It is said that the Vedas, filled with profound wisdom, were once too difficult for the commoners to grasp. Seeing this, lord Brahma created a fifth Veda — the Natyaveda. This weaved together drama and dance to make divine knowledge accessible to everyone. This belief that classical art should be accessible to all, is what dancers Shijith Nambiar and Parvathy Menon carry forward in their work today. For them, dance was always meant to be a bridge. “We absolutely don’t believe that classical arts belong to a certain community,” Shijith explains. He points to the origin of classical art to make his point.
This is a lesson they live by. Through their Chidagni Foundation, they have set up the Sakhi, an arts centre in a village near Mahabalipuram. Here, they bring this ancient ideal to life. “We teach the village children both Carnatic music and Bharatanatyam, free of cost. We totally believe that art is meant for everyone. Art can uplift and enhance everybody’s life,” says Parvathy.
This sincere belief flowed naturally into their latest production, ‘Kavyam — The Poetry Within’. Conceptualised and choreographed by Shijith, the performance brought to life four iconic compositions through group choreography. It is an attempt to uncover the deeper poetry within each song. As Parvathy says, it is about “bringing the unspoken, the poetry of a kriti. Shijith does this by diving into the composer’s vision, crafting a story using only the traditional vocabulary of Bharatanatyam.
When asked if they need to add modern ideas to make it relevant, Shijith says, “It’s nothing to do with any contemporary ideas. We have immense possibilities in the traditional structure itself. Bharatanatyam is very vast. It’s storytelling. It has emotion. It is never limited.” The tradition, they find, provides everything they need to connect with the audience.
The making of ‘Kavyam’ was itself a journey of discovery. Parvathy shares how the final-recorded music, with renowned artists like TM Krishna and OS Arun lending their voices, changed the feeling of the dance. “Rehearsals, after we got the recording, have brought a different layer altogether. There are moments when you just pause, and there’s so much of stillness, during every rehearsal there’s something that actually touches one,” she recalls.
This production also brought a lovely change in their own roles. After twenty years of dancing together, Shijith now guides from the sidelines as the choreographer, while Parvathy dances with their students. “This would be the first time that we are doing it like this. He’s just sitting there and guiding us. So I have a different position to play. It’s very interesting,” she notes. For her, dancing in a group with younger students is both a challenge and a joy. “Solo is much easier. But I’m also enjoying that youth and that spirit,” she says.
The duo wants the audience to feel something, to be moved without needing to understand every word. “You don’t have to understand word to word,” Parvathy explains. “There is some emotion that you go out with, you go back with a good feeling, something touches you. It just stirs something within you.” And in that stirring, the true purpose of the fifth Veda is fulfilled once again.
‘Kavyam – The Poetry Within’ was performed on Saturday at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mylapore. The Chidagni Foundation’s next presentation is ‘Mrcchakatikam’ by G Venu, a Koodiyattam interpretation of the Sanskrit classic, on November 16 at the Bharata Kalakshetra Auditorium. Tickets are available on BookMyShow.
