When I met Dr.Kalarani Ramachandran ( Kala), a Bharatanatyanm exponent and a scholar in dance theory & history for this article I was intrigued to hear that these days she conducts Nrithyobics- a workshop on dance movements as therapy for house wives ,senior citizens and anyone interested in keeping fit. Though using dance as a medium to teach people physical exercises is common, using the classical Bharatanatyam movements as therapy, I thought, was unusual. Probing about her background I found that Kala has dedicated her whole life to Bharatanatyam, initially as a performer and later as a teacher, speaker and a researcher on the history of Bharatanatyam resulting in her becoming an author of five books on dancing.
Born in
Coimbatore, she did her schooling in ,Bangalore and Ahmedabad and later went to
get a degree in Music from Queen Mary`s
College in Chennai. Her mother
Sivakamasundari, herself an accomplished Carnatic singer , encouraged
Kala to learn dancing from the age of 3 and had
been a great support to her in
her dancing career. Her mother would sing in her dance programmes and was also
capable of composing Varnam, Padam and Thillana.
Kala gave
her first public performance when she was only 6 and had her arangetram in Coimbatore when she was 8. “When I was
only 8 years I Performed `Krishna nee
begane` and got a standing ovation which made my parents proud” says Kala.
Over the
years she had the privilege of being trained
in renowned institutes under stalwarts like V.Chalapathy Rao, Smt. Mrinalaini Sarabhai (Founder, Darpana
Academy), Thanjai Arunachalam, Chennai , Prof. Anjali Merh (Head of Department
of performing arts, MS University, Baroda), Sri Sriramulu Acharyalu
(Kuchipudi)and Kerala Kala Mandalam (Mohiniattam and Kudiattam). A chance
meeting with Dr.Padma Subramaniam who
was visiting the city on a lecture cum demonstration tour got her interested
in the theory and history of dance.
Kala got married to Ramachanadran of Bombay
when she was only 21, and moved to
Madurai where her husband decided to set up a business and where she was to spend the next
30 years. Though a daughter and son
arrived soon after marriage, encouraged by her husband and her in laws
she continued to indulge in her passion
for dancing by conducting classes in
Bharatanatyam under the auspices of
Nrithyanjali Dance Academy which she founded in Madurai.
It was in Madurai, when she was in her
early forties that she decided to get a doctorate from
Madurai Kamaraj University on `History of dance`. The year was 2001.
Since her arrival in Chennai in 2006 Kala also has been experimenting with the
use of Bharatanatya`s melody based Bhava`s to teach mentally and physically
challenged children at V-Excel and Mithra, both schools in Chennai, for children with
special needs. In addition to her first book based on her thesis for her Phd
she has published other books titled Bharatanatyam in Tamil Nadu
(2004),Thanjai Valartha Bharathakalai (
2004), Road to Happy Dancing ( 2014). In
2019 Tamil Nadu Eyal ,Esai Nataka Manram
sponsored the publication of her book in Tamil
Currently
she is working on a book on dance grantha
( grammar of dance) -a translation job from Sanskrit to English based on
techniques of dancing practiced in 17th Century.
Kala says,`My mission to day is to pass on whatever I have learnt about
dancing to the next generation`.
Kala, who
lives in Kalakshetra colony in Besant Nagar can be contacted on – email; kala_ram@yahoo.in or mob. 9884887913.
( This article has appeared
in Adyar Times issue dt.20th November,22)
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