Kalakshetra can be translated as "temple of art." Bharatanatyam performances tell stories with religious themes. Morning classes at Kalakshetra begin with prayers. Visitors to Koothambalam, the main performance space, must remove their footwear before entering, as they would before entering a temple.
The Kalakshetra campus occupies 100 acres of treed land in the Thiruvanmiyur district of Chennai, and forms a quiet oasis in this busy part of town. Koothambalam is uniquely integrated into the green natural environment that surrounds it, and is worth a visit for itself. This description from their website describes it better than I could: "Built of timber, with slatted walls and a tiled roof, the boundaries between the outdoors and indoors are muted. 'There should be regular communication between the world outside and the world inside,' said [architect] Appukuttan Nair and he built accordingly. The breeze blows softly through the trees which surround the theatre, and as the natural light outside fades, the stage lights rise to images of great beauty. In the rainy season, the sublime music that soars to the high rafters is complemented by the sound of raindrops on the leaves outside. " While I was there, I could hear birds outside the walls, and a bat would fly across the stage, but it disrupted neither performers nor audience.
Ms. Nidhi Misra danced the first half and male dancer S. Jayachandran danced the second half. I found their performances beautiful. Like western ballet, bharatanatyam requires incredible grace, strength, agility, flexibility, precision and subtlety; dancers study full time for many years to learn their art. Masters of either form have this ability to engage themselves fully in the dance. One senses their energy, even when they are standing perfectly still, like a bow drawn by an archer.
As with Western ballet performances, audience members do not take photos or video of the performance. I arrived just shortly before the performance, so I didn't get many pictures of the campus either. However, the blog India Outside My Window has some great photos. Unfortunately, there was no program for the recital, so I don't have photos of the performers, or biographical information. However, this video by dancer Nikolina Nikoleski provides a good idea of what I experienced. I also enjoyed another video by Rama Vaidyanathan. Some things to look for include the hand gestures, facial expressions and eye movements, which are specific to this form of dance. Also, notice the bells around the ankles; the dancer uses them to contribute to the musical experience of the performance.
This is one of the entrances to the auditorium, with a statue of the the school's founder Rukmini Devi in the foreground.
This short video gives a great introduction to her vision of what she was working to create. You can also view a multi-part British documentary from 1984 on the history of Kalakshetra.
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