My conversational journey with this stalwart is full of life and expressions, much like the dance form she represents…exuberant, powerful and very aesthetic. Here are some excerpts from a conversation with the beautiful and gracious Manju Barggavee on dance, the search for perfection, the future of Kuchipudi and more…
The key to being an accomplished dancer comes from having a holistic and disciplined approach to the dance form, a dedication that cannot be compromised and a route that is to be taken up without any short cuts, Barggavee tells me with lot of firmness.
Her journey began decades ago when she was just four years old, a prodigy I feel in hindsight, because she gave her first performance when she was just five. She walks back the memory lane and shares with a lot of gusto that she recalls being nearly obsessed with dance, being ‘crazy’ about it, practicing more and more and never wanting to stop. While she shares this, I think about the endless energy, passion and commitment she must have had sub-consciously. She recalls feeling so restless and impatient if she had to ever miss her dance classes and she even gave up her education mid way to pursue dance full time.
Barggavee is neither new to felicitations and awards or performances. In these years, she may have given over 2000 performances but for her, even now; every performance is new and carries the same amount of freshness and hidden freshness within. Every new performance is like the burst of a new flower, full and blooming and is a new experience, altogether. How creatively satisfying this must be, I think to myself when I see the energy with which she answers my questions on dance and dancing.
Unlike other dance forms, Barggavee says that the most beautiful part of Kuchipudi is that it gives a tremendous opportunity for the dancer to internalize and become the character completely thereby, making it more natural, spontaneous and expressive. I simply love it when she quotes, “Dance is part of my system and I bring it from within, it’s so internal to me….” While her students find it so difficult to match the required poise and forms, she can dance so easily, so effortlessly. In fact, she recalls the famous dance on sand for her fantabulous film, Shankarabaranam. She says she hardly realized it was difficult to dance on sand until an accomplished dancer complimented her for it. The famous artist and danseuse Padma Subramaniam once said, “Dance has gotten into her system.”
I dig deeper and question her on how dance has gotten into her, she speaks with great inspiration that she can actually feel how dance has gotten into her system and she can actually feel its presence or absence within her. That is how she is able to bring out the expressions, bring alive the character she depicts and bring out the universal element of art. In fact, she says that art is universal and any artist is always a neutral insider and never an outsider. She quotes with pain that she was once denied a performance in Bangalore Habba two years back because she was considered an outsider. This, in spite of the fact she is based in Bangalore for the last twenty-nine years. Surprising!
Over the years, she has performed both male and female characters on stage and has been quite adept at it. One of the most challenging and artistically inspiring ones has been the Shiv Tandava, which is a highly powerful rendition. When asked about the uniqueness of her own dance, she shares that one unique element she has discovered about her own style is her footwork and postures. She says one must give a hundred percent and more to ensure perfection and completeness. No short cuts or half heartedness will aid in accomplishing any art form. Even to this day, after thirty-seven years of dancing she says, she ensures that not a single part of her body is unattended when she dances because it lends to the grace and perfectness of that art form.
She advises the next generation or the current generation performers of any art form never to compromise on quality. She says an artist must never dilute the art form, never shorten the work, which is being done these days there is a definite, and established Paddathi and that must be followed completely. There is no room for compromise or shortcomings there. It diminishes the value of that art form. In fact 99% of the performers have diluted the Kuchipudi dance form. It’s very annoying and upsetting to see that happening, she says with genuine concern. Artists and teachers do not even think twice before diluting the dance form and that indicates the lack of passion or commitment for it.
When asked about the future of Kuchipudi, she says with great concern that the problem persists not only at the student level but more importantly the teachers who are teaching the art form. It’s indeed a sad state of affairs to see the harm being done at the level of the teachers itself. She has personally taken some steps to rectify this. And she organizes workshops of Kuchipudi dance for students and teachers. This way, the rectification can happen at the elementary level where the teachers are also trained appropriately to ensure that the students learn the art in the proper and required manner.
When asked about the most famous film, Shankarabharanam, in which she acted and shot to fame, she says that its one amongst the ten classical movies in India. She recalls even now that it was a great experience and it is truly unforgettable. She is also very fortunate and grateful to have got a chance to work in the film, which was and continues to be so popular.
Manju Barggavee trained under the great Padmabhushan Vempati Chinna Satyam. She feels inspired by some great artists and recalls being truly inspired by the great Yamini Krishnamurthy. She always wanted to be like her. She is married to Hari Mohan Naidu, a Chemical Engineer and has a son Vishnu Mohan Naidu. She gives a lot of credit and gratitude to her family. She says her husband has been the pillar of her strength and has supported her tremendously in her endeavors. She is the daughter of Udaya Lakshmi and Gangadhar Rao. Her future plans include wanting to start a research center for Kuchipudi and these days she is busy acting in movies and tele-serials apart from teaching dance, conducting workshops and of course, performing!
Her message to the upcoming artists is that it’s important to give 100% to the art, to be sincere to your commitment and internalize the art form completely. When dance is internalized completely, nothing can go wrong, she ends with a vibrant smile. When asked about her huge fan following she says she is only grateful to the lord that she can make so many people happy.
