Shree Bharatalaya came into being in 1970 following an initiative jointly taken by K.Soundararaja Iyengar, Sudharani Raghupathy and Madurai N.Krishnan.
Iyengar, who was then the Secretary of Music Academy of Madras, was a friend and legal adviser of the family into which Sudharani, (raised in Bangalore and educated there and in the U.S) had married. Sudharani had learned Carnatic music as well as Bharatanatyam and, upon settling down in Madras, had resumed her music training under Madurai N. Krishnan as her teacher.
A class in progress at Shree Bharatalaya | She had also, without any larger end in mind, begun training a poor girl in Bharatanatyam. This gave Soundararaja Iyengar the idea that she could teach dance to several students. This prompted the father of Madurai Krishnan to ask whether what was contemplated was a Bharatalaya. Shortly thereafter, they set about establishing a school under the name of Shree Bharatalaya (the prefix was suggested by Madurai N. Krishnan) with Sudharani as President, Madurai N.Krishnan as its Director, and Soundararaja Iyengar as its guide and Counsellor.
The classes were started in a covered space available within the family compound on Luz Church Road in Mylapore.
Students enjoy their dance sessions! | It was truly a modest beginning.
But the concepts and the ideas that would make Shree Bharatalaya not only a pre-eminent but also a unique institution of learning were developed and introduced even then.
- The aim would be to go beyond providing instruction in dance and music to assisting broader human development, so that Shree Bharatalaya's graduates would be not only competent dancers or musicians but cultured individuals as well. Visits to places of architectural and sculptural interest like temples, museums etc., would be used to serve the larger purpose.
- With this aim in mind, students would be selected after careful tests to ascertain their potential and aptitude. Only those showing interest in pursuing a general education (in regular schools and colleges) would be taken in as students.
- There would be no guarantee of an arangetram or rangapravesam. Art should be pursued for art's sake.
- The emphasis would be on quality rather than quantity. The number of students at any time would be limited.
- The teaching and learning ambience would be informal but the training would be systematic and disciplined.
- In addition to dance and music, students would be taught Sanskrit. Furthermore, they would be encouraged to learn all aspects of presenting a dance programme, like stagecraft and make-up, costume designing and production, and self-adornment prior to performances. They would also be given guidance in regard to aesthetics and artistic values. Senior students would be taught nattuvangam as well.
Thus, the students would learn the art of music and dance in their entirety rather than the performance aspects alone, and learn them in the wider context of the arts in general. The syllabus was designed incorporating these goals, concepts, and ideas.
Over the years, the learning programme at Shree Bharatalaya has acquired many additional distinctive features.
- In addition to compositions of the Tanjavur Quartet and others which form the core of the Tanjavur tradition of Bharatanatayam, the students learn to sing and perform virtually all the compositions for dance created by Madurai N.Krishnan.
- Each student is in a position to substitute for another (at her level) in a dance-drama, if circumstances require it.
- All the students learn the meaning of the compositions.
- All the students learn to perform special exercises based on the Martha Graham technique. These exercises, taught by Sudharani Raghupathy herself, are aimed at making the dancers' bodies more responsive and flexible, and at creating an understanding of the therapeutic value of dance itself.
- All the students are encouraged to learn a variety of crafts, following a suggestion made by Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya.
Shree Bharatalaya has also taken the initative to arrange master classes by outside experts from time to time. Its students benefit from these classes. Typically, the visiting experts share the ideals that guide them, while imparting knowledge and skills. What used to be an occasional event became a regular summer feature in 1922. There were presentations by Tanjavur K.P. Kittappa Pillai, Kamalambal - an aged dancer belonging to the traditional community, N.S Jayalakshmi - a Professor of Dance at Kalakshetra, Chitra Visweswaran - renowed Bharatanatyam exponent, and V.A.K. Ranga Rao, dance writer and critic. Students are also exposed to other styles of dance. They have had regular master classes with Jan Freeman, a modern dancer associated with the Battery Dance Company, USA.
Exposure to new techniques | Considerable resarch too goes on at Shree Bharatalaya, an activity in which the students are also required to participate. The teaching programme itself requires research, as a basis for refinement. For example, different lakshana granthas give different numbers of the various hand gestures, and sometimes also describe them differently. Research was needed to sort out and reconcile the different verses and to identify those which are not. The result enabled Shree Bharatalaya students to learn about various acceptable ways of using hand gestures.
Each production, whether a dance-drama or a television serial, also requires considerable resarch concerning history, literature, theme, costume and jewellery, etc., Visits to special libraries, like the Saraswati Mahal Library in Tanjavur, are undertaken if needed. The research is carried out with diligence. For example, just to locate an apt sloka for the dhanur bhanga scene of the Ramayana production, several students searched through Valmiki's Ramayana, Tulsidas' Ramacharitmanas, Kamban's Ramayanam and Arunachala Kavi's Rama Natakam.
In addition to specific task oriented research, Shree Bharatalaya's faculty and students keep their eyes open for new manuscripts offering potential for dance, new books on dance and other arts, new visuals and other pertinent materials.
Shree Bharatalaya has also released several books and audio cassettes which include :
- Sounds of Bharatanatyam (double cassette)
- Madura Margam (double cassette)
- Thillanas of Madurai N.Krishnan
- Sri Krishna Prabhavam of Ambuja Krishna
- Ariyakudi Tradition rendered by Madurai N.Krishnan
- Laghu Bharatam - Basic theory of Bharatanatyam
- Thillanas of Madurai N.Krishnan - Vol II rendered by Sudha Raghunathan
- Thiruppavai rendered by Madurai N.Krishnan
- Krishnam Vande Jagad Gurum
- Madurai Margam - Dance Compositions of Madurai N.Krishnan (a book)
- Laghu Bharatam Volume I - Handbook on basic theory of Dance
- Laghu Bharatam Volume II
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