Lakshmi Amman's Homepage

Lineage

Classical Indian arts continue to follow a feudal lineage system. A dancer commits herself to a guru. Traditionally, the dancer would be very young, and she would go to live with her guru, where every day she shared family life and studied with her guru in a home setting. This is "guru dakshana" - literally seeing and being seen by the guru, in a way that is a lot more than simply processing information with your eyeballs... it's the sharing of life.

As an American who started at the age of 23, with a career and a finished education, my experience of guru dakshana was quite different, but I've tried to give fealty to my lineage in my own way. I'm incredibly proud to be a part of it.

Here's my lineage:

Dr. Aparna Sindhoor

Sindhoor has trained in Bharatanatyam (an Indian classical dance form) for over 20 years, including 15 years with Dr. K. Venkatalakshamma, one of the foremost proponents of the Mysore style of Bharatanatyam, where Abhinaya (facial expression) and graceful Jathis (pure dance compositions) are emphasized. Sindhoor has been giving accomplished professional performances since her arangetram (graduation solo recital) in 1989. Sindhoor holds a Vidwat (Masters) in Dance, a Masters in English, and a Bachelors degree in Dance, Literature and Dramatics. She was awarded the gold medal in 1990 for finishing first in dance at the University of Mysore. She received her doctorate in Dance, Cultural and Women's Studies from Boston University in 2009.

Since 1996 Sindhoor has been working on dance theater forms with SM Raju (Rajendran M. Sivasankaran) that bring varied art forms and styles to tell contemporary stories. From stories like The Incident and After, Hunt, Clothes, Draupadi, and River Rites, written by contemporary writers, Sindhoor and Raju have created works that give a new dimension to the content and beauty of the dance performance. Using Indian classical dance, yoga, songs, martial arts, stories and folk dances, they explore new ways of presenting without compromising the beauty of the forms. This has made their work more interesting and accessible to diverse audiences. Sindhoor brings a unique blend of depth into the content, novelty in the presentation and extraordinary artistry.

Read more on her website...

My experience...

I first met Aparna teaching at the Dance Complex in Central Square, Cambridge, MA.  Technically, she was my 2nd guru as S M Raju was my first guru as he was substitute teaching for her on my very first day of class.  I've studied with Aparna in her home for over 15 years, and in that time, she's made me welcome in her home, her life and with her family.  I've traveled to India to meet and live with her mother and sister, I've visited her in LA as she does extensive work there, and I've been able to see many of her shows in many of their evolutions.

I could not have been luckier to find a teacher with such a tremendous depth of knowledge and such patience in imparting it.  She shows her mastery in being so fluent in abhinaya that she is a literal thesaurus of movements for a given meaning.  She will extemporize pieces and effortlessly adapt expression after expression to the same verse.   It's something that I will happily watch for a lifetime.  In fact, I rather expect us as two old ladies sitting on a front porch with me prodding her to do yet another Ashtapadi.
 
Whenever you meet up with me, ask me about the latest on my itinerant Guru.  She is a force of nature and she will always be up to something.
 

Dr. K. Venkatalakshamma

Dr. K. Venkatalakshamma is a doyenne of the Mysore Style of Bharatanatyam, she was the last representative of the Mysore court tradition. She was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honour, in 1992.

Venkatalakshamma was born on 29 May 1906 in a Lambani family in Tangali Tanda, Kadur. At the age of eight her grandparents took her to the royal court of Mysore to learn Bharatanatyam under the tutelage of the well-known dancer, 'Natya Saraswati' Jatti Thayamma.

Venkatalakshamma learnt the art of dance in the gurukula system and made her ‘Ranga Pravesha’ when she was twelve. She learnt Sanskrit from Asthana Vidwans Devottama Jois, Shanta Shastry and Giri Bhatta, the essential components of Carnatic music from Dr B.Devendrappa and C.Rama Rao[2] and performed with her guru Thayamma for nearly 30 years.

Venkatalakshamma was appointed "Asthana Vidushi," royal court dancer, by the great King Krishnarajendra Wodeyar IV in 1939 and soon she became a household name in the world of Bharatanatyam.[3] She is credited with taking the Mysore style of Bharatanatyam to its zenith. She served as Asthana Vidushi for an incredible 40 years in the courts of H H Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV and H H Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar, the last of the Mysore rulers.

After 40 years of service in the palace, Venkatalakshamma, the famous abhinaya exponent, opened her own institution, Bharatiya Nritya Niketana.

When the Faculty of Dance was founded at the University of Mysore in 1965 Venkatalakshamma became its first Reader and retired after serving for nine years in 1974. After her retirement her granddaughter Shakuntalamma served as the Reader. Venkatalakshamma trained a host of dancers from both India and abroad, served as dance teacher and Principal at various institutes including the Nupura School of Bharatanatyam in Bangalore.

