CHENNAI:Bharathanatyam dancer Vidhya Subramanian, who divides her time between the US and India, is one of those artistes who is on a constant expedition — a journey that is not by design, but rather a discovery, stumbling upon horizons as they unfold. As someone who is exploring the fountainhead of creative pursuits, playing Sita is like hitting the perfect note, according to the dancer, who will play the role of Sita in Gowri Ramnarayan’s next production Aham Sita.
“As a dancer, whenever I have thought about the portrayal of Rama, I have always deciphered that he was a perfect king, but not the perfect husband,” she says. The production looks at Sita from her point of view — her transformation from a young immature girl, who is full of dreams as she marries Rama, to the point when she is an older and mature woman who is disillusioned with life.
Aham Sita isn’t Vidhya’s first tryst with theatre. For the multifaceted artiste who has close to 30 years of experience in the performance arena, playing a theatre role and the core identity of a dancer, have been feeding each other’s creative energies. Vidhya, who also holds an MA in Theatre Arts, has played Noor in Noor - The Story of a Mughal Empress, written and directed by theatre director Feisal Alkazi. Noor was the story of Noor Jehan and by being part of it, Vidhya says, she learnt the internalisation of emotions through her theatre experiences.
“It is about relating to the character that you are playing, and through repeated rehearsals I could analyse the character and feel and emote as Noor. In the same way, I could say dance has taught me a lot for me to apply in theatre like body language and hand movements,” she adds.
Vidhya, whose gurus include illustrious names like S K Rajarathnam, Kalanidhi Narayanan and Padma Subrahmanyam, has had a brush with films, acting in a couple of short films. With a global appeal, Vidhya has performed in venues across the world like Afghanistan, New York, Paris and Spain, and collaborated with Kuchipudi and Odissi dancers, apart from being part of several prestigious festivals like Asian Pacific Performing Art Series and Vivrti Festival. She is a also a recipient of several awards, including Nadanamamani (Karthik Fine Arts), Yuva Kala Bharati (Bharath Kalachar), etc.
“Dance is my passion, but then I am open to films and theatre — things that I have already had a tryst with. I am enjoying this journey and whatever it has been throwing at me has been challenging,” she says.