Stepping into shringaara varitions on love in modern bharata natyam 2

CHAPTER FOUR REMEDIATING SHRINGAARA IN FILM DANCE Over the last three chapters, I have identified three distinct variations on love that feature in and through the practice of modern Bharata Natyam. In the first chapter, I surveyed conventional representations of Shringaara and argued that rati and vatsalyam manifestations often tend towards devotional aspects of bhakti. Drawing on the figure of Krishna as the love exemplar, I proposed that the dancer’s personal and social experiences of love are viable rich sources of inspiration necessary when creating her interpretation of Krishna. In the second chapter, I brought to the fore the tacitly understood love between guru and sishya as the enabling mechanism that teaches students to depict the stylized expressions of Shringaara. In chapter three, I then discussed different varieties of maternal love—from depictions of nurturing to bereavement upon the death of a child— inherent to productions on vatsalyam. Observing the biological and emotional maturity of professional dancers who mostly perform such manifestations of vatsalyam, I proposed that the concept of vatsalyam becomes a strand of Shringaara for the continued learning and performance of conventional Bharata Natyam. Looking collectively at these chapters, manifestations of Shringaara appear to be medium-specific and dependent on the performer. As I had briefly explored in the chapter on Krishna, each mythological character and the delicate relationship he shares with other characters, can only be conjured onstage insofar as the Bharata Natyam dancer expresses them through the codes and conventions of the form. In this manner, the stylized movement techniques of Bharata Natyam   192 ordain the body in specific ways to create the varieties of love. In her execution of the codified movement, the dancer also demarcates the performance space as one where a mythological Hindu world is created and it is often within this alternative space of reality where representations of bhakti, rati or vatsalyam are conjured. In Bharata Natyam the live dancing body and the codification of movements become necessary for transmitting an impression of culturally ordained love. The dancer manipulates her limbs and facial expressions and draws on the unique particularity of the body as a medium to manifest Shringaara. In this respect, Shringaara appears to be medium specific. As I have surveyed in the Introduction, there is a vast amount of critical literature on the invented processes of the dance. Most of the scholarship relates to acts of purification that have led to the creation of this traditional high-art culture in post-Independence India. However, in this chapter I highlight a parallel and intertwined social mode of witnessing and experiencing the dance from that period that is understated in academic discussions regarding the continued international appeal of Bharata Natyam. The incorporation of Bharata Natyam movement lexicon on films is an important but underexplored area that can account for how technology and film distribution have also shaped the ways in which we understand the art. For many Indians living outside of India, it is often through the medium of film and its dances that we experience aspects of “Indian dance” including Bharata Natyam. Specifically, the formative years of Tamil cinema were integral for appropriating   193 the live dance medium onto the celluloid and presented Bharata Natyam as cultural performances for the film spectator. Bharata Natyam on film is often situated as the binary to conventional expressions of love. Although such dances on film, were often relegated as the inferior cousin of high-art Kalakshetra-style Bharata Natyam and became tangled with issues of authenticity and authority, these film Bharata Natyam versions are nonetheless equally important for the reception of the dance form. In this chapter, I argue for another variation on love that features in and through the reception of Tamil film dance sequences. Due to the widespread circulation of these dance sequences alongside the practice of the ostensibly traditional Bharata Natyam, the reception of the film medium does influence and inform how students of Bharata Natyam understand depictions of Shringaara. Drawing on my observations of its practice over the first three chapters, I argue that there is a complex and at times contradictory manifestation of Shringaara in film-style Bharata Natyam. Yet, given the intertwined socio-historical contexts of Tamil cinema and Bharata Natyam in the 1950s-60s, it is necessary to include cinematic representations of love (through dance) in a thesis discussing the varieties and intensities of Shringaara. Looking only at reception as a mode for thinking through Shringaara, I begin this chapter by charting the socio-historical trajectory of Bharata Natyam from stage to screen. In doing so, I explore the extent to which the varied depictions of love found in the live and film versions alter an informed audience   194 member’s perception of