Dhananjayan said that Rukmini Devi made learning Kathakali compulsory for the male dancers, so as to imbibe in them the ‘paurusha’ stance and bearing, which the dance classes in Bharatanatyam with the boys just following the female students, was not fully achieving.In fact, it can be said that the history of the dance has been written on the body of the devadasi, the professional female practitioner of the past. Dancer has to be the genderless dance. As the Dhrishta Nayika aware of his faults but unwilling to acknowledge them and trying to sweet-talk the Nayika who will have none of him, in the Javali ‘Taru maru lade veme’ the final touch of inverting the basket, he unsuccessfully tried to cover the Nayika’s head with, over his own head, was a delightful touch – showing a sense of humour with a hint of remorse.Krishna Rao and the Indo-Burmese world-famous dancer Ram Gopal (1912-2003). Proof of the change in the scenario today is in seeing the male Bharatanatyam performer as a full-fledged solo artist able to choose from the entire available repertoire of items, uninhibited by gender. Public opinion was not at all open to the idea of a male dancer in Bharatanatyam.

The great Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai taught male dancers like U.P.V. Dhananjayan also maintained that though they played the male roles in the nritya-natika presentations, the boys rarely got chances for solo Bharatanatyam presentations.Lakshmanaswamy presenting Seshadri’s varnam “Inta Chala Melane” set to music in Nalinakanthi ragam and Adi talam by Meera Seshadri, with the dancer’s male persona getting ironed out of existence while portraying the love-stricken Nayika imploring messengers like Shiva’s deer, snake and others to request Sundara Kapaleswara of Mayurapuri to desist from being indifferent, by responding to her love — the expressional finesse and improvisations round each statement in the lyric could well have been the pride of any female.The way Parshwanath resisted falling prey to too much of rhythmic wizardry, and transcended boundaries of space, gender or time in his interpretation of sringar was most pleasing — rendering performer being a male, totally irrelevant.Also from Bengaluru, Parshwanath Upadhye, who, lately is under the training of senior Chennai guru/performer Sudharani Raghupathy, would seem to have realised that skill in abhinaya is more than just spinning stories in a theatrical narrative. The interpretative part is a matter of individual skill irrespective of gender. C. To negate the persona by turning the body into a pure vehicle for communication or in other words transcending the body through the body language is great art – by male or female.S.Gender bias is a perception emerging from conditioned minds due to historical and cultural reasons. Most convincing in creating a feel of Hanuman in the dance, he is equally able to portray the female in different situations of love — erotic and motherly, his male presence creating no distraction. But in most of these duet situations, the male dancer, in the past, would confine his role to presenting that part perceived as suiting the male half.

Bharatanatyam, a later christening for what was known as Dasi Attam, in both its performance spaces of temple and court, given its history with the anti-devadasi movement played out at a high pitch in south India of the late thirties and forties of the last century, was always a tradition associated with female dancers. And one could not forget the female-centric repertoire which portrayed the nayika in Turbomachinery bearing myriad situations and moods, which the male dancers found unsuitable.Talking about his learning days, V. With the change of performance context after the devadasi’s support structure collapsed, with non-traditionalists starting to enter the Bharatanatyam fray, it was in Kalakshetra that Rukmini Devi overtly encouraged young male recruits like C.S.Dhananjayan and wife Shanta Dhananjayan and similar other pairs gave a chance to the male dancer to represent Bharatanatyam in the tandava tone to set off the lasya contrast brought out by the female partner.P. The latter with his body beautiful, presenting Bharatanatyam items for cosmopolitan audiences turned out in ornate designer costumes, changed the concept of the male in Bharatanatyam.Praveen Kumar’s recital was, perhaps, the highlight of this year’s Music Academy festival.

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