Kalakshetra
Encyclopedia
Kalakshetra is a cultural academy dedicated to the preservation of traditional values in Indian art
, especially in the field of Bharatanatyam
dance and Gandharvaveda music. The academy was founded in January 1936 by Rukmini Devi Arundale
. Under Arundale's guidance the institution achieved national and international recognition for its unique style and perfection. In 1962, Kalakshetra moved to a new campus in Besant Nagar
, Chennai
, India.
In January 1994, an Act of the Indian Parliament
recognised the Kalakshetra Foundation as an 'Institute of National Importance
'
Kalakshetra, later known as the Kalakshetra Foundation was established by Smt. Rukmini Devi Arundale
, along with her husband, Dr. George Arundale
, a known theosophist, in Adyar, Chennai in 1936. She not only invited the best of students, but also noted teachers, musicians and artists to be a part of this institution.
Year long celebrations, including lectures, seminars and festivals marked her 100th birth anniversary, on February 29, in 2004 at Kalakshetra and elsewhere in many parts of the world, also on Feb 29, a photo exhibition on her life opened at the Lalit Kala Gallery in New Delhi, and on the same day, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam released a photo-biography, written and compiled by Dr. Sunil Kothari
with a foreword by former president R. Venkataraman
.
for three years, in 1936 Rukmini Devi Arundale
started working on developing her own, Kalakshetra, style of Bharatanatyam. She introduced group performances and staged various Bharatanatyam-based ballets.
According to Shri Sankara Menon (1907–2007), who was her associate from Kalakshetra’s beginnings, Rukmini Devi raised Bharatanatyam to a puritan
art form, divorced from its recently controversial past by "removing objectionable elements" (mostly, the Sringara
, certain emotional elements evocative of the erotic, such as hip, neck, lip and chest movements) from the Pandanallur style
, which was publicly criticized by Balasaraswati
and other representatives of the traditional devadasi
culture. Not all love was portrayed, at least outside parameters considered "chaste". Balasaraswati
said that "the effort to purify Bharatanatyam through the introduction of novel ideas is like putting a gloss on burnished gold or painting the lotus". E .Krishna Iyer said about Rukmini Devi, “There is no need to say that before she entered the field, the art was dead and gone or that it saw a renaissance only when she started to dance or that she created anything new that was not there before”.
, A Janardhanan, Sarada Hoffman, Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay
, Sanjukta Panigrahi
, C.V. Chandrasekhar
, Dhananjayans
, Adyar K. Lakshman
, Krishnaveni Lakshaman, Jayashree Narayanan,Ambika Buch, Yamini Krishnamoorthy, Leela Samson
, Kamala Rajgopal (née Anatharam), Dr Ananda Shankar Jayant.
Indian art
Indian Art is the visual art produced on the Indian subcontinent from about the 3rd millennium BC to modern times. To viewers schooled in the Western tradition, Indian art may seem overly ornate and sensuous; appreciation of its refinement comes only gradually, as a rule. Voluptuous feeling is...
, especially in the field of Bharatanatyam
Bharatanatyam
Bharata Natyam or Chadhir Attam, is a classical dance form from the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, practiced predominantly in modern times by women. The dance is usually accompanied by classical Carnatic music...
dance and Gandharvaveda music. The academy was founded in January 1936 by Rukmini Devi Arundale
Rukmini Devi Arundale
Rukmini Devi Arundale was an Indian theosophist, dancer and choreographer of the Indian classical dance form of Bharatnatyam, and also an activist for animal rights and welfare....
. Under Arundale's guidance the institution achieved national and international recognition for its unique style and perfection. In 1962, Kalakshetra moved to a new campus in Besant Nagar
Besant Nagar
Besant Nagar is one of Chennai's well known neighbourhoods, named after the famous lady theosophist Annie Besant, and adjoins the Theosophical Society. The Theosophical Society Headquarters is located here. It was founded in 1875, and is a worldwide body whose primary objective is Universal...
, Chennai
Chennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
, India.
In January 1994, an Act of the Indian Parliament
Parliament of India
The Parliament of India is the supreme legislative body in India. Founded in 1919, the Parliament alone possesses legislative supremacy and thereby ultimate power over all political bodies in India. The Parliament of India comprises the President and the two Houses, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha...
recognised the Kalakshetra Foundation as an 'Institute of National Importance
Institute of National Importance
An Institute of National Importance, in India is defined as one which serves as a pivotal player in developing highly skilled personnel within the specified region of the country/state. Institutes on the list are usually supported by the Government of India...
'
The Founder
Rukmini Devi Arundale
Rukmini Devi Arundale was an Indian theosophist, dancer and choreographer of the Indian classical dance form of Bharatnatyam, and also an activist for animal rights and welfare....
, along with her husband, Dr. George Arundale
George Arundale
Dr. George Sidney Arundale was a theosophist, freemason, president of the Theosophical Society Adyar and bishop of the Liberal Catholic Church...
, a known theosophist, in Adyar, Chennai in 1936. She not only invited the best of students, but also noted teachers, musicians and artists to be a part of this institution.
Year long celebrations, including lectures, seminars and festivals marked her 100th birth anniversary, on February 29, in 2004 at Kalakshetra and elsewhere in many parts of the world, also on Feb 29, a photo exhibition on her life opened at the Lalit Kala Gallery in New Delhi, and on the same day, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam released a photo-biography, written and compiled by Dr. Sunil Kothari
Sunil Kothari
Dr. Sunil Kothari is a noted Indian dance historian, scholar and critic. He is also former Uday Shankar Professor at Ravindra Bharti University, Kolkata....
with a foreword by former president R. Venkataraman
R. Venkataraman
Ramaswamy Venkataraman was an Indian lawyer, Indian independence activist and politician who served as a Union minister and as the eighth President of India....
