‘Bharathanatyam’ or ‘Bharatham’ is a classical dance form of India. It is believed to have been created and written by sage Bharatha in 5000 BC. The name is derived from Bhava meaning expression, Raga meaning melody, and Thala meaning rhythm. The dancer is expected to mimic a peacock in her upper half of the body and a lotus below. It demands immense concentration and dedication for one to learn this art and to master it. It required for students in olden days to go to Gurukulams where they will be taught dance, music and choreography for years so as to understand the art holistically.
Despite the major change in tradition and culture in our country, this art form is still being preserved in all its glory at certain places. One such place is Salem, a small city in the state of Tamil Nadu in South India, where culture is deeply rooted in its soil to this very day. ‘Sri Shantha Sampath Natyakalalaya’, a Bhartathanatyam dance school and brain child of my Guru, Shri Sampath Kumar, recently celebrated silver jubilee in the city. What is being taught by Guru Sampath Kumar is not just a dance form; it is more a tapas. There is a calling for complete devotion from the sishya’s side with double the effort form the Guru’s. Most of us were merely a few years old when we entered his tutelage. Today, we owe everything to our Guru, be it the way we have been sculpted by dance, how we present ourselves, our decision making capacities, patience, our principles, virtues we hold dear and value systems we abide by in everyday life.
Guru Sampath Kumar was born into a family dedicated to music and dance. At the tender age of three, he began training under his mother. He then underwent Gurukulavasam under renowned Bharathanatyam artists, Shri. Kunjithapadam Pillai. Shri. Dhananjayan, Dr. Padma Subramaniyam and Smt. Saraswathi Sundaresan. He is also an exponent of Mohini Attam and Kathak, learning it in the same dedicated way and mastering it with time. Over the years, he joined a number of schools and institutions, where he has worked hard to teach this art to different groups of people. His teaching reaches beyond the borders of religion and language, benefitting a variety of students. He has performed in a number of sabhas in Chennai and Mumbai. He and his students have performed in television channels, both national and local. Both the Guru and his students have performed at Natyanjalis organized at Kumbakonam, Chidambaram and Tanjore. Sampath Kumar has the honor of receiving a number of awards and titles from various fine arts organizations and dance celebrities, including “Navarasa Kalaimani”.
Bharathanatyam is an art form purely dedicated to the Supreme Lord. The students perform at various temples in view of different occasions and is a routine being followed for over two decades. The students have even performed in the sanctum sanctorum of many temples, bringing across their sole purpose of dancing for the Lord. It is very similar to the days of history when artists performed in temples, dancing solely to the praise of the Lord. This is a culture well-kept in Salem despite the major development boom happening. Much of it is lost in bigger cities where dancing in a sabha has become much more attractive than dancing for the Lord.
The capacity of a Guru shines through his sishyas as does a parent’s through their child. This is a very evident analogy with the students of Guru Sampath Kumar. His first student, Mrs. Ramavathi Vikram has the honor of getting past audition to become a Bi grade artist with the Doordarshan. This Bi is the first step for a dancer to become a professional and to establish oneself to the wider audience. It is an acclaimed recognition amongst the dancers where one becomes an artiste of the Government. Only artists above seventeen years of age are called for an audition. Mrs. Manasa Ajay, who was also my co-dancer for over a decade, has been dancing for the past 22 years. She is also the winner of the Tamil Nadu State level Dance competition. I have been under the Guru since I was three. I have performed in various sabhas and am currently a Bi Grade artist with the Doordarshan. I am also ranked as one among the 1000 best Bharathanatyam dancers in the world. Despite the hundreds of students he has tutored in these years, over fifty have become recognized dancers since each of them trained under him for over a decade. Also, it is with age that one comes to understand and appreciate the nuances of the art, and along with it, be able to present it in its purest form. Though his students have achieved greater heights in life and have settled around the world, they unify when it comes to dance and their Guru. The self-discipline, dedication and hard work instilled in us from a very young age is driving our success in all walks of life.
Even amongst a million people, a Bharathanatyam dancer is known to be prominent owing to her stance, grace, poise, body language and expression. This is the whole package and one should not tease apart the art of Bharathanatyam to simply an expression called “dance” and criticize the rest; but learn to understand, appreciate and approve the traditional ways of the art and help revive our culture. It is ultimately the choice one makes which decides the chain of events that eventually follow. Guru Sampath could have moved to bigger cities and abroad where he is most sought after and commercialized his gift of dance. Rather, he chose to stay in this little city of Salem, following traditional methods of teaching and paying utmost attention to each student while molding each into a beautiful sculpture. I quote British poet James Fenton who rightly said, “One does not become a Guru by accident”. Students revere Guru Sampath Kumar as a person who loves more than a mother, instills more than a father and guides more the Lord himself. I am immensely proud to be a part of such an initiative in Salem, a twenty five year old traditional Gurukulam for Bharathanatyam: Shri Shantha Sampath Natya Kalalaya.
