Dr Padma Subrahmanyam

[Rsachi]

Recently I watched a livecast of a Jugalbandi between Pandit Birju Maharaj and Dr Padma Subrahmanyam. I am also enjoying a DD Bharati rerun of old Nrityodaya lecdems done by Dr Padma Subrahmanyam on various aspects like karanas.
Here is an artiste you will either love, or dearly hate, but you just can't ignore her. In my opinion she is the best combination of left brain and right brain excellence in Indian dance. I remember she used to perform to packed audiences in Parthasarathy swami sabha long back.
And what music! Tuneful, meaningful, lovely experience to go with her lively and often melodramatic dance. (about that last adjective: she is a self-confessed Sivaji fan for that matter and pays her tribute though her emoting on stage, often).

I salute Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam.

Does anyone know how to get hold of the Nrityodaya lecdems DVDS? I want to buy them.

[mahavishnu]

Thanks for starting this thread, RSachi.

As you correctly observed, Padma Subrahmanyam can bring out a spectrum of emotions in people. But when you ask people what they think of her, the response is bimodal. I personally find the Sivaji-style melodrama to be a bit much. That said, I have often been amazed by the depth of her knowledge of both music and the art of dance.

In the 1980s when I saw her perform at the peak of her physical prowess, she had an amazing musical orchestra providing the anchor for her performances. Her manni, Shyamala Balakrishnan and nephew, the vainika, B.Kannan were both exceptional. But even in the orchestration, Dr. PS had her subtle innovations like the addition of the folk drum. Again, something that had the public evenly divided.

But clearly an icon of our times. Deserves the highest honours in the world of Bharata"nrityam" (as she calls it).

[Nick H]

I watched a livecast of a Jugalbandi between Pandit Birju Maharaj and Dr Padma Subrahmanyam.

Being a great fan of Birju Maharaj and Saswati Sen, I was there

It is a simple fact not connected with individual performers that Bharatnatyam just does not work for me like kathak does (and that I'm way more of a music person than a dance person anyway) but PS's dance to PBM's singing was one of the treasures of the evening. Amongst others was the thillana performed by Saswati Sen and PS's student, Gayathri Kannan, who left the vocalist's spot for this part of the evening.

[Rsachi]

Lucky you, Nick!
My fibre BB packed up but I tethered my 3G and it streamed the program beautifully.

The music was somewhat dominated by PS's ensemble and they did a great job.
The way PBM sang Yahi Madhava was very evocative.
And PS's tillana was wonderful.

[rshankar]

Thank you Sachi for starting this thread. Dr. PS is indeed unique and deserves to be celebrated. As you can tell from reading this blurb of mine, I am one of the few who is not firmly in either camp you describe.

Dr. PS was the first dancer I was seriously introduced to, for many reasons, the least of which was the fact that she seemed to have a unique and special relationship with IITM, and growing up on the campus there, I had an opportunity to watch several of her performances at the Open Air Theater (OAT). Dr. PS not just presented dance performances, but some music ones as well - it was when I first learned that she held a master's degree in music from the Madras University, and was pursuing her PhD with special focus on the karaNas. I realized that she was not a uni dimensional, otherwise insipid performer, like many of her era, who just presented pieces that they'd learned from their gurus, but a scholarly intellectual, who questioned, was not afraid to push the envelope, and make people uncomfortable with some of her decisions and conclusions. These are features I have admired in scientists of the ilk of Einstein, Yalow, Salk, Sabin, etc...characteristics that will certainly expand the corps of knowledge and change practices, and she certainly had brought some changes to how we 'see' classical dance (I am not calling it bharatanATyam for a reason). Typically, in the arts, one is either a successful performer, or a dry academic - but she's a notable exception who has managed to combine both with apparent effortless-ease.

I was absolutely amazed by the communication between Dr. PS and her SIL, the late Smt. Shyamala Balakrishnan - magical even, how they did it on stage without missing a beat (pun intended!). And the productions were so wonderful, that one could truly 'see' the dance in the music, and 'hear' the music in the dance, as Smt. Balasaraswati used to exhort. Dr. PS' innovations were evident even then. For instance, while the likes of Smts. Vyjayantimala and Padmini were presenting elements of bharatanATyam to hindi compositions in movies, it was Dr. PS who formally introduced hindi to the SI classical dance platform when she performed a mIrA bhajan as a padam - and today, I'd bet that somewhere, there is someone who is using the idiom of bharatanATyam to dance to something in Swahili or some other language!