Shringaara. At the same time, the context of Singapore and many local dancers’ engagement with the contesting expressions of high-art and mass culture, are also important for understanding how the local community takes to such expressions of Shringaara. Addressing the ways in which cinema music and conventional Bharata Natyam come together in the local context, or lack thereof, I then focus on the reception of actor-dancer Shobana Chandrakumar’s intermedial production Maya Ravan. As a case study, Maya Ravan pries open issues of authenticity and appropriation in relation to representations of rati Shringaara in a stage performance that is inspired by the conventions of both film and Bharata Natyam. Bharata Natyam and Tamil Film Dance Understanding how Tamil film studies is pitched in relation to sociohistorical forces could explain the gap in scholarship referencing the inter-medial transfer of Bharata Natyam from stage to screen. Firstly, literature on South Asian cinema often gears towards the prolific Hindi films and the sensational Bollywood song and dance sequences. Selvaraj Velayutham best encapsulates this nature when he writes: “The cultural hegemony and dominance of Bollywood within the Indian film industry has both marginalised and erased the rich complexities and ethno-linguistic specific cinematic traditions of India” (2008: 1). Given the prominence of Bollywood cinema, the film industry of southern India is often contrasted as being regional in reach, or at best, an “other”.   195 Discussions on Bollywood dancing are also not given its due in relation to the socio-cultural appropriations of Kathak. Ian Gardwood’s writing suggests the extent to which musicals have become part of Indian cinema for Western reception. He writes: “song sequence is a crucial part of the branding of Bollywood in Western film territories. [It is] the single most identifiable element that marks its territory from its Hollywood counterparts” (2006: 348). Here, the glamourized song and dance sequences become indicative of the reception of Bollywood films in the global circuit. There is an increased attention given to the dance styles of Bollywood, with the framing of the term “Bollywood dance” as a genre in its own right. The mushrooming of new dance schools specializing in Bollywood dance and more conventional ones that include its practice as part of their contemporary wing, illustrates the prolific transfer of the film medium onto the live body. However, the evolution of that dance form and its movement aesthetics, which may be of interest to dance scholars, remains ambiguous in scholarship. While much Bollywood cinema travels the transnational circuit and becomes viable cultural capital representative of India for predominantly diaspora studies, scholarship on Tamil film studies though growing, appears to be pigeonholed and inseparable from its Dravidian politics. The dominance of the political in Tamil films, may also signal the omission of understanding the film dance form insofar as they not forward a political agenda. Exploring the sociocultural and political importance of cinema in Tamil Nadu in pre-Independence India, Theodore Baskaran’s The Eye of the Serpent (1996) has become the   196 quintessential book written on the otherwise marginalized cinema industry. Baskaran traces the historical contexts of the Tamil industry and argues that is both an art and a political tool used to forward the Dravidian Movement.60 Although he includes a chapter on the incorporation of classical Carnatic music onto films and suggests that the lyrics also propel the Dravidian consciousness, there is little written on the adaptation of Bharata Natyam to accompany the music. Scholars discussing the infancy period of Tamil cinema (1913-1946) acknowledge that while the technology was borrowed from the West, the content and performance styles resonated with the regional arts. It is in this limited scholarship, that we begin to understand the ways through which Bharata Natyam was incorporated for the screen. Addressing the prowess of cinema amidst the colonization during that period Preminda Jacob writes: Cinema effectively accomplished a primary agenda of the independence movement: to ignite the spark of national pride by modernizing and valorizing indigenous cultural and religious traditions. And in so doing, these films established key enduring features of Indian entertainment cinema: screenplay derived from indigenous mythological and historical narratives; filmic structure and acting styles based in a mix of contemporary folk and urban theatrical traditions; and visualizations of sets, costumes and make-up influenced by the hybrid aesthetics of nineteenth-century Indian and Western academic artistic traditions (2009: 83).                                                                                                                 