Portraying the moving depiction of devotion

Kubja Leela’ from the ‘Krishna Charitam’ shows an adolescent Krishna, with his mischievous looks and mesmerising charm, playfully interacting with his hunchbacked devotee Kubja to whom he reveals the beauty of the soul before transforming her into a lovely lady, freed of her deformity.

During this moving moment one sees the little Krishna emerge as the benevolent protector, blessing his devotee who prostrates before him, her expression full of gratitude, love and sublime affection for the divine form that dazzles her.

Prateeksha Kashi as Krishna and Vyjayanthi Kashi as Kubja are so completely involved in their roles that they are oblivious to all else till the thunderous applause from the audience brings the curtains down.

“On stage the vibrant dancer portraying Krishna ceases to be my daughter or shishya. I see her only as Krishna and my emotional response is that of the devotee that I portray. In all other ballets choreographed by me we are the characters that we portray.

There is no question of my intimidating her on stage as her mother and guru,” says acclaimed Kuchipudi dancer, guru, choreographer and dance therapist Vyjayanthi Kashi.

“I feel blessed to be able to perform along with my mother, guru and friend, who I admit has a lot more energy than me. There is no tension on stage and I feel supremely confident when she is dancing along,” adds her daughter, Prateeksha Kashi.

The mother-daughter duo, from Bangalore belong to a select group of such performers and have started dancing together after their “Dasavathara Sabdham” at the International Dance Day in Bangalore, nearly five years ago, became an instant hit.

Vyjayaanthi over the years has choreographed around 30 dance dramas, 40 solo compositions and 60 group works both traditional and contemporary, bringing forth the talent of many students from the Sambhavi academy of dance that she established in 1993.

Today the school has five branches in different parts of Bangalore providing an opportunity for students to learn Kuchipudi in its purest form. How is it that a dance form from the neighbouring state captured their imagination? Prateeksha is the first to chip in here.

“When foreigners come all the way to learn Indian dance forms there is a great deal of appreciation but when we Indians like a dance form from another state there a lot of unnecessary apprehensions. Why?” She questions. “I belong to the family of Dr Gubbi Veerana, who was a legendary theatre personality honoured with the title ‘Andhra Kala Sarvabhouma’ for his yeoman contribution in setting up the Surabhi Theatre here.

Kuchipudi is a dance form that originated from the Yakshagana tradition with a lot of scope for Abhinaya (expression) and nritya (dance), which appealed to me and I learnt it from the great exponents of Kuchipudi like CR Acharya, Vedantam Prahlada Sarma, Korada Narasimha Rao and others. I make a special effort to learn every nuance of the dance and present it in its proper form,” adds Vyjayanthi dismissing criticism of being an outsider.

Although Vyjayanthi Kashi learnt Bharatantyam from the age of six, she gave up dancing for a while foraying into theatre and resuming dance only after her marriage to a film and theatre personality Vijay Kashi. Her stint with theatre kindled her interest in Kuchipudi and she won many laurels despite marriage, motherhood and her 18 year career with the Corporation Bank.

Pratyusha Kashi unlike her mother loved dancing from her childhood as she grew up watching her mother dance and teach students. She was barely five years old when she watched her mother’s performance and quickly ran on to the stage to join the rest of the dancers in an impromptu “rangapravesham”. A gold medallist in computer engineering Prateeksha quit a well-paid job in an MNC to devote all her time to dancing.

In Hyderabad as part of the ongoing Hyderabad Art Festival the duo performed items depicting tales of Shiva, Kanyakumari and a ballet on the famous Kakatiya Queen Rudrama Devi. This saga of the embodiment of Veera rasa (courage) received critical acclaim for its painstaking research, excellent choreography and meaningful lyrics.

The scene where Rudramma is shown learning different aspects of warfare from the gurus before plunging on to the battle field with Prateeksha galloping on an imaginary horse is poignant with the background score and the movement of the dancer bringing alive the battle scene to a spell bound audience.

How important are awards and recognition to an artiste? “They are important but they should come at the right time, not too early to make you feel that you have learnt everything and not too late where you can’t even walk up to the stage to receive your award.

The first time I received the Sangeet Nataka Akademi award for my dance, I was really thrilled. Now, after each award I feel grateful and remind myself that it is an added responsibility to work harder in my evolution as an artiste,” says Vyjayanthi Kashi. “Awards and accolades are certainly encouraging but should be earned and well deserved,” echoes Prateeksha, who has also acted in regional films.

Moving ahead Prateeksha wants to instil love and appreciation of dancing among the younger generation who hardly attend classical music or dance shows. “Whether or not they take to dancing as a profession, I feel every youngster should learn classical music or dance as it enhances creativity, improves communication and instils confidence,” she opines.

The myriad characters that she portrayed on stage have left a lasting impact on Vyjayanthi Kashi, who feels that the messages conveyed are relevant to all times.

The agony of Gandhari, who has 100 sons but not one by her side when her end comes, the torment faced by the Asura queen Sharmistha ,who serves as a slave and the suffering of Urvasi, who descends from heaven with the sole purpose of teaching dance are laden with messages for every stage of human life she avers.

As they wear their anklets the mother daughter duo internalise the emotions they portray and convey the essence to the audience, dancing their way into their hearts.

By:Aruna Ravikumar