To see 65 dancers doing the same movements and listening to the sound emanating from the marbled floors while all of them do a thatti mettu was DIVINE! Amongst the ones who had attended the workshop, were house wives, young budding artistes and a few famous performers like Mrs.Bragha Bessel, Mrs.Lavanya Ananth, Mrs. Meenakshi Shrinivasan, Mrs.Priyadarsini Govind, Mrs.Priya Murle and Mrs.Roja Kannan. Gurus like Sasirekha Rammohan, Smt. Jayanthi Subramaniam and Mrs.Parvathi Ravi Ghantasala too were there. I did take my time to identify these performers in their practice costume without make up! Was quite a tough job indeed.. I spent a lot of time taking a close look at these performers and observing their techniques. Mrs.Bragha wasn't there on the two days but i heard that she amazed people with her agility that defied her age. Mrs. Lavanya sat in full aramandi everytime she danced. Really wonder how she manages to do that! Mrs.Meenakshi Shrinivasan has a really pleasing countenance but i haven't seen her solo performances yet! Mrs.Priyadarsini Govind stood at one corner of the corridor and listened keenly to what Ms. Leela told. She didn't dance that much but listened intently. Mrs.Priya Murle is one of my personal favourites and she did so much of BEAUTIFUL abhinayam even during the rehearsals. Mrs.Roja Kannan exhibited a lot of leadership qualities. She gave in a lot of inputs during the discussions on deciding the costume for the grand finale , the number of dancers who had to dance, etc. The young dancers and the other regular performers found it easy to pick up what was being taught while the others did find it a bit tough to catch up with.
Having talked about the participants, its now time to talk about the Guru Ms.Leela Samson, the Director of Kalakshetra. She chose to teach the celebrated "Swamiyai azhaithodi vaa" varnam, a composition of Shri K.N.Dhandayudhapaani Pillai. Each stanza of the varnam is set to a different raga and the name of the raga features in that stanza. For example, the charanam is set to the ragam sankarabharanam and hence its lyrics go like "Sadha ninaivu kondu maiyyal il meeludhe Sankarabharananai" Beautiful isn't it?? Coming back to Ms.Leela. WOWWW! Is what i say everytime I think of her. She is a person who is full of life.. The very fact that she can hold the attention of around 60 dancers for almost 3 hours for 15 continuous days is enough to prove her mettle as a Guru. The way she shared the varnam with the participants of the workshop was truly amazing. The choreography was so flexible that students from all schools felt it not very odd while executing it! She gave the reason behind every single movement. She always asked the participants to make full use of pauses and not let the audience know what the dancer was going to do next. As a rasika, I love surprises and hope the dancers at the workshop follow this. Her sense of humour is another thing that kept the sessions going. :) On sunday, There was an EXTREMELY INTERESTING discussion on whether a dancer should carry the sthayi bhava of the varnam during the jathis and while walking back. I just enjoyed listening to the views of the dancers.
The workshop in progress
On 15th about 55 dancers perfromed the Varnam that was taught, on the stage at Narada Gana Sabha. Couldn't make it because i wasn't in station. Wish i were there to witness it. But the two days! huh.. i will never forget them. Lucky were the dancers who attended the workshop and absolutely unlucky are the ones who didn't!
The participants presenting the varnam in the Valedictory function
Pictures Courtesy: www.abhai.org.in