The Dravidian Movement that was spearheaded in Tamil Nadu focused its activities around a single goal: to eradicate Brahmin and Aryan supremacy that the caste system supported. During the pre and post-Independence period where Hindustani (a combination of Hindi and Urdu) was the lingua franca, advocates of the Dravidian Movement such as Dravidian Munnetra Kazhagam [Dravidian Progressive Federation] (DMK) championed the use of the literary Tamil language as a mean of raising its status on par with that of classical Sanskrit (Jacob 2009: 153-184). 60   197 This could explain the successful, but underexplored, inclusion of Bharata Natyam into the Tamil film industry. One reason for the convenient mapping of Bharata Natyam onto film was because the narrative content dealt mostly with mythological or religious stories. In Tamil movies such as Manthiri Kumari (1950), Kulebagavali (1955), Uthama Puthiran (1958) and Mannathi Mannan (1960), the song and dance sequences catered for both devotional expressions as well as romantic encounters between lovers. In part due to the camera close-ups on the quivering lips or arched eyebrows, the emotional expressions on screen seem much more exaggerated than the spontaneous ones we may experience in the everyday. At the same time, trained Bharata Natyam dancers Kamala Lakshman (who also goes by Kumari Kamala) (1934~), Vyjayanthimala Bali (1936~) and the Travancore sisters Lalitha (1930-1982), Padmini (1932-2006) and Ragini (1937-1976), amougst others were cast as heroines in the Tamil movies from the postIndependence cinema (1947-1960s). This allowed for the representation of Bharata Natyam movements for the film dances. The inclusion of Bharata Natyam onto Tamil films during preIndependence, in and of itself, is an interesting but underrepresented area of study. Jacob’s suggestion that localized arts found means of modernism through film, may simplify the implications of incorporating Bharata Natyam. The Dravidian politics that cuts through the formulation of Tamil films since preIndependence, stands in opposition to the devadasi-revivalists movements that appeared to realign the practice of the dance with upper-caste Brahmin supremacy. This illustrates an instance of the complexities attached to the practice   198 of Bharata Natyam during its formative years.61 The very medium of film became under scrutiny because of its treatment of expressions of love—that which was central for the Bharata Natyam revivalists. Commenting on the reaction of such medial transfer of the dance, Bhaskar Sarkar a post-colonial media theorist writes: Cultural purists were angered by the film industry’s practice of interweaving classical music and dance forms with elements from folk traditions, low-brow popular stage, and Western sources. They decreed the “vulgarization” of bharatanatyam and odissi, classical dance forms developed in temples, through the incorporation of movements drawn from more vivacious folk dance forms of northern and western India…Armed with the stock physical/spiritual and East/West polarizations, critiques of commercial cinema directed their ire at onscreen sexuality, reductively tracing it to the influence of Hollywood, alleged propagator of degenerate Western values. (2009: 57-58) There was an assumption that the reputability of the dance was gravely affected by the ways in which it was associated with other indigenous forms of art. Furthermore, the circulation of films as mass culture and populist modes of reception, contravened the intent of many cultural purists, like Rukmini Devi Arundale and E Krishna Iyer, who wanted to raise the status of the dance form. Thus, the angst regarding the bastardization of Bharata Natyam on film, is also be rooted in the parallel devadasi-revivalist movement during post-Independence. Specifically, contamination of the art and premature development of sexual interests in the audience due to the erotic onscreen sexuality, were two frequently cited reasons for the accusations hurled at the cinema dances. Amidst the backdrop of reinventing Kalakshetra-style of Bharata Natyam and the devadasirevivalists movement, the ways in which the technological processes of film                                                                                                                 More research regarding the inclusion of the stage dance form onto film needs to be done. However, for purposes of this thesis, I will only be limiting my survey to how the representations of Shringaara have evolved. 61   199 represent an erotic undertone of Shringaara offer relevant counterpoints for my discussion on the variations on love. While such contestations surrounded the formulation of Kalakshetra Bharata Natyam and those that featured on films, the very use of the dance on the celluloid indicates something particular to the dance movement lexicon. Insofar as the medium is assumed to be a modern invention, the appropriation of the dance is suggestive of the latter’s contemporary and modern characteristics. The ways in which a static camera can capture the trajectory of a lively tillana in a proscenium arch theatre or the pans that create the allusion of movement for a padam like in marainthirunthu paarkum from Thillaanaa Mohanambal (1968), suggests the potential partnership between the stage form and technology. Moreover, the