My experience...

I was never lucky enough to meet my guru's guru.  I had known Aparna for 3 years when Venkatalakshamma passed away.  I remember Aparna's sadness, and I look forward to the day when Aparna has finished crafting a show in her guru's honor, although I often think that with every student she teaches, she honors her guru.

Despite not having met Venkatalakshamma, she is very much a presence in my dance experience.  Venkatalakshamma lived with Aparna and her family for many years while Aparna studied with her.  That's not the traditional path - it normally works the other way around, with the student visiting the guru.  But a variety of logistics conspired for this to be the best option, and it was quite awesome that Aparna's parents could make this work.

By the time Aparna studied with Venkatalakshamma, the guru was no longer able to do aramundi  - the most basic position of Bharata Natyam that can only be described as extremely intense.  This meant that the guru did not demonstrate the basic exercises, nor did she do the pure dance part of the art form.  Fortunately, in this art, a guru's primary responsibility is not to demonstrate constantly (as you may see in some Western classes) but to give useful feedback.  So Aparna was shaped by Venkatalakshamma's eye, not by her bodily demonstration.

Venkatalakshamma was, even in her later years, a profound performer of abhinaya - and performed well into old age, captivating others with her ability to assume any character.  I may never find it again, but just as I was preparing for the Margam, Aparna and I received a link from a dancer friend of ours with some very rare video of Venkatalakshamma performing a part of the Ashtapadi that I know.  It was unbelievable.  She was not a young woman, the video was quite grainy and in black and white, and she was utterly transfixing.  It was such a gift to see this very, very quick glimpse of her just before the show.

Jetti Tayamma

The founder of my lineage.  She's known as the Natya Saraswati of Karnataka, and her existence is real, but also nearly legendary.
 
I haven't been able to pull an official biography from any credible source, so here's what I know based on information from Aparna and her family...
 
Jetti Tayamma was a court dancer in the Mysore court.  She was not a court dancer for very long - the reason I've been given is that she did not enjoy the constraints of performing for the king, where one has to be at his beck and call at all times, and where the structure for performing is quite rigorous.  She was quite talented and had a great degree of reknown for her amazing dance.
 
My particularly favorite story is that she became interested in Hindustani music (most Mysore dance is done to Carnatic music) and so started listening to the practices of a vocal performer visiting the Mysore Court.  Jetti Tayamma started to improvise to the music outside of the singer's window and the singer became aware of her presence.  Like most performers, the vocalist was not so thrilled to find out that someone was treating her practice as a listening opportunity, given that practice is the time when a performer stretches and grows and should be at liberty to make mistakes without an audience.
 
But when she realized just who was dancing outside her doorstep, she immediately invited Jetti Tayamma in, and thus began their collaboration.  As a result, my lineage includes some works of Hindustani character that you won't see in other Bharata Natyam styles.
 
The fearlessness of artistic innovation, combined with the willingness to take on dedicated students regardless of their culture of origin begins with Jetti Tayamma and has carried straight through to my teacher - who is as dedicated to reinventing the capabilities of Bharata Natyam as she is to teaching it.  Without this insane dedication to dance and to taking on students of all types, I doubt I would have thrived with this lineage. 

Anil Natyaveda

Co-Director of Navarasa Dance Theater. He is a choreographer, dancer, teacher and martial artist (kalari ppyattu) from Triuvanathapuram, India. Anil has trained in classical, contemporary and aerial dance forms with renowned teachers including Daksha Seth, Professor Shivanandan, Jayachandran, Vembayam Appukuttan Nair, Uday Deshpande and Govindankutti Gurukal. He has a degree in Dance from Sree Swathithirunal Music College, India. He also acquired the teacher-training degree in Dance: Project Sakrthaya. He has been a professional dancer since 1991. He has performed all over the world including at the Edinburgh Dance Festival, Germany International Summer Theatre Festival, Hong Kong Art Festival, Khaguraho Festival in Dance, Kozh Company, UK celebrating Indian Independence. He performs and teaches dance classes in the US, Canada, and India. He choreographed for Indian films, including Santhosh Sivan’s film, Anandabadhram. In 2008 the Kerala State Guru Gopinath Trust, India, honored him with the Natyaratnam award and in 2012, the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute award for his contribution to Indian arts. Critics have hailed him as an important contemporary choreographer creating original works my experience... Anil and Aparna share a brain and an evil teacher streak in the best possible way. He's been my guru for Kalari since he first came to the US in or before 2008. I was literally his second student here in the US. I started Kalaripayattu with every intention of just trying for a short while... and got hooked. Being a Kalari practitioner has change my life, in how I approach confrontation, and how I think of my body. Anil has taught me that the impossible is possible and that there really is no limit to what you should think you can do. His belief in me and his ability to push me right up to the limit is impeccable.