Ode to the first guru
Bharatanatyam exponent Geeta Chandran performs today, to honour the memory of her teacher Swarna Saraswathy
Where: When: Where:
When: Timing: To Babuu, Timing: Sovan
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One of the most renowned Bharatanatyam exponents in the country, Geeta Chandran is staging a performance today that’s a tribute to her first guru.
Chandran, whose learning as a dancer began from the age of five, will present in this performance the salient elements of Bharatanatyam she was taught since childhood. “It’s a tribute performance to my first guru, the late Swarna Saraswathy,” says Chandran, who’ll present the devadasi style of Thanjavur Bharatanatyam at today’s show. “In the medley, comprising all elements of the traditional Bharatanatyam repertoire, I’m going to relive the essence of the dasi dance and delve deep into a varnam that was a perennial favourite in the devadasi repertoire,” says the Padma Shri awardee and Sangeet Natak Akademi Award recipient.
Inspired by her guru’s teachings, Chandran will also perform Mohamaana in ragam Bhairavi, dedicated to Lord Shiva of Tiruvarur — it’s a personal favourite of the artist. Bharatanatyam, she says, isn’t only a dance form, but it’s also “like a canvas”.
In her dance academy in New Delhi, what she strives to instil in her students is this: learning Bharatanatyam can mean learning much about life. Chandran says, “Philosophy, ritual, religion, myths, ancient texts, poetry, literature, art, cultural studies, yoga, gender equity and equality are integral to the pedagogy that I have developed in my training module, [in order] to make my students inclusive of all details. Since Bharatanatyam is like a canvas, one needs to understand all the details before one delves into it.”