Filling in the blanks - a new book on dance.

              

Kerala Natanam written by Kusum Gopalakrishnan and translated by Ram Gopal Sivadas and Apsara Ram Gopal was launched at an intimate evening at the High Commission of India on the 16 November 2008. This is the first publication by the Kshetra Academy, an independent private bharatanatyam academy run by Apsara Ram Gopal. The 196-page book filled with priceless photographs is a profound tribute to the late great master teacher Guru Gopinath and traces his life and his career over a span of 50 years from his roots as a young aspiring dancer to the great heights he eventually reached. The history of Guru Gopinath is one that bears importance to dance afficionados as his lineage has had a tremendous impact on the performance and teaching of bharatanatyam in Malaysia and Singapore. His shishya (student/disciple) was the late V.K. Sivadas who immigrated to Kuala Lumpur in the 50s, married Vatsala Sivadas nee Kurup and began the Vatsala Sivadas Dance Troupe in 1957. V.K. Sivadas worked for the Ministry of Youth and Sports in the 1970s and was an integral part of the activities of the Taman Budaya Negara, the cultural hub of the era organising multi-cultural workshops, performances and creating structures for pedagogy with the likes of the late Ahmad Omar, Said Manap, Lee Lee Lan, Syed Alwi, Krishen Jit and others. Performing extensively in Malaysia with guest tours and performances across the globe as cultural ambassadors, this dynamic duo eventually teamed up another great legend, the late Master Gopal Shetty and his wife Radha Shetty and under the spiritual leadership and artistic vision of the late Swami Shantanand Saraswati founded the Temple of Fine Arts in 1981. As the Temple of Fine Arts prepares to move into their new premises in Jalan Berhala in Brickfields, this lineage as documented in this book pays fitting and homage to the master teachers. Meanwhile in Singapore, another student of Guru Gopinath, K.P. Bhaskar went on to become a member of the famed Uday Shankar Dance Troupe in Kolkata, after completing his training with his master. K.P. Bhaskar then established the Bhaskar Dance Academy and the Nrityalaya Aesthetics Society in Singapore, with his wife Santha Bhaskar who eventually was awarded the Singapore’s Cultural Medallion Award 1990, which is the highest arts award bestowed upon those who have contributed significantly to the development of the arts in the island republic.

The book Kerala Natanam details the early life of Guru Gopinath who was born into a family of artists specializing in kathakali, the foremost of dance drama styles of Kerala and the initial opposition he faced to pursue arts as a career – his parents being all too familiar with the insecurities of the profession. However, a deep calling and an undeniable gift steered him onto the path of performance of kathakali. The book makes a fascinating read of his regimented studies with several illustrious teachers that included intense physical body conditioning that would begin at 2.00 a.m and continue until 5.00 p.m! Guru Gopinath slowly mastered the variety of roles within the repertoire of kathakali and the book tells of his fortuitous meeting with a Caucasian lady Esther Luella Sherman who went by the stage name Ragini Devi. Ironically, much in the mould of Ruth St. Denis, Indian arts does owe something to western artists and researchers who took a passion to these Asian arts forms. Ragini Devi was a prime mover in trying to infuse kathakali with production values of the west by organizing tour performances across India. While her productions ended in bitter feelings between them that involved poor management and finances, the relationship is important to his growth and development. Interestingly, Ragini’s daughter Indrani was one of the earliest dancers to train with guru Deba Prasad Das, one on the masters involved in the reconstruction of odissi who taught Malaysia’s prime odissi guru Ramli Ibrahim. Kerala Natanam is filled with intimate portrayals and anecdotes of the life of an important artist from India with world-wide influence. His career took him to the Indian movie world where he created some of the most memorable dance works for film such as the gargantuan Drum Dance. The contribution of this great teacher was the extraction of the ‘dance’ from the theatrical form of kathakali, to codify and subsequently to create a form that could be presented independently. This very contemporary and ingenious idea could serve to inspire artists and educators in all parts of the world to work with traditional presentations to create new performance structures. A point to consider would be that kecak that is renowned as a traditional form of Bali drawing millions of tourists a year, was in fact created in the 1930s.    

As a reader, one would be most drawn to and confounded by the unforgettable account of Guru Gopinath’s passing. It took place while he was performing the Ramayana at Bharatiya Kalosavam at the Kerala Fine Arts Hall in Kochi on the 9 October 1987. Was it premonition that for the first time, Guru Gopinath had asked another dancer to also adorn the costume of the character he was playing – King Dasartha? During the scene of Sri Rama, Sita and Lakshmana’s departure to the forest for 14 years, King Dasartha becomes so heartbroken that he collapses and dies. What would you call it when this became the exact same moment when Guru Gopinath felt a sharp pain in his chest and collapsed backstage. He died immediately from this massive heart attack. The show went on with his replacement performing the rest of the saga, and the audience only learned of this tragedy after the performance was over. A professional till the very end! He was cremated in full costume and Natanam regalia, a wish he had expressed to his wife – a funeral fitting a King of Dance from Kerala. The book Kerala Natanam serves as a wonderful documentation of the art form and as a tribute to the artistic achievements of pioneers of the dance in Kerala. However, a book such as this has a far greater importance. It tells the story of a life such as that of Guru Gopinath, will and should serve as a reminder of the nobler things in life – of love, sacrifice and constant service to the arts. It should serve as a reminder to all artists, students and lovers of dance to remain with feet firmly and humbly planted on the ground and to give until you can give no more.

The author of Kerala Natanam is Kusum Gopalakrishnan who with her husband Master Gopalakrishnan were disciples of the Guru Gopinath and went on to carve a niche in the annals of Indian dance history primarily as pioneer teachers at the New Era International School at the hill station at Panchgani near Pune in Maharashtra, India, after an exhaustive performance career. Fascinatingly, the lineage to Malaysia is further cemented as their only daughter, Apsara founder of the Kshetra Academy in Petaling Jaya, graduate from the esteemed Kalakshetra Academy in Chennai and is married to Ram Gopal the son of VK Sivadas and Vatsala Sivadas – completing a full circle.  

The books are available from the Kshetra Academy, Petaling Jaya – 03-79578433.