12 minute read
Artist Feature - Dr. Yashoda Thakore
from February 2021
When did you start learning dance, and how did that come about?
Advertisement
I started dancing when I was about 6. My father says that I declared when I was 3 that I wanted to be a Dancer. I can’t vouch for that. But I definitely knew from when I was 5, ever since we got a Television in Hyderabad - the days of the ECTV and I was watching Padma Subrahmanyam, that I wanted to be a Dancer.
But then my parents did not want me to be put with anybody. When Dr. Vempati Chinnasatyam started his institute in Hyderabad with Sobha Naidu as the principal, they had found the right tutor. I was under her tutelage for 14 years. The 14 years were like 'vanavasam' - a great penance. I learnt the art from her and in fact to the extent that they say that I even look like her. I absorbed too much watching her day and night. She was not just a teacher; she was an inspiration.
How did you get acquainted with the Devadasi Nirtyam?
While I was doing my Masters in Kuchipudi at the University of Hyderabad, I got to know more about the Devadasis and the Devadasi Nrityam. I actually come from the Kalavantulus - a name given to the Telugu speaking Devadasi community.
As I got to know more about them, I wanted to learn that dance form; I wanted to connect with the people - the Women - around whom this revolves. This was not easy as there was a conscious attempt from my family to not connect with that history of ours. But I did finally find Swapna Sundari - who was teaching the Vilasini Natyam art form at that time - and wrote to her saying that I wanted to learn this form. After a wait of 3 years, she agreed to teach me the Vilasini Natyam, which is also the dance of Kalavantulu.
But, I wanted to go back to the source, the women. This was a quest, a journey inwards for me. So, I went to the villages with the help of Shri Davesh Soneji and connected with them and from there on there was no looking back. For me, the history, the indigenous background and the origin of each form happens to be very, very important. It is extremely important to bring these in into dance.
Yoga is meant to prepare you for the performance. You don’t go on stage and do acrobatics. You go on stage and you emote to the literature and move to the music. It is about dancing from within.
Did you find any parallels between Kuchipudi and the Kalavantulu form of dance?
Kuchipudi's style is very complex. Kuchipudi itself was a male-dominated dance form - performed by the Brahmins. And it was a theatre form originally and later transformed into a solo form. The solo repertoire was added to Kuchipudi by Vendantam Lakshminaraya Sastry, who was actually a mentor for many of these Kalavantulu women. He was the one who took the whole repertoire and brought it into Kuchipudi. But when he brought it here, it was the Men who were dancing and not the Women.
The people changed - the human beings were left behind - but the repertoire was taken. It had to be suited to the body of the man who was now donning the female role. When the man danced Kuchipudi, there was a certain dynamic in the body - a certain energy. They had to accentuate / exaggerate the femininity, and so the moves became overtly feminine and overtly sexual. When Vempati Master Garu started teaching it, he was teaching women, and with his sensitive aesthetic, he was able to adapt it to the female body. There is still overt femininity there too there are extra curves and sculpture and everything else. But whatever he made as his style suited the female body. Kuchipudi as an art form also requires greater fitness and can be heavy on the body.
On the contrary, the Kalavantulu form is very different from Kuchipudi, it is very lilting, and it just flows naturally. Though dance is not a question of how fit you are, it is good to be fit and having said that, I am not telling you that fitness was not important for Kalavantulu.
My teacher, Mangatayaru Garu, would make me practice 45 - 50 mins of pure dance before I could perform a Padam or Javali. And that pure dance would be that you sit and stand and jump and take circles; it would be really very taxing. And then she would say, "sit and do Abhinayam." Only if you do that practice the body adapts, the energy flows and expression comes out easily.
With my Yoga background, I then realized what Yoga practitioners meant. Yoga is not meant for performance. Yoga is meant to prepare you for the performance. So, you don’t go on stage and do acrobatics. You go on stage, and you emote to the literature, and you move to the music.
What would you say is your favourite dance rendition. And why?
I am a die-hard devotee of Lord Krishna. Complete devotee. Oothakadu’s Swagatam Krishna - that my teacher has choreographed on me - is a personal favourite, and I love to perform that song. And really any Annamacharya Keertana; I just love Annamacharya Keertanas.
As to the Kalavantulu dances there is a padam Ille Erugaka Mari Okarinitikostivi - that has a special place for me because that's the padam Buli Venkataratnamma - Mangatayaru’s Grandmother used to perform and was very well known for that. Of course I love to perform the Golla Kalapam, a full 2 hour act, that I learnt from my teacher.
How do the varying fields of Kuchipudi, Devadasi nritya and Yoga that you practice contribute to each other? Does one ease into the other? Or do they create contradictions? If so, how do you express them?
I’ll start with the Yoga part. Kuchipudi has many dramatizations even in a solo performance. I become Krishna, Dharmaraja, Shakuni in the same piece. The psyche has to change in splits of seconds. In Devadasi nrityam, usually, there is one protagonist, or nayika, and you hold that character for 20 mins or so. Some varnams run as long as an hour. This takes another kind of energy. I think Yoga helped to keep up with both styles.
The change of psyche from one character to the other in split seconds, that too convincingly getting involved with each character, stepping out and soaking into another takes a lot of mental exercise and training.
This comes with certain kind of practice and involvement, especially when getting into one that you don’t connect with in real life. Now imagine expressing such a character with rasa for 20 mins or more without the audience getting a whiff of your personal opinions.
