Sunny Experiences and Realization too

Priya Sakhi

I have been quiet for a while with you. But that is because I have been busy having a `cool' time this Sunner, oops Summer.

It all started with the Vishwa Natya Dhinam-- World Dance Day. ABHAI,  in association with AAT and Citi Centre Mall in Chennai, organised a flash mob.  Watch this dear friend...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9os3P6GNak&feature=youtu.beh

Ah! did you see how the positive energy of the 70 dancers? How  the young and  the old, the senior and  the senior-most blended with the littlest?!

While we came together as a fraternity, on an important day, ear- marked for dance-- the experience taught us many things-- the reach of the form itself, organising skills of the President ( Chitra Visveswaran) and the commitee..so many things.

  When we at the committee were thinking of doing a flash mob at the temple, it was young Mansvini who suggested the Mall. It was appropriate, because, for Bharatanatyam, while there are many dancers who are passionate and pursue the art-form, it needs audiences. The common man at the Mall  definitely  paused for those 10 minutes to see the joy of the dancers, the greatness of the form.

Natyam is divine and sacred (cliches?), but on that day it sent a  strong message to the uninitiated, that  the classical dancers can come together--that we are beyond barriers of caste, creed and politics. We think beyond ourselves-- we can definitely  make a statement. Of course this time we came together for the  cause of  dance. But in the past, we have celebrated the 1000th year of The Big Temple at Thanjavaur. A few of us have come together for fund raiser programmes for Gujarat floods, participate in outreach programmes... the list is endless.

So this was on April 29th. The euphoria of this experience (thanks to Sharada Ramanathan,   the filmmaker, director, art lover...who first gave this idea), was with us for at least a week....

And then Sakhi--- it was time for the Abhivriddhishala-s (ABVS) of ABHAI.... from 30th April to 7th May, the members have had a treat interacting with artistes of the calibre of Ananda Shankar, Padma Subrahmanyam, Anita Ratnam, Anirudha and Vyjayanthimala Bali  ....

Interacting with these great artistes has made me re-look at my own perceptions of natyam--- what dedication, creativity, clear thinking, wisdom and above all artistry. More on this later...

Sakhi-- a wonderful potpourri of  thoughts and experiences are  happily jumbled in my thoughts.....

The  amazing range of emotions, the spontaneity and subtleties  of Padhukka's `Dharijuchu chunnadi.....priya... nee poi-- kaalaithooki

1,1-2,1-2-3..How much wood can a woodchuck chuck...`so' and the shalangai mangalam of Anirudha's-- which is, jingle bells jingle bells...

Anita's comment of the manduka mudra flashes in my mind every time I text on the phone--

The younger children wanted to go with Ananda hanging on to her sari pallu, all the way to Hyderabad. What an impact she has had on them!

Then of course the lilting Tillana of Anandabhairavi tillana in Khandam that Vyjayanthimala  taught us.
I am  awe- struck-- what an artiste! She is a true testimony to the fact that you are only as old as you feel. She feels like a teenager-- and dances with  an enthusiasm  and flexibility that matches little Sruthi Ram Mohan !


I have so much to tell you Sakhi-- a fragrant bouquet of experiences-- of flowers that will stay with me even when they dry, the fragrance fresh.

I realized one thing-- Oh no-- I need to be born again-- that too as a dancer--yes ---a Bharatanataym dancer-- for what I know now is only a drop of that vast ocean of this art-form!