Every form of art is to be taught to the students, but apart from the academic curriculum. |
| The
residential gurukulam will impart training in Kathakali, Bharatanatyam,
Carnatic music, painting, sculpture and folk art. Sanskrit is a compulsory
subject and caring for the plants on the campus forms an integral part
of their education. Students also recite Hindu, Muslim and Christian prayers
everyday.
Bhaaskara and Bharata Kalanjali have jointly conducted the Gurukulam camps at the Bhaaskara campus in 2000 & 2001. |
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| Dhananjayan
hopes to convert the hill slope into an open-air auditorium, and host international
festivals. He also wants to build a well-appointed performing hall in the
kootambalam (temple stage) tradition, a fully equipped theatre of international
standard with Indian architecture and aesthetics. Audio and video recording
studios, library of books, audio and video cassettes, photographs of great
artistes of India, exhibition hall are some of the features of the proposed
centre.
BHAASKARA will also be a place for reviving the dying crafts of Kerala. There is a plan to build a craft village in the premises. Crafts like the making of Kathakali crowns and other Kerala handicrafts like bronze statues, wood carvings and temple jewellery, musical instruments for dance and music will be promoted in due course with other collaborators interested in the field. DANCE PRODUCTIONS
The Dhananjayans
have collaborated with National and International choreographers and Institutes
to produce monumental theatrical ventures, which have won them many prestigious
National and International Awards. They have collaborated with world-renowned
sitarist Pandit Ravi Shankar, and New York dancer Jacques D'Amboise, among
others. They have been invited to perform at the India Festival in
the Soviet Union and at the Birmingham Touring Opera House of England.
Major International
Dance Collaborations / Productions
Group Productions:
Radha Madhavam
Sanghamitra
Aikya Bharatam
Navarasa
Ramanatakam
Stree (The
Woman)
Karuna (Compassion)
Cultural Panorama
of Tamilnadu
Shiva Sakthi
Vel
Kaliya Mardanam
Return of Spring
Madhavageetam
Nritya Tarangini
Sita Swayamvaram
(Tulasidas Ramayana in Hindi)
Dasavataram
Chandalika
Vyasolpathi
Important
Overseas Awards
V.P.Dhananjayan,
Shanta Dhananjayan
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