mudras like the alapadma that are often used to frame the face for a camera close-up, present an interesting amalgamation of how the dance lexicon can be incorporated to suit a modern technology. The study of Bharata Natyam in the film medium is an underexplored area in scholarship. Yet, given the nature of films and its mass circulation, film Bharata Natyam dances are often ways through which the Tamil population living outside of India appreciate the dance. This is indicated in a March 2011 radio essay broadcast on BBC Radio 3, where the British-based choreographer Shobana Jeyasingh shares how various cultural influences shape her understanding of Indian dance. Her initial contact with Bharata Natyam, she   200 says, was made possible through cinema. She references the post-Independence films ranging from the late 1940s to 1960s. My idols were predictably the heroines; large-eyed, pale-skinned and dancing in a variety of locations from hotel lobbies to temple courtyards. The zooming camera brought the arch looks or the tear-filled eyes to a palpitating and unbearable closeness as I sat there soaking it all in, in my comfortable seat. My idols were rescued from being giant Barbie dolls by their elevated speech. The old scriptwriters obviously treated cinema with the same respect that they would to Classical play; and their ability to dance. Many of these cinema stars were trained classical dancers and their movement and acting style derived much from the rhetoric and etiquette of Bharata Natyam—the classical dance and drama of South India. Jeyasingh’s experience indicates how the films and one’s own practice in Bharata Natyam interact to create an impression of the art. Especially for the transnational circuit, the song and dance sequences in particular became exhibits indicative of the performance culture. The “zooming camera” and other techniques unique to film culture also render anew the rhetoric of Bharata Natyam. The situation in Singapore and the correlation between Tamil films and the state, was perhaps more pronounced. With Tamil being an official language of the country, Tamil films were in a privileged position for circulation through the state-sanctioned television media and at video rental shops.62 As a child, I recall Tamil movies from post-Independence period being aired on local television in two parts, over two days on Thursday and Friday nights. Since my mainstream school lessons began in the early hours of the morning, I was usually not                                                                                                                 Hindi movies were also in circulation through the television but this was mostly aired on Malaysian television channels that were available in Singapore. Such a situation was rare for other Indian language films till the introduction of cable television. 62   201 and the dance.90 Each variation on love then marks a moment in a changing set of circumstances. This is especially pronounced when I reflect on the love that I have for my guru and that which I am forming with my students. As a practitioner, I am posed with a few questions. How would each experience change with time and other infuences? Insofar as manifestations of vatsalyam are concerned, can young modern women like myself practice vatsalyam as a way to own out motherhood in future?   ~                                                                                                                                                                       Changes in my lifestyle and transiting into marriage that paralleled the time I was crafting this thesis, highlight to me that my thoughts and carefully calibrated findings are particular to and written in a specific moment of my life. 90   303 GLOSSARY aaharya abhinaya: the use of costumes and accessories that accentuate the characteristics of the fictional world. abhinaya: dramatic portion of dance where hand gestures and facial expressions are used to convey the narrative. adavu: codified rhythmic movements that appear formalistic. Students begin by learning adavus, which are later incorporated into phrases or jatis. alarippu: an invocatory item that is formatistic in nature. It is the first item in a conventional Bharata Natyam repertoire. angika abhinaya: representations of identifiable expressions through the dancing body. araimandi: the half-squatting posture. arangetram: solo inaugural performance. ashtapadi: Indian hymns in praise of Lord Krishna written by Jeyadeva. It forms the slow-tempo dancing that comes in the second half of a conventional Bharata Natyam repertoire. attami: side to side neck movements often used to embellish the dance movements. bakthi: devotional strand of Shringaara. bhava: emotional expression that accompanies the rasa. Chhau: martial arts from Odisha. devadasi: literally “female servants of God”. They are the hereditary dancers who were married to Gods and performed duties at the temples. dharma: one’s duty towards others. guru-sishya: the relationship forged between guru and sishya. guru: the dance master. gurukula: the practice of sishyas living in their gurus houses as part of a long term understudy system. hasta: please refer to mudra.   