Dance and music are like body and soul: Dr S Vasudevan

Dr S Vasudevan

Dr S Vasudevan, a disciple of Dr Vyjayanthimala Bali and Jayalakshmi Ishwar, performed alongside Vanashree Rao at the Festival of Creative Choreographies held in Delhi late last month. Dr Vasudevan is a well-known Carnatic musician and vocalist, and on stage, I have seen him among the musicians much more often than taking the stage as a dancer. After a rousing Bharatnatyam performance, I spoke to him about being both dancer and musician, and he explained that the division is more a modern phenomenon.

Q: How have you attained excellence in both dance and music?

A: Both the art forms, dance and music, are like body and soul. The mind itself is a melody. And the melody is the mind. It's a spiritual connect. When I sing a raag, and take the alaap, and see the movement of the dancer, I feel the appreciation within myself. As I said, music and dance are as inseparable as the body and soul.

Q: Is it an advantage being a dancer if you are a singer?

A: Of course it is an advantage in today's generation. It is an advantage if the dancer knows the music, but in my time, when we were learning, they were no two (separate) things as training in music and training in dance. Of course, there is separate training for concert music, but my guru, Dr Vyjayanthimala Bali, was an excellent singer, and she taught us that a dancer should first be a singer. Unless I feel the melody, the music, the rhythm, the lyrics, I will not be able to dance. These are therefore known as the natya angas. I cannot do justice to the dancer if I do not know the movements.

Q: We've usually seen you on the panel of musicians - have you ever felt that you could have taken the stage yourself?

A: Yes, of course, an eye of appreciation is always there. You look at the beauty around - the lights, the shadows, the movements - all teach me how to better appreciate the dancer. All my senses work and an artist grows on appreciation.

Q: How do you feel being a male dancer?

A: There is a stage when you are a student and you have these inhibitions of a male-female dancer when choosing a composition, and in what we deliver to people. It is then that you are conscious of being a male or a female. But when we become dancers, we graduate to a stage that the body is not important, it is the soul that participates in the dancing and the energy comes from your spirit. Then it becomes divine bliss and the consciousness of your gender diminishes. You are able to connect with your audience better.

Pics: Sent by Dr S Vasudevan

Note: This interview first appeared in narthaki.com