CHENNAI: Contrary to his small frame and simple demeanour, Vedantham Radheshyam, the 70-year-old Kuchipudi artiste’s long history of performing dance ballets since the age of five, stands tall. A major part of the Natya Rasaprabandha festival that happened in the city over the weekend, the dancer has to his credit performances and pains as a teacher of the dance form to keep the tradition alive.
Radheshyam is the last of the Vedantham family that was credited as one of the families having the tradition of performing Kuchipudi dance ballets. Although a member of the Vedantham family, the artiste says that he has performed with prominent artistes from other families such as Vempati — across the world.
As he shares his experiences with CE, he makes references to several of the roles he has donned – as the sutradhaari (the story teller), the main performer or even reciting the natuvanga (verses conducting the dance performance). However, the artiste reveals he has an inclination to perform, particularly the female roles. “Earlier, it was men who mainly performed in dance ballets, so we men were asked to perform as women as well. I like doing those roles,” says the artiste with a smile. Incidentally, in one of the performances at the festival called Bama Kalaapam, he played Satyabama.
In the other dance ballets of the three-day festival he had donned the role of the sutradhaari who narrated the stories of Parvati Parinayam and Bhaktha Prahalada. As the sutradhaari, he had to recite dialogues in Telugu that narrate the story and most of the time, attach a tune to them. When asked how a dance artiste can go on to sing as well, Radheshyam replies, “Those days, everyone had to learn each aspect that went into the production of a ballet and when one of them couldn’t perform, the other had to step in and make sure the play went on well.”
Having performing for a good six decades and in various locations, the dancer recounts his memorable performances in Chennai and says that the audience here possess a refined taste and have always welcomed his performances. He adds, “Even if the plays are entirely in Telugu, the audience here are able to trace the course of the story without difficulty and the knowledgeable crowd here makes me come back to perform more and more.”