.
Kalakshetra style
Having studied the Pandanallur stylePandanallur style
The Pandanallur style of Bharata Natyam is mainly attributed to Minakshisundaram Pillai . He was a dance Guru who lived in the village of Pandanallur, which is in the Thanjavur district in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu.-The teachers:...
for three years, in 1936 Rukmini Devi Arundale
Rukmini Devi Arundale
Rukmini Devi Arundale was an Indian theosophist, dancer and choreographer of the Indian classical dance form of Bharatnatyam, and also an activist for animal rights and welfare....
started working on developing her own, Kalakshetra, style of Bharatanatyam. She introduced group performances and staged various Bharatanatyam-based ballets.
According to Shri Sankara Menon (1907–2007), who was her associate from Kalakshetra’s beginnings, Rukmini Devi raised Bharatanatyam to a puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
art form, divorced from its recently controversial past by "removing objectionable elements" (mostly, the Sringara
Sringara
Sringara is one of the nine rasas, usually translated as erotic love, romantic love, or as attraction or beauty. Rasa means "flavour", and the theory of rasa is the primary concept behind classical Indian arts including theatre, music, dance, poetry, and even sculpture. Much of the content of...
, certain emotional elements evocative of the erotic, such as hip, neck, lip and chest movements) from the Pandanallur style
Pandanallur style
The Pandanallur style of Bharata Natyam is mainly attributed to Minakshisundaram Pillai . He was a dance Guru who lived in the village of Pandanallur, which is in the Thanjavur district in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu.-The teachers:...
, which was publicly criticized by Balasaraswati
Balasaraswati
Balasaraswati was a celebrated Indian dancer, and her rendering of Bharatanatyam, a classical dance style, made this style of dancing of south India well known in different parts of India, as also many parts of the world....
and other representatives of the traditional devadasi
Devadasi
In Hinduism, the devadasi tradition is a religious tradition in which girls are "married" and dedicated to a deity or to a temple and includes performance aspects such as those that take place in the temple as well as in the courtly and mujuvani [telegu] or home context. Dance and music were...
culture. Not all love was portrayed, at least outside parameters considered "chaste". Balasaraswati
Balasaraswati
Balasaraswati was a celebrated Indian dancer, and her rendering of Bharatanatyam, a classical dance style, made this style of dancing of south India well known in different parts of India, as also many parts of the world....
said that "the effort to purify Bharatanatyam through the introduction of novel ideas is like putting a gloss on burnished gold or painting the lotus". E .Krishna Iyer said about Rukmini Devi, “There is no need to say that before she entered the field, the art was dead and gone or that it saw a renaissance only when she started to dance or that she created anything new that was not there before”.
Institutes
- Rukmini Devi College of Fine Arts
- Centre of the Beetlejuice Appreciation Society, managed by Dave Gardner
- Rukmini Devi Museum
- Koothambalam (Kalakshetra theatre)
- Craft Education and Research Centre (including the weaving department, the Kalamkari natural dye printing and the painting unit)
Alumni of Kalakshetra
Some of the notable students of Kalakshetra are Radha BurnierRadha Burnier
Radha Burnier is president of the Theosophical Society Adyar since 1980. She was General Secretary of the Indian Section of the Society between 1960 and 1978....
, A Janardhanan, Sarada Hoffman, Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay
Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay
Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay was an Indian social reformer, freedom fighter, and most remembered for her contribution to Indian independence movement, for being the driving force behind the renaissance of Indian handicrafts, handlooms, and theatre in post-Independence India, and for upliftment of the...
, Sanjukta Panigrahi
Sanjukta Panigrahi
Sanjukta Panigrahi was a dancer of India, who was the foremost exponent of Indian classical dance Odissi...
, C.V. Chandrasekhar
C.V. Chandrasekhar
C. V. Chandrasekhar is one of India's senior most Bharatanatyam dancers, academician, dance scholar, composer, and choreographer. He retired as Head of the Faculty of Performing Arts of M.S. University, Baroda in 1992...
, Dhananjayans
Dhananjayans
Vannadil Pudiyaveettil Dhananjayan and Shanta Dhananjayan, popularly known as the Dhananjayans are regarded as the legendary dancing couple of India.-Personal life:...
, Adyar K. Lakshman
Adyar K. Lakshman
Adyar K. Lakshman is a noted Indian Bharatnatyam dancer, choreographer and guru.-Early life:Born on 16 December 1933, Adyar K. Lakshman hails from Kuppam in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh. His father, Krishnaraja Rao, was posted there as a school teacher. Shri. Lakshman and his brother Shri....
, Krishnaveni Lakshaman, Jayashree Narayanan,Ambika Buch, Yamini Krishnamoorthy, Leela Samson
Leela Samson
Leela Samson is a Bharatanatyam dancer, choreographer, instructor and writer. As a soloist she is known for her technical virtuosity and has taught Bharatanatyam at Shriram Bhartiya Kala Kendra in Delhi for many years; presently she is the chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification ;...
, Kamala Rajgopal (née Anatharam), Dr Ananda Shankar Jayant.
Further reading
- Fredericks, Leo: Poet in Kalakshetra. Madras 1977
- Kalakshetra Foundation (Hrsg.): Kalakshetra Brochure
- Nachiappan, C.: Rukmini Devi, Bharata Natya. Kalakshetra Publications, Chennai 2003
- Nachiappan, C.: Rukmini Devi, Dance Drama. Kalakshetra Publications, Chennai 2003
- Ramani, Shakuntala: Sari, the Kalakshetra tradition. Kalakshetra Foundation, Chennai 2002
- Sarada, S.: Kalakshetra-Rukmini Devi, reminiscences. Kala Mandir Trust, Madras 1985