Bharatanatyam as a dance form was greatly popularized by a celebrity in the years following the revival, so many parents named their daughters after him. She inspired girls from middle-class families to take up the dance form at a time when women from non-hereditary castes were discouraged from doing so.
Described by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru as the ‘Queen of Dance’, Kumari Kamala (now Kamala Lakshminarayanan), a child prodigy, brought Bharatanatyam to fame across the country and beyond with her scintillating performances in the Vazhuvur style. The renowned dancer, who moved to the US in 1980, turns 90 this June.
Kamla, who initially took Kathak training from Shambhu Maharaj and Lachhu Maharaj, started giving small performances in the productions of senior artistes at the age of just four years. After seeing her first performance at Aasthika Samajam in Bombay, film producer and director Chandulal Shah offered her a contract of Rs 500 per month to dance in all his films.
Later, Kamala and her family had to move back to the south during the World War. This is how his introduction to Bharatnatyam began. Kamala’s first teacher was Kattumannarkoil Muthukumaraswami Pillai. He later introduced Kamala to Vazhuvur Ramaiah Pillai, paving the way for a brilliant collaboration. Being one of Vazhuvoor’s early disciples, Kamala helped take his choreography to the masses through her entry into films as an actor.
She was a popular dancer both on screen and stage. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
In the 1940s and 1950s, Kamala attained great heights executing never-before-seen acts such as the snake dance with its signature back bend, which later became an Orangetherum staple. During the independence movement, Kamala’s special film numbers like ‘Aaduvom Pallu Paduvom’ and ‘Vetri Ettu Dhikku’ were powerful tools of resistance against the imperial government.
A Thilana dance sequence in the film quietely (1956) was one of Kamala’s best on-screen performances at that time and still attracts lovers of classical music and dance. MLVisanthakumari, who has lent her voice, even appears on screen as the lead singer in the orchestra accompanying the dancers.
When film roles started coming her way, Kamala simultaneously performed on stage. Dancer and scholar Lakshmi Viswanathan, who once interviewed Kamala for The Hindu, wrote that Kamala’s early exposure to a certain discipline molded her into a great artist. “A sense of drama especially in the crisp and quick movements to fit into small cine-musical pieces as well as the elegant poses captured by the camera shaped Kamala’s formative years. It is no surprise that when she rose to the top as a stage performer, she faced her audiences with rapturous enthusiasm,” he wrote.
New songs were constantly composed for Kamala, who danced non-stop at the Sangeet Academy December Utsav as well as other gatherings every year from 1941 to 1979.
Kamala has many first achievements to her credit. In April 1963, Tyagaraja’s musical opera boat character First staged as a ballet. Kamala, who was the producer and choreographer, also played the lead role in the play Geya, assisted by her sisters and members of her troupe.
Madras Miscellaneous: Kumari Kamala, dancer.
Although she was a staunch supporter of tradition, she still brought fresh ideas to art. Traditionally, the hereditary dancers step back and stand after the Jathi or Korvai. This was called ‘Vishranti’ and was used by the dancers to take a short break. In the style of Vazhuvurar, the dancers assume the postures of the temple idols during this break. This was a clear deviation from tradition.
Kamala believed that tradition is not a static thing and it evolves with time. In line with her conviction, she was the first woman to choreograph pieces like Swathi Tirunal’s ‘Bhavayimi Raghuramam’, Othukkadu Venkatakavi’s ‘Ananda Narthan Ganapathim’ and even the popular Nattakuranji varnam ‘Chalamela’. Reviewers sometimes questioned the appropriateness of certain songs in their dance performances, but over time they became commonplace.
Kamala had a rare skill as a Bharatnatyam guru. He is credited with many dance plays like ‘Sakuntalam’, ‘Prahlad Bhakti Vijayam’ and ‘Sri Krishnamasraye’.
In October 1979, members of a study group from the music department of Colgate University, New York, came to Madras and learned their first steps in Bharatanatyam from Kamala on the day of Vijayadashami. In just three months, American students performed the Kuravanji dance drama along with other disciples of Kamala. From an education perspective, setting an ambitious goal by Kamala accelerated the learning process. From an artistic point of view, it was a bold effort by Kamala as she dared to cast Elizabeth Hartman, an American student, as the heroine Mohanavalli. Also in the orchestra, students from Colgate University played veena and mridangam, performed nattuvangam and even sang. Colgate was one of the first American colleges to begin the study of Carnatic music and credit for this must go to Professor William Skelton, who worked with Kamala in this production.
Skelton felt that the effort was “worthwhile to create Indophiles, not just tourists whose pleasant experiences evaporate as quickly as they are created”.
Kamala’s teasing in quietely Considered one of his best on-screen performances. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Kamala’s social consciousness as a performing artist can be gauged from the fact that the proceeds from the show were entirely spent on building a new ward for children in a hospital in her hometown Mayiladuthurai.
After a long and bright career in India, Kamala moved to America because she felt that she was not getting enough support from the government here. Always known to speak her mind, she said at her ‘Nritya Chudamani’ awards ceremony in 1989 that a dancer’s earning time is short and requested that an artiste’s income be increased after 15 years of service. Tax should not be imposed. Like sportspersons, he also demanded national respect and recognition for dancers.
Kamala’s divorce from her first husband, famous cartoonist RK Laxman, in 1960 was much talked about and was one of the earliest divorces of the Hindu community in India as there was no legal framework prior to the enactment of Hindu marriage that could formalize divorce. Could. Act of 1955. Later, Kamala married TV Lakshminarayanan, disregarding the social norms of that time.
As an octogenarian and senior dance exponent, Kamala has the wisdom and intellectual maturity to praise young dancers for their productions.
In the US, Kamala started Sri Bharat Kamalalaya in Long Island, where she trained many students. Keeping herself active, she also traveled to other cities regularly for classes. As a living legend, his legacy continues through his students.
published – November 28, 2024 05:00 PM IST
