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On Dance
by V P Dhananjayan
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Felicitation
address at Srikrishna
Gana sabha on
13 Dec 2013
Sadgurubhyo namaha:
I always begin my
speeches by saying that
"our country is Bhaarat
& we are Bhaarateeya
and all our performing
arts are Bhaaratanaatya"
. I took it upon me - a
mission to change
the name INDIA
back to BHAARAT.
Dignitaries on the dais
and Sahrudayas in the
audience, my season�s
greeting to all of
you. I deem it an
honour bestowed on me by
Sri Krishna Gana Sabha,
dynamic Secretary Sri.
Y.Prabhu asking me to do
the honouring of the
awardees and felicitate
them. The
felicitation talk after
an award function has
become a routine gesture
on the part of the
organization, but time
factor restricts
highlighting the
achievements of the
awardees.
Moreover THE
CITATION read
about the awardees carry
all their achievements
mentioned so
repeating it is also
redundant. People in the
audience are also
restless listening to
speeches and some times
complain that speakers
cling on to the mike
when they stand before a
mike.
Please I assure you that
I will confine my speech
only to the subject of
felicitating this year�s
awardees Smt.
Swapnasundari and Sri.
A.Janardanan.
When I was the convener
of the Naatya Kala
conference in 1995 -96
Krishna Gana Sabha
audience gave the best
lecture demonstration
merit award to both
Swapna and Janardanan.
After that it has taken
all these years for them
to be elevated to
Nrityachoodamani and
Aacharyachoodamani. My
hearty congratulations
and blessing to both of
them.
Swapnasundari is an all
rounder with proficiency
in Bharatanaatyam,
Kuchipudi naatyam,
Karnataka Sangeetam,
Telugu literature and
now a research scholar
who brought the obscure
Vilasini naatya of
Anadhrapradesh into
limelight. Both
Shanta and myself have
been ardent admirers of
her since 1980s when we
saw her in Delhi
performing in Jhamkar
Theater of Kamani
auditorium. Her
mother Sarala Rao was a
great scholar and
musicologist and singer
who was instrumental in
us getting a break in
ICCR for which we are
ever thankful. I
do not know how many of
you have heard Swapna
singing along with our
living legend
Dr.Balamuralikrishna.
The cassette recoding of
their rending of Padams
& jawalies,
Annamayyakritis, is a
revelation to all the
Naatya fraternity and
Carnatic
musicians.
In her youthful heydays
she was vibrant on stage
with sparkling footwork,
both in Bharatanaatyam
and Kuchipudi
naatyam. If I am
right she had the
tutelage under Guru
Adyar K.
lakshmanan for some
time, which probably
must have enhanced her
whole perception of
Naatya
presentation. Her
Abhinaya surpasses many
legends of the past and
present.
So Nrityachoodamani is a
most befitting crest
jewel on Swapnasundari
and we are all happy and
proud one of our
colleagues in the Naatya
fraternity has received
it this year at
least. Blessings
and congratulations once
again to Smt.
Swapnasundari. Her
illustrious mother
Sarala Rao should have
been here to see this
great event taking place
and Sri Krishna
Ganasabha can
justifiably be proud of
honouring yet another
truly deserving artiste
in Smt. Swapnasundari.
This year�s
Achaaryachoodamani is
bestowed upon yet
another stalwart in the
field of Kathakali and
Bharatanaatyam, equally
proficient in both
styles of classical
performing arts.
Janardanan�s illustrious
father and Guru, Asan
Chanduppanikkar was
known for his
extraordinary capacity
to teach and train even
a MAKKU SAAMBRAANI into
a Master of art. For
example I am one of them
standing before you
adorning a coveted crest
jewel
Nrityachoodamani.
This great Guru brought
me to Kalakshetra and
made me what I am today.
The same way I can
justifiably be proud
that both Kalakshetra
Kunhiraman (yet
another great guru from
kalaksetra) & I
brought Janardanan to
Kalakshetra in 1958 much
against the wishes of
his own father who
wanted his boy to be a
school teacher in the
village.
Janardanan�s inborn
histrionic talent came
forth with his entry
into the portals of
Kalakshetra and he
became the most
confident and close
associate of Smt.
Rukminidevi who was the
mentor for all of us.
He has the proud
privilege of having the
longest close
association with the
legendary
�Athai�. Hence,
the institution is now
taking the advantage of
his extraordinary
capacity as an Achaarya
to revive the original
compositions of
Rukminidevi�s monumental
productions in
Kalakshetra. I
won�t hesitate to
compliment Janardanan
for his long association
with his alma mater and
his continued service to
the institution with
utmost sincerity and
total dedication even
after his formal
retirement from the post
of Principal. I
take pride in saying
that his father Asan
Chanduppanikkar put him
under my care until I
left the institution, of
course supported by my
colleague Balagopal
(another great artiste
trained by Janardanan�s
father) and before I
left Kalakshetra I had
the privilege of
imparting all my main
roles in the Kalakshetra
productions to
Janardanan.
He had the great
opportunity of
specializing in
Kathakali �Mukhabhinaya
from none other than the
legend Kalamandalam
Krishna Nair - also a
senior disciple of
Janardanan�s father Asan
Chanduppanikkar - which
brought a new dimension
to Janardanan�s
histrionic ability.
Janardanan, apart from
being a superlative
performer on stage,
handling all sorts of
characters with aplomb,
has imbibed the
choreographic acumen
from Rukminidevi and his
own father Asan. A
teacher par excellence,
he deserves to be an
AACHAARYA CHOODAMANI and
I take pride in
congratulating and
blessing my younger
brother for this coveted
award and thank Sri
Krishna Gana sabha for
honouring Janardanan.
Thank you Mr. Prabhu for
inviting me to honour
these artistes.
Jai Bhaarat.
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Speech
made during the
inauguration of
Naadhabrahmam Art
festival on 12 Dec
2013
On sponsorships -
Corporate Houses
It is not easy for all
the Sabhas to conduct
any performance of music
concerts or Naatya
performances without the
support of big and small
commercial houses or big
corporate
companies.
In 1985 when I was the
recipient of the
Nrityachoodamani award
from Sri Krishna Gaana
Sabha, my acceptance
speech was printed and
distributed to a record
crowd. In my
speech I pointed out
that since Chennai has
the habit of free
culture and people are
reluctant to buy tickets
for classical arts, I
gave the idea of
Corporate houses helping
the Sabhas with liberal
sponsorships and
patronage to the art and
artistes, substituting
for the Kings and feudal
lords who were real
connoisseur patrons of
art. Though I was
criticized initially,
the idea caught up with
the Sabhas. Now we see
many corporate houses
come forward, generously
supporting Sabhas during
the December season. We
do appreciate their
generosity. But at
the same time I do
suggest, the sponsors
should also keep a check
on these receiving
cultural bodies, how
much of their
sponsorship money is
used to remunerate
professional
artistes. We
do not know whether the
organisations understand
or realize the problems
of professionals in the
field of Bharatanaatyam
& other
classical performing
arts - the expenses
involved in putting up
shows.
A simple solo
Bharatanaatyam
performance costs not
less than Rs.30,000/- to
50000/- depending upon
the professionals
involved and for a
simple group
production it
costs not less than one
to two lakhs (again
depending upon the
number of artistes and
stage technicalities
involved).
In comparison to
cultural organizations
in the neighboring
States who do pay the
artistes well,
Tamizhnaadu, especially
Chennai has a negative
reputation of not paying
professional artistes
adequately in spite of
being the world hub of
art & culture.
This trend should change
by the liberal help of
big corporate houses.
V.P.Dhananjayan
(Chennai)
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