304 jalatharangam: Indian melodic percussion instrument in which bowls of water are struck to create the sounds. jati: rhythmic composition that usually arranges the basic adavus into various patterns and set to different time-cycles. jatiswaram: the second piece in a conventional Bharata Natyam repertoire that introduces the complexity of jatis. javali: a short dramatic piece usually on Shringaara, that is shorter and fasterpaced than a padam. jeevatma: mortal soul. Kalakshetra: the style of Bharata Natyam that is widely practiced. It is attributed to Rukmani Devi Arundale. Kalaripayattu: martial arts from Kerala. Kama Sutra: Sanskrit text on human sexual behavior written by Vatsyayana. Keerthanam: a dramatic piece that is slightly livelier than a padam. Kshatriya: warrior caste. margam: The repertoire of a conventional Bharata Natyam performance. Between eight to nine dance works (or items as practitioners refer to them as) are sequenced in a specific manner that reference the pedagogical structure. The Tanjore Quartet from the nineteenth century had standardized the margam. mridangam: a South Indian percussion played on the sides accompanying Bharata Natyam. mudra: stylized hand gestures used in both nritta and abhinaya pieces. In the former, they not carry specific meanings but instead are used to frame the body and the movements. In the latter abhinaya portions, they become symbolic and often offer a visualization of the poetry. Mudras held in specific permutations are called hasta. Please refer also to the images of single hand gestures and double hand gestures found in the appendices. namaskaram: salutations offered to Mother Earth at the start and end of each Bharata Natyam lesson. Natarajah: Shiva as the cosmic dancer.   305 nattuvanar: the conductor of the dancer’s musical ensemble. natyam: the performance of both formalistic and presentational aspects. The varnam is an example of how natyam is presented. Natyasastra: The Sanskrit treatise on dramaturgy written by sage Bharata Muni in Sanskrit. Navaratri: auspicious ten-day celebration for Goddess Devi. Nayika Bedha: classification of ashta nayika. nayika: the female protagonist usually in Bharata Natyam pieces on Shringaara. This term is usually used for the female lover in a narrative. nritta: aspects of formalistic dancing. nrittya: is the interpretative portions of the narrative content. It is also the ways in which the dancer conjures states of being through the mudras and body postures. padam: A slow-tempo dramatic piece piece that illustrates one aspect of romantic love. Variations on romantic love are conjured through the characters of the eight Nayakis. Paramaatma: the Supreme being. parambara: oral tradition. In the Bharata Natyam context it references the heritage and continuity attached to learning and teaching. rasa: loosely translated as the overall emotional sentiment of the piece. rati: the romantic strand of Shringaara. sadir: the predecessor form of Bharata Natyam. sakhis: friend of the heroine. salangai: ankle bells adorned by the dancer that accentuates the rhythmic footwork. sambhoga Shringaara: Love when both lovers are in union. sanchari bhava: elaborations of a single idea, word or metaphor from the sung poetry. These are often improvised. Sarod: North Indian string instrument. sathvika abhinaya: involves subtly articulating the emotional states of the dancer to the audience members necessary for eliciting rasa.   306 shabdam: a short piece where both formalistic dancing and dramatic content is present. It is usually the first abhinaya piece that students learn. Shringaara: broadly defined as Love and is expressed in various manifestations including, devotional love, romantic love and maternal affection. sishya: the dance disciple. thattukazhi: wooden stick that is struck againt another wooden surface. It is hit to keep the beat. thillana: The closing piece of a recital that foregrounds rhythmic phrases. It is often vibrant that allows the performance to end on an effectively highnote. Upanishad: collection of vedic texts from Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. vaachika abhinaya: sung words and lyrics that offer insights to the character or context. varnam: The central dance work in the Bharata Natyam repertoire that incorporates both formalistic movement vocabulary and abhinaya. Bakthi strand of Shringaara is often the main theme of such pieces. vasantha Utsavam: a celebration for Lord Vishna. vatsalyam: maternal strand of Shringaara Veda: Sanskrit texts of knowledge vipralamba Shringaara: Love when both lovers are separated from each other.   307 BIBLIOGRAPHY Ahmed, Sara. “Happy Objects”, Gregg, Melissa and Seigworth, Gregory (ed). The affect theory reader. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2010. American Broadcasting Company, Cougar Town, Television, 2009. Anayampatti S Dhandani. Vathapi Ganapathi Jalatharangam. Hamsadwani raagam, adhi talam. Angkor - An Untold Story, Apsaras Arts, Esplanade Theatre Studio, Singapore, 15 November 2013. 