Initially, yes there were conflicts in performing both the styles but after an amount of practice and training, they don’t appear as conflicts anymore when I perform them consciously. Though it is interesting that the conflict initially was not about the physicality but when I would do these overt, dramatic curves and moves that are common in Kuchipudi but a big no-no in Devadasi style.
Did learning and performing Devadasi Nritya change how you interpret Kuchipudi?
The history and evolution of Kuchipudi as an art form is very interesting. Where the Devadasi Nrityam may be very subtle, in the Kuchipudi style - because of the path of evolution it has taken many of the expressions and the dance movements are perhaps less natural and overemphasised. So, for me, the knowledge of the Devadasi Nrityam has significantly impacted the style and substance of my Kuchipudi dance and made it more deeper and subtler.
Kalvantulu women do not like to use the English word ‘Courtesan’ when referring to themselves. Why and what words can be used to describe them?
I will not tell what the right or wrong words to describe them is, but I will tell you what my family feels like. They prefer to call themselves as ‘Suryabalija.’ Even the original term for this was Saanivaaru or Bhogamvaru. During the nationalist period, the word Kalavantulu was given to them in Andhra Pradesh and Kalvanth in Maharashtra. Kalavantulu means ‘Bearer of Art (Kala).’ Kalavantulu has a feminine gender in it. Later, when the act came, the community wanted the name to be changed to Suryabalija, given the name has a more masculine tone. I feel this had changed the face of the identity as well.
Slowly within my teachers' community and my own family, I would argue that we should not shy away from our past, and that we should talk about our own art. Gradually, people started using the word Kalavantulu again, and the word is now considered acceptable. With time, the perspectives of the temple changed, and many things about the art form have disappeared. So when I ask the women what should we call you, they say ‘Devadasi’. When I ask what about the word courtesan, they say no, for it is not decent and also because it is an English word which cannot be used to effectively describe an Indian Dance.
What is dance to you?
What is it not to me! I did my Bsc in Maths and Physics, I am a science student. I struggled and struggled. My father wanted me to be an engineer, can you imagine me as one? I compromised and did B. Sc Maths, Physics and Chemistry. I did that. I could understand physics, Maths and chemistry to an extent only when I converted these subjects into dance and reconverted them into the subject. I could understand Benzene structure only when I had to do a formation on stage with girls, and say ok this is red, this white, double bond, alternate double bond, only when I did and converted it back into chemistry, that’s the only way I understood.
I married into a North Indian family, so when I got to know about the vessel “kadhai,” I could remember the name only when I did the movement to make a Kadhai.
For me, it’s not a separate art that I do in the evening; it is just everything I do. That’s why a computer is difficult for me because it only has two movements (makes a hand gesture to show opening and closing of a laptop). I say, I do not understand what is life without dance, because I understand everything only through it.
Her teachers Annabattula Mangatayaru and Leelasai
Any advice for dance learners?
Do it without any expectation BUT, BUT, don’t do anything for free. If you have danced or sung for 10 years and you think you are good, then let them give you even one penny, it’s ok, but don’t do it for free. Because, if you do that they do not attach any value for it. Grow to a point where you are excellent at it. Just push yourself and come to a position where you can say, there is a certain value to the art that you carry. It’s not about you, it’s about giving value to that art. If you don’t need it, you can always donate it to a poor artist.
For the younger ones who have just started and not with much experience, initially do not take it too seriously. Play and follow your Guru’s nstructions, don't overthink, just follow the instructions. It is very hard, especially for kids including my 11 year old to follow instructions. I want to tell him, listen, learn to follow instructions. My older one, who is 20 now, does listen. They have their own mind and a balance needs to be brought about; we have to teach them to follow instructions but also respect their own ideas and feelings which should not be brushed aside completely.
Are these dance forms able to stay relevant and available for future generations?
That is a danger that we have to guard ourselves from. And for that, we have to understand our art and sensibilities from within and ensure that there is good research and discussion around these topics. However, there is optimism. We are progressing and slowly ensuring that more people are coming into the fold.
What does winning the Ugadi Puruskar mean for you? And as an artist with many achievements what has satisfied you so far?
When I became independent after 14 years of learning dance, my father and uncle said, if you want to be a dancer, then it has to be like any other profession, you have to excel in it. I have a registered institution, and I am proud of that.
Coming to the award, to get recognition from the government is any day something to be proud of. I am honoured, and I accept it very humbly. From another angle, what makes me very happy is the Bangalore Nagaratnamma Award given by the Vishwanatha foundation. It is particularly significant because it comes from the name of Bangalore Nagaratnamma - the devadasi who declared at that time of strife that she was a Devadasi and would stand for other Devadasis.
What are your goals for the future? What inspires you to keep going?
I don’t know as I never thought of the future. It is always about doing it now. What I can visualise is (I can’t say goal) a dance field where present day dancers and dancers from the Kalavanthulu community - the families, come out there, both girls and boys coming out there, proudly claiming that they come from a lineage of art. And then there is happy camaraderie between present day dancers and heritage dancers.
Art is not to create rupture but to create togetherness. The art should be so good, the artists of the next generation should be so aware of the history and present, that the citizens of future should feel what their life would be like if there were no artists. They should be there in society creating that pleasantness that is missing at the moment. I have hope, because the younger generation is smart and they are open. I am quite optimistic. The fact that we are talking like this shows that it is changing.
