The Dhananjayans trace their creative journey

V.P. and Shantha Dhananjayan travel down memory lane to talk about their life as performers and choreographers

Under the auspices of Sri Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha, natyacharyas V.P. and Shantha Dhananjayan conducted a thought-provoking session on the need to understand the nuances of the art form to be able to breathe life into tradition.

Delving directly into the technicalities involved in the construction of alarippu, Dhananjayan spoke  about the need for a dancer to understand that the  human body is broadly classified as anga,upanga and pratyanga. When the anga coordinates with the pratyanga and upanga, the dancer gets anga shuddhi  or perfection. One should also be cognisant of the ten mandalas used in the construction of this seemingly simple element of dance, the basic one being ardha mandali. 

To get this posture right, one should comprehend the karanas involved. The Natyashastra speaks about the 108 karanas or postures, sculpted in the Chidambaram temple, Dhananjayan said. Based on today’s practice, Dhananjayan has installed 60 nava karanas in DakshinaChitra, the heritage village in Muttukadu. 

The veteran dancer gave a comprehensive explanation of Natyanjali, Nritta Swaravali and Nrityopaharam, and students of Bharata Kalanjali, founded by the Dhananjayans in 1968, demonstrated these. Natyanjali, is a judicious incorporation of all the main aspects of alarippu, jatiswaram and sabdam; new mnemonics and patterns were added to jatiswaram to make it nrittaswaravali; and nrityopaharam is a variation of varnam, where abhinaya was introduced for swaras, and where the story would be introduced before the sahityam. Bharata Kalanjali’s creative director Shobana demonstrated the same.

Dhananjayan said these innovations initially met with severe criticism, but their continuing popularity is testimony of their acceptance.

Thematically, Dhananjayan and Shanta brought in new thoughts in their various productions, the first one being Mary Magdalene for Doordarshan, which won an award for best production. “For the dance drama  Karuna, we wanted to show the seasons depicting the passing of time… new karanas for animal movements from the Natyashastra and Sanskrit treatise Abhinaya Darpana were used and the music was taken from Ravel’s most famous composition Bolero,” Dhananjayan said.

Another novelty was producing Rama Natakam in ekaharya lasya —  using a single attire, simple costume and lighting, where the dancers portray different characters without their characteristic costumes. When this production was staged in Russia, a newspaper observed that ‘it is a choreographic marvel’. “It showed how a production can be successful without the usual paraphernalia used in dance dramas,” shares the revered dancer and guru.