Now, as I imperfectly understand it (from some of her super-erudite lec-dems), many, many, many centuries ago, there was one pan-Indian classical dance form that had the nATya SAstra of bharata muni as its textual reference. This dance form flourished for centuries not only all over India, but in neighboring countries in SE Asia where it had spread to as well. Over centuries, this one form evolved (rather like the formation of metamorphic rock) in the various regions of India under the influence/pressure of local languages, cultures, customs, and even changed its textual reference to support the changes that were introduced to the kinesiology and technique of the form, as well as its purpose. In the area that is presently occupied by Tamil Nadu, parts of Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka, a form developed that took the 'abhinaya darpaNa' of nandikESvara for its textual reference - and it is this form that is known all over the world as bharatanATyam today. Similar evolutions resulted in the development of kathak, maNipuri, oDissi, chhau, kucupiDi, kathakaLi, mOhiniATTam and perhaps forms such as gauDiya nRtya as well.

Dr. PS, through her research, and phenomenal instinct and intuition born of knowledge, is reviving the original, pan-Indian dance form, using the nATya SAstra once again as the textual reference. This includes the use of karaNas as movements and frozen poses. I am not clear about the technicalities of this dance form, but I for one can appreciate elements of many other dance forms in her presentations, like kathak, and oDissi for instance. Hence the fact that she calls her unique 'style' bharatanRtyam to distinguish it from bharatanATyam.

Now, as a performing artist of an unforgivingly visual art form, for many years, Dr. PS was the best there was - blending music and dance, blending the esoteric with the commonplace, appealing to the common man and the cognoscenti alike. I remember being plastered to the TV set watching programs like her rAmaya tubhyam namaha and kRshNAya tubhyam namaha, and live performances at the OAT, and feeling engaged on several planes all at once - esthetic, mental, emotional, and spiritual. Even today, she remains someone who can connect with the audience in a nanosecond, a communicator par excellence through enchanting abhinaya (admittedly, predominantly lokadharmi). However, in the last several years, time has not been kind to her, and I am not able to appreciate her productions - ironically, I do believe that the scholarliness of the current productions is higher than the previous ones...And I will be the first acknowledge that this may be because of my shortcoming.

As a teacher, Dr. PS has been the director of nRtyOdaya from when she was in her teens. She has a huge number of disciples, but barring a few notable exceptions, most of her students come across as empty shells of Dr. PS herself. I do hope that the ones that aren't, are able to stand on the tall shoulders of their guru, and aim for the stratosphere in their efforts to push the envelope even more.

So, if had to sum it up, I'd say that Dr. PS is someone who 'constantly dares' - equipped with a formidable intellect, phenomenal talent, scholarly curiosity, incisive intuition, and backed by a phenomenal team.

PS: 1) I am sure that there are many others better qualified than I am to write about bharatanRtyam and Dr. PS. I hope they do take the trouble to put their thoughts down.
2) Sachi - if you find a source for the DVDs you mention, please let me know as well.

[vasanthakokilam]

Ravi, what a lucid piece of writing! Great. I learned quite a bit about her from that. Thanks.

I attended Smt. Padma Subrahmanyam's Music Academy morning Lecture Demonstration once. She was very good and she talked about her work based on her research at the Tanjore Big Temple.

She mentioned about a limited edition book of hers that contains all the numerous stone inscriptions (kalvettu ) found at the Tanjore Temple ( hopefully with some explanations since that Tamil is not easy ). The book is not widely available. I asked her for a copy and she said she has a few at home but unfortunately we could not work out a way for me to collect it from her. I very much like to read it.

[Nick H]

Ravi, wonderful, thank you.

On the mundane level of the effects of time, it seems she is 75. I thought she was much younger. These things should not make a difference, and it is my frailty that I say I would have appreciated her much more, the other day, if I had known that before, rather than after the performance.

[rshankar]

Thank you to the Sanskriti Series, here is a sample - you can see the vocalist all ready to get up and dance when it is her turn!

[rshankar]

An addendum to my earlier (and already too wordy post): At the time I was introduced to Dr. PS' work was the time when she and her SIL, Smt. Shyamala had published the results of their linguistic research - I was really fascinated by the fact that they were one of the groups that saw similarities between the language of the Australian Aborigines and some of the tribals of South India, and tamizh as well. Many years later, I was reminded of their work when I was reading about mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosome polymorphisms (to trace maternal and paternal lineages respectively) and learned that 'Adam' and 'Eve', after leaving Africa traveled along coastal lines and came to India, from where they then went to populate Australia (as the Aborigines) - major goose-bump time!!

