It was a sultry day at Kancheepuram, the temple town, near erstwhile Madras. People were flocking to a temple to witness a Bharatanatyam dance performance. Dance recitals in those days (this was 1925) were scoffed at by many. Dance was unfortunately viewed as ‘disrespectful’. However, it also had its few admirers. At the temple a petite seven-year-old haltingly walked to the stage. This girl had been born into a seventh generation family of Devadasis, the members of which were dedicated to the service of temples. The Devadasi practice in those days was an object of abuse, and these young girls, who generally became temple dancers, were exploited by rich men. The dance performance began. The legendary Nayana Pillai was among the audience. The girl danced without any anxiety, undeterred by the prying eyes of the public. At the close one word from Pillai summed up the performance – ‘Tremendous!’, she exclaimed. A Bharatanatyam dancing star was born. Balasaraswati never looked back. Years later, Dr. Narayana Menon, an eminent critic, echoed Pillai’s judgment. He wrote that no dancer had captured the public imagination as Balasaraswati did in the thirties and forties. Bharatanatyam until then had been viewed as an esoteric art practised for the pleasure of a few connoisseurs and dilettantes. Balasaraswati made the public aware of Bharatanatyam. Her name has become synonymous with Bharatanatyam.
Born in 1918 to a family in which music and dance was a part of the daily routine, Balasaraswati was destined to dance. By the age of 16, when she performed in Calcutta (Kolkata), she had already become a household name. Balasaraswati was trained by Guru Kandappan Pillai, whom she revered with respect and surrender. Balasaraswati moulded herself into a multifaceted personality. Her biggest achievement was the propagation of Bharatanatyam, a performing art that had hitherto being unknown to the West. By the 1950s, backed by her solo dance performances, she was being compared to a US legend of Modern Dance, Martha Graham. Back home, Balasaraswati had started a renaissance. Bharatanatyam began to be viewed as a pristine and divine art. As Krishna had sermonised in the Bhagvad Gita, that the process was more important than the result, Balasaraswati believed that intense practice, the feel of dance and its relentless pursuit were more important that performing on stage. As a Guru and a performer, she neither allowed materialism nor a quick-fix route to success. Her knowledge of the ‘theory’ of Bharatanatyam was perfect. She once famously remarked that the ancient texts had accorded a divine status to Bharatanatyam. By the 1960s and 1970s, a new school of thought had emerged in Bharatanatyam, which sought to ‘cleanse’ Bharatanatyam of traditional lyrics. Balasaraswati politely advised proponents of this thought to continue with the traditional lyrics, which she associated with divinity. Balasaraswati believed that Bharatanatyam sought to complete the union of the devotee with the divine. She explained that the sequence of portrayal in Bharatanatyam was of utmost importance. She preached that the technical aspects of a Bharatanatyam recital - the Alarippu (invocation piece), Jatiswaram (bringing out unity of music, rhythm and movements), Sabdam (graceful movements in a story or poem), Varnam (centre piece performance with complex and difficult movements), Padam (lyrical section that speaks of love and devotion), Tillana (pure dance item with complex footwork) and Shloka (verse of prayer) - should be sequenced properly, in order to most effectively bring out the various essential elements of Bharatanatyam. She compared this to a devotee entering a beautiful (South Indian) temple. She opined that a devotee first entered the Gopuram (outer gate), then moved into the Mandapa (hall), the corridors and the inner compound, before entering the Sanctum Sanctorum, where the ‘Darsanam’ of God awaited him. Though Balasaraswati believed in unquestioned surrender to the teacher, she sought to create a space wherein students could attempt to create something new within the precincts of the laid-down traditions of dance. Popularly referred to as the ‘Queen of Abhinaya (Expression)’, Balasaraswati remained undeterred by the vile jealousy and rivalry that is often associated with the performing arts.
Balasaraswati received numerous awards during her glittering career: The Sangeet Natak Academi Award, the Isai Perarignar Award, the Sangeeta Kalanidhi Award and the second highest civilian honour of India, the Padma Vibhushan. She also has the honour of being included in the compilation of ‘America’s Irreplaceable Dance Treasures’. Balasaraswati passed away in 1984, but her legacy continued through her daughter Lakshmi Knight (till she too left this world in 2001). Balasaraswati’s grandson heads the Balasaraswati Music and Dance Association in USA and India. To this day, as Bharatanatyam continues to embrace new trends and themes, the basic mood still rests with a tradition that is pure and divine; a tradition that was most dear to the heart of one of India’s greatest dancing legends. A journey that began with the acclaim, ‘Tremendous’, was aptly reflected in an editorial in The New York Times in 1977, by renowned critic Anna Kisselgoff. She referred to Balasaraswati as one of the ‘supreme performing artists in the world’. Amen.
She preached that the technical aspects of a Bharatanatyam recital - the Alarippu (invocation piece), Jatiswaram (bringing out unity of music, rhythm and movements), Sabdam (graceful movements in a story or poem), Varnam (centre piece performance with complex and difficult movements), Padam (lyrical section that speaks of love and devotion), Tillana (pure dance item with complex footwork) and Shloka (verse of prayer) - should be sequenced properly, in order to most effectively bring out the various essential elements of Bharatanatyam. She compared this to a devotee entering a beautiful (South Indian) temple. She opined that a devotee first entered the Gopuram (outer gate), then moved into the Mandapa (hall), the corridors and the inner compound, before entering the Sanctum Sanctorum, where the ‘Darsanam’ of God awaited him.
The writer is a renowned Kuchipudi danseuse and choreographer
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