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Asamyutha Hasta or Single hand gestures Source: Chidambaram Arts, Hastas, 2007. http://www.freewebs.com/cdacademy/hastas.htm   317 Appendix B.  Samyutha  Hastas  or  double  hand  gestures       Source: Chidambaram Arts, Hastas, 2007. http://www.freewebs.com/cdacademy/hastas.htm                       318 [...]... aspects of Shringaara including bhakti and rati for the screen audience There is a stylization of love that still transpires in both the popular and high art cultures Variations on Love in Post-Independence Tamil Cinema In the previous section, I highlighted the socio-cultural and historical reasons that resulted in the incorporation of Bharata Natyam onto film In this section, I argue that insofar as... understanding the evolution of rati on film I propose that Tamil cinema Bharata Natyam- inspired dance sequences then offer different variations on familiar strands of Shringaara that are found in conventional Bharata Natyam Representations of bhakti in films usually entail a performance in front of an altar, and also rely on editing techniques The song Kaana kan kodi veendum [“One needs a billion eyes... art, perhaps lay in the ways in   21 4 which scenes of intimacy were presented The sensual aspects of Shringaara that revivalists hoped to suppress in the stage art, appeared to find greater concretization on film In this respect, there is a repurposing of Bharata Natyam into film culture in the post-Independence era I suggest an intermedial framework to understanding how expressions of Shringaara are created... body onto film While the initial postIndependence period dances have similarities to Bharata Natyam, the growing disparity between love on stage and in screen can be partly explained using the umbrella term “intermedial” Since the term ‘intermedial’ has many connotations in varying contexts, I would like to define how I use the term to understand the transfer of Bharata Natyam and its associated Shringaara. .. moves into film medium, the reception of Shringaara is necessarily mediated In the volume Love in South Asia: A Cultural History, Francesca Orsini notes, “Nothing has contributed to the contemporary archive of ‘symbolic snapshots’ of love so much as Indian films” (20 06: 34) Although the collection of essays draws on Bollywood film conventions to argue   20 3 for the ways in which sringara has evolved on. .. revivalists   20 2 My interest in the Bharata Natyam dance sequences in Tamil film lies in the ways Shringaara is manipulated, created anew and operates as a reaction against conventional representations of love In the former, the dancer functions as the main medium through which the love narrative—bhakti, rati or vatsalyam— unfolds The latter privileges filming processes, editing procedures and includes... relation to the male gaze, and the emphasis on carnal interpretations of love on film, there is an emergence of intermedial Shringaara This intersection of film and ostensibly traditional Bharata Natyam conventions best characterize an intermedial variety of love In contrast to the easily identifiable aspects of rati and bhakti in the formative years of Tamil cinema, Tamil film dance sequences from   21 6... how Shringaara is performed To a significant degree, the voyeuristic and visceral quality of watching bodies being in intimate contact with each other is an important aspect in shaping the intermedial Shringaara Focusing on the ways in which rati in particular is subject to this intermedial transfer I draw on item number dance sequences and the role of kissing in film to argue for intimacy as Shringaara. .. screen Continuing from the post-Independence period, the late 1960s-1980s saw the greatest proliferation of cabaret-like item numbers Yet, in maintaining these dances apart from the romantic songs reserved for the main heroines, a unique kind of nayika is being forged Unlike the conventional representation of Radha who is conjured mostly being independent from other gopis, the main nayika in film serves... different environments and settings that would accentuate the concept of love over the dancer herself In this film context, the Bharata Natyam movement lexicon is manipulated through the camera and its associated techniques As such, the kind and way in which Shringaara is conjured in both mediums is distinct Nonetheless both the dance conventions as well as techniques like cinematography and editing do create . to include cinematic representations of love (through dance) in a thesis discussing the varieties and intensities of Shringaara. Looking only at reception as a mode for thinking through Shringaara, . resulted in the incorporation of Bharata Natyam onto film. In this section, I argue that insofar as the live art moves into film medium, the reception of Shringaara is necessarily mediated. In the. experiencing the dance from that period that is understated in academic discussions regarding the continued international appeal of Bharata Natyam. The incorporation of Bharata Natyam movement