THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:Kapila sits surrounded by the amber glow of kalivilakku, her eyes lost in a wild dance of finesse. She builds a slow-yet-magnificent idiom, something totally in sync with the mizhavu. With sharp, measured gestures she brings on the underrated splendour, the hidden beauty of the ancient Sanskrit theatre. She transforms herself to mighty Narasimha, the slow-burning perfection of her act coming from years of laborious training. “Koodiyattom is not an art form with any great popular appeal. It takes a patient and dedicated spectator to fully appreciate the nuances of the performance,” says the artist who bagged this year’s Kumar Gandharava Award.
With both her parents passionately involved in classical forms, Kapila was born to a household seething with art. “While growing up I was introduced to a whole lot of arts including puppetry, ritual performances, theatre and music. My parents’ work, especially with the revival of dying traditions, were happening in full swing all through my childhood. My home was a hub for artistes of all kinds from all over the world,” she says. Daughter of kodiyattam artist G Venu and mohiniyattam exponent Nirmala Panickr, she had her own reasons for following in the footsteps of her father. “I am also well trained in mohiniyattam under my mother, but I was always a bit uncomfortable about dancing. Looking back I think that as a youngster I was constantly worried that dancing mohiniyattam would make people judge the authenticity of my koodiyattam performances. Later, I realised that there are two ways to practice a form. One could either strictly adhere only to it or like in my case where I tried to use my experience in other forms to have a deeper understanding of what makes koodiyattm truly unique. But then, I also came to realise that koodiyattam in itself is such a vast ocean to swim in that I had no time or energy to devote to anything else,” she explains.
During her early years Kapila had the rare fortune to train under Ammannur Madhava Chakyar, the doyen of koodiyattom who drew her to the art from ‘with his extraordinary genius’, as she put it. “We were all in such awe of ashan. He was a beautiful presence to be with and was very affectionate towards me. He used to talk about the olden days, his years as a young student, his experiences as a performer, interesting responses that he got from audiences, legends about great performers in the past and so on,” she says.
As an artist she believes all art forms should pass through the cycle of evolution and breathing a fresh life into them is integral to keep them alive. She associated with Min Tanaka in Japan, the farmer-choreographer who explored the body-weather concept in dance. “It was around the time of Guru Ammannur’s demise that I started working with the avant-garde dancer. In him I saw a very wise old man with a wealth of experience. It was everything I was seeking and in a way I was also trying to compensate for the huge void that ashan’s passing had left in my life,” she says. Min Tanaka deeply believed that the meeting of two extremes - traditions and avant-garde is possible and important. “He has a lot of respect for traditional practices and from him I learnt a lot about the universality of art and human life,” says Kapila.
She says training in koodiyattam is a relatively drawn out process, everything progressing at a slow, organic pace. “We would repeat a certain portion for ages until ashan was satisfied before moving on to something new. With no deadlines or syllabus to finish, it definitely was a tough and strenuous experience.” “But looking back what I find most beautiful is that there was no pressure to perform or become something. The focus was really on the art and its flow from one generation to the next,” she adds.
She adds intense and unwavering dedication is the first quality required for any koddiyattam artist. “A student needs a minimum of 15 years of training to become a performer. It’s not at all a lucrative profession, especially when it comes to remuneration.” She adds that a koodiyattam practitioner is very much dependent on their fellow artists and should be comfortable within the community. “So It’s not an art form to be approached in a very casual style. Unless you are a highly dedicated person, you wouldn’t want to get involved in it,” she winds up.