[vasanthakokilam]

Ravi, quite timely you mention that. Of late, the prices of individual DNA analysis have come down to less than $100.00 and I am tempted to track down my origins to the Australian Aborigines! Not sure yet if it is worth the money, so have not pulled the trigger yet.

[mahavishnu]

Ravi, thanks for your excellent summary of the third (and much better informed) position on Dr PS!
Perhaps I am imagining this, but wasn't there an Ilayaraja connection to the folk music research that Smt Shyamala undertook?

[Rsachi]

Ravi and team,
Yes, my intro to Dr PS was similar to Ravi's, starting with my IIT days, a number of her public performances, her lec-dems, and also her active anchoring and moderating role in morning sessions at KGS during their December dance festivals in those times.

We have already touched some of Dr PS's artistic and research dimensions. For such an interesting, multifaceted artiste, all the parts add up to more than a mere sum. Perhaps we could however try and attempt to separate the Dr PS the dancer/performer and Dr PS the researcher/teacher.

And the links of Australian aborigines, Mayans and East Asian cultures (apart from Indus civilization and most of India) to Tamil roots, is a subject of fascination and expanse that merits not just a mention, post, or thread. it deserves a separate forum as many have worked PhDs on that subject and several sessions are devoted to the theme in World Tamil Conferences.

All in all I am gloating that a short post by a phony rasika during a languid ride to Melkote on a lovely wet July Saturday morning has elicited from several corners(?) of the globe such interesting inputs on an iconic artiste!!!

(On the return ride I heard Narasimha Agaccha in Mohana by RKM. Interesting lyric construction by MD!!!)

[Rsachi]

For those who want more bio. etc.(albeit a bit dated -2002), click this photo:



Wikipedia states Dr PS was born in 1943.

[mahavishnu]

1943 makes perfect sense. Dr. PS and my aunt (periamma) were classmates in the then nascent B.A (Music) programme at Stella Maris College in the early 60s. They both learned a few uruppidis from Musiri and my aunt often spoke about what a talented singer Dr. PS was. Perhaps that is the reason why her dance has such strong roots in good music, a la Balasaraswati!

She has also had tillAnas composed by LGJ (and posssibly BMK also) exclusively for her performances. One such performance was the one of LGJ's yamuna kalyani tillani, which Dr. PS performed, accompanied by Zakir Hussain and Karaikudi Krishnamurthy (disciple of CSM) at KGS.

[rshankar]

Interesting, Ramesh...these days, I guess Dr. PS composes her own tillAnAs....

[Nick H]

Wikipedia states Dr PS was born in 1943.

And I can't do sums. That makes her 70, not 75.

[Rsachi]

Folks, a few days ago I attended a fine morning Lec-dem at BVB Bangalore. it was dedicated to Karanas.
Shatavadhani Dr. R. Ganesh spoke very lucidly and authoritatively about the Karanas in Bharata's Natyashastra.
Later Vid Nirupama Rajendra with her students gave a splendid dance demo.

Afterwards I was able to buy online two DVDs from Kalakendra.com
1. Karana Prakaranam by. Dr Padma Subrahmanyam
2. Karana Viniyoga Malika by late Smt Sundari Santhanam (disciple of Dr Padma) and Dr Ganesh.

Two wonderful facts for those who may not know:
It seems in Satara Maharashtra, at the Chidambaram temple commissioned by late Mahaswami of Kanchi, Dr Padma has designed and presented in sculpture all the 108 Karanas, illustrated in her books and demonstrated in the DVD

Dr Ganesh and Nirupama make a fantastic lec-dem combination on this topic.

I can also share my discovery that just as ashtanga yoga is India's unique gift to people who want body-mind fitness, Bharata's Karanas are India's unique gift to the science and art of dance movement.

Hats off to Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam!

[CRama]

Rsachi, Referring to your appreciation of Dr.Padma Subramaniam, I will like to inform you that either Swathi or Kalakendra has commercially released her dance productions in DVD. These were held in Narada Gana Sabha some time back- may be 5-10 years back and released commercially. Many titles are available. I purchased Jaya Jaya Sankara which is one of my favourite programmes. The singer is not Syamala Balakrishnan- It was held after her demise. But equally good and ditto of SB. I had earlier seen this programme with Syamala Balakrishnan as singer in the 80s. It is a treasure for me.

[Rsachi]

Thanks CRama! Yes I did see those DVDs in the catalogue. Will buy them presently.

[jayachAmarAja]

Thank you Ravi for that very informative and beautifully written post. I never found dance (in any form) appeal to me like music did till I saw Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam. She has had the foresight to record her research, and her efforts like the karana prakaranam DVD (could have had more details, was my opinion) are invaluable !