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The scene is commonplace in Chennai, the capital of Bharathanatyam, so to speak. Ever since Rukmini Devi Arundale successfully freed Bharathanatyam of its long-held stigma, it is almost a matter of course for little girls to be trained in dance or music or both. For all that, in-depth appreciation of Carnatic music and classical dance remains an elite pursuit and while the numbers of the would-be aficionados swell, true connoisseurs are few and far between. Why is that? Because, for long, the arts have been considered a clear step beyond the grasp of the common man - a situation that has got to change, feels one very determined couple.
As a little girl, learning music from her mother, an officer with AIR, and dance from the Dhananjayans and later K J Sarasa, Vidya pondered on imponderables like the 'shape' of Shankarabharanam as opposed to, say, that of Kalyani. The child, who sought for words to communicate her thoughts, found ideas overlapping in her mind as she went through school and college, and trained for a career as a Company Secretary. The finite and the abstruse coalesced and the connection between mathematics and music and dance suddenly became evident. Of course, thinkers like Fritjof Capra and Paul Davies have seen complex links among religion, physics, mathematics, dance, music and the very origins of life, and have put down their thoughts in highly acclaimed books.
The series is only the latest in a long string of achievements. Vidya Bhavani Suresh, just entering the third decade of her life, is a Bharathanatyam exponent, folklorist, musicologist, TV personality and public speaker as well. Her Skanda School of Performing Arts trains students in Carnatic and Traditional Tamil Devotional Music as well as Bharathanatyam. It attracts pupils from India and abroad.
The world of art turned its shoulder on Vidya Bhavani, but unfazed, she sought - and found - an alternative. It was embodied in her pioneering 9-volume audio cassette series - Tamiz Ilakkiyamum Bharatamum - in which she set to music songs culled from ancient Tamil literary works. Then came an invitation by Music Today to record a path-breaking audio cassette - "Natya Abyas", a learner's guide and teaching aide to Bharathanatyam, where lessons are explained in detail. The art world suddenly sat up and took notice. Next came another feather in her cap - fusion choreography of the Music Today release "Ahimsa", a World Music Album sung by Dr K J Jesudas.
Suresh believes implicitly in his wife's capacity for greatness, and has been the driving force behind her success. The idea for a series of easily understandable, affordable books on fine arts was his. Suresh's insistence that she can go that little bit further, and his taking complete charge of the nitty-gritty of publishing, recording and marketing, has brought out depths in her that even she didn't know existed, says Vidya. From 'Maths in Music and Dance', the first volume, to the latest - 'Adavus and Sancharis in Bharathanatyam' -- the books are written in a light style, drawing examples from day-to-day life, including popular TV ads and film songs. Yet, the content is anything but light. Vidya beams with pride at having invented what she calls "techno-fiction".
The books are available at leading bookstores in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Mumbai and other centres in India and abroad. Vidya and Suresh have a five-year-old daughter, Mahita, who is being trained in the arts by her mother. The family looks forward to the arrival of twin children early next year. Susan Philip Published on 08th Dec. 2002
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Thaam.di…thaam…thei…tha…thei…" the dance teacher drones on in measured tones as tiny feet stomp to the beat.
Vidya Bhavani and her husband Suresh have teamed up in a revolutionary effort to de-mystify the arts.
The difference is that Vidya, over the years, developed a talent to put such esoteric links in enviably lucid terms, using everyday, even mundane parallels. The knowledge that she possessed this talent came gradually, over many guest lectures, and it took shape as an idea for a series on the fine arts aimed at educating the common man.
She earned the negative attention of the art world with her book 'Appreciating Bharathanatyam', in which she dared to suggest that the dance form, much of which gives expression to the intense relationship between God and devotee in terms of the longings of a lover's heart, was not quite "proper" for today's liberated lady.
Born at Nagapattinam, Vidya is a Keralite by origin. She gave up her career as a Company Secretary with Ponni Sugars. Her husband, Suresh, a Keralite by birth and upbringing, a lawyer by training and a newspaper circulation officer by profession, gave up
his job too, to focus on their dream project.
Priced at between Rs 35 and Rs 40 a copy, the books have been a sell-out. They have gone into the third reprint. What was originally conceived as a series of 25 booklets now has a planned size of 40, but even that limit is open. There is so much to write about, says Vidya. The aim is to make the series a sort of a ready reckoner for Indian Classical Art. The approach is "friendly", she says - friendly on the purse, eye and brain.
