‘I engage with dialogue constantly and consistently with dance’

Rama Vaidyanathan talks to us about Bharatanatyam, her gurus and much more...

Bharatanatyam danseuse Rama Vaidyanathan was in news recently for her wonderful dance production NaTyatra, where she made eight young practitioners of jazz, ballet, contemporary, Kathak, Odissi and Kalaralipayattu willingly surrender themselves to Bharatanatyam and bridge the gap which exists between the classical and contemporary dance worlds, under the conceptual brief of ace dancer Tanushree Shankar. 

Talking about the experience of creating it, she says, “The creating of NaTyatra was very interesting and a learning experience as well. I was working with non- Bharatanatyam dancers and working within my Bharatanatyam sensibilities. So it was a challenge as well. But by the end of it, it was very satisfying to create eight hard-core Bharatanatyam lovers.” 

Rama has been dancing since the age of six. She was trained rigorously under the legendary dancer Yamini Krishnamurthy and later, dance guru and her mother-in-law Saroja Vaidyanathan. “My earliest memories are my mother’s undying enthusiasm and my guru, Yamini Krishnamurthy’s gentle way of getting the best out of me. I used to love my dance classes and would never miss them, even if I had an exam or was ill,” she shares. Talking further about her gurus, she adds, “Guru Yamini was at the peak of her career when I started learning and therefore, many of my classes would be just watching her practise. 

My jaw would open just seeing her sheer energy and power. When she would teach, I would be exhausted by the end of the class. Saroja Vaidyanathan, my mother-in-law honed my skills and groomed me to be a performer and guided me professionally. She made me the director of Ganesa Natyalaya which gave me tremendous experience in arts management.” 

Today she is undoubtedly one of the most sought after artistes of her generation having carved a name for herself in the dance form. While deeply rooted in tradition, she has evolved her own individual style without forsaking the core principles of Bharatanatyam. She brings to her dance a rare sense of devotion and dedication, which leaves the audience with a sense of spiritual fulfilment. 

“I never intentionally wanted to create path-breaking work and neither did it happen overnight. I just engaged in an intense dialogue constantly and consistently with my dance form, which resulted in creating my own individualistic style,” she says. 

Talking about her performances for the music season in Chennai, she says, “I opened my margam with a special work based on a mallari in five ragas. It’s called Krishna panchaka mallari as is based on Krishna with verses from the Munkunda Mala. Other highlights of my performances will include a rare Tanjore quartet varnam in the raga athana and also an annamacharya kriti presented for the first time in dance.” 

This season, her daughter and student, Dakshina Vaidyanathan also and students, Kavya Ramesh and Keerthana Ravi will also be presenting their respective solo work at different venues. “I am not nervous about their performance because I know my energy will percolate to them. So I need to give them the strength and assurance that nothing will go wrong and rest will fall in place,” she finishes.