My journey with this artist seems to have just begun because in spite of a detailed conversation, I cannot get enough of her artistic sensibilities. I feel like going deeper and deeper on what it means to dance, endlessly and discover varied experiences and emotions associated with it. I feel like asking again why she never gave up and what is this ecstasy called dance…my mind questions again..
The dance goddess residing inside of her, performing and casting a magical spell on her…Manju Barggavee dancing eternally, beautifully and ethereally…long live the dance!!!
My conversational journey with this stalwart is full of life and expressions, much like the dance form she represents…exuberant, powerful and very aesthetic. Here are some excerpts from a conversation with the beautiful and gracious Manju Barggavee on dance, the search for perfection, the future of Kuchipudi and more…
The key to being an accomplished dancer comes from having a holistic and disciplined approach to the dance form, a dedication that cannot be compromised and a route that is to be taken up without any short cuts, Barggavee tells me with lot of firmness.
Her journey began decades ago when she was just four years old, a prodigy I feel in hindsight, because she gave her first performance when she was just five. She walks back the memory lane and shares with a lot of gusto that she recalls being nearly obsessed with dance, being ‘crazy’ about it, practicing more and more and never wanting to stop. While she shares this, I think about the endless energy, passion and commitment she must have had sub-consciously. She recalls feeling so restless and impatient if she had to ever miss her dance classes and she even gave up her education mid way to pursue dance full time.
Barggavee is neither new to felicitations and awards or performances. In these years, she may have given over 2000 performances but for her, even now; every performance is new and carries the same amount of freshness and hidden freshness within. Every new performance is like the burst of a new flower, full and blooming and is a new experience, altogether. How creatively satisfying this must be, I think to myself when I see the energy with which she answers my questions on dance and dancing.
Unlike other dance forms, Barggavee says that the most beautiful part of Kuchipudi is that it gives a tremendous opportunity for the dancer to internalize and become the character completely thereby, making it more natural, spontaneous and expressive. I simply love it when she quotes, “Dance is part of my system and I bring it from within, it’s so internal to me….” While her students find it so difficult to match the required poise and forms, she can dance so easily, so effortlessly. In fact, she recalls the famous dance on sand for her fantabulous film, Shankarabaranam. She says she hardly realized it was difficult to dance on sand until an accomplished dancer complimented her for it. The famous artist and danseuse Padma Subramaniam once said, “Dance has gotten into her system.”
I dig deeper and question her on how dance has gotten into her, she speaks with great inspiration that she can actually feel how dance has gotten into her system and she can actually feel its presence or absence within her. That is how she is able to bring out the expressions, bring alive the character she depicts and bring out the universal element of art. In fact, she says that art is universal and any artist is always a neutral insider and never an outsider. She quotes with pain that she was once denied a performance in Bangalore Habba two years back because she was considered an outsider. This, in spite of the fact she is based in Bangalore for the last twenty-nine years. Surprising!
Over the years, she has performed both male and female characters on stage and has been quite adept at it. One of the most challenging and artistically inspiring ones has been the Shiv Tandava, which is a highly powerful rendition. When asked about the uniqueness of her own dance, she shares that one unique element she has discovered about her own style is her footwork and postures. She says one must give a hundred percent and more to ensure perfection and completeness. No short cuts or half heartedness will aid in accomplishing any art form. Even to this day, after thirty-seven years of dancing she says, she ensures that not a single part of her body is unattended when she dances because it lends to the grace and perfectness of that art form.
She advises the next generation or the current generation performers of any art form never to compromise on quality. She says an artist must never dilute the art form, never shorten the work, which is being done these days there is a definite, and established Paddathi and that must be followed completely. There is no room for compromise or shortcomings there. It diminishes the value of that art form. In fact 99% of the performers have diluted the Kuchipudi dance form. It’s very annoying and upsetting to see that happening, she says with genuine concern. Artists and teachers do not even think twice before diluting the dance form and that indicates the lack of passion or commitment for it.
When asked about the future of Kuchipudi, she says with great concern that the problem persists not only at the student level but more importantly the teachers who are teaching the art form. It’s indeed a sad state of affairs to see the harm being done at the level of the teachers itself. She has personally taken some steps to rectify this. And she organizes workshops of Kuchipudi dance for students and teachers. This way, the rectification can happen at the elementary level where the teachers are also trained appropriately to ensure that the students learn the art in the proper and required manner.
When asked about the most famous film, Shankarabharanam, in which she acted and shot to fame, she says that its one amongst the ten classical movies in India. She recalls even now that it was a great experience and it is truly unforgettable. She is also very fortunate and grateful to have got a chance to work in the film, which was and continues to be so popular.
Manju Barggavee trained under the great Padmabhushan Vempati Chinna Satyam. She feels inspired by some great artists and recalls being truly inspired by the great Yamini Krishnamurthy. She always wanted to be like her. She is married to Hari Mohan Naidu, a Chemical Engineer and has a son Vishnu Mohan Naidu. She gives a lot of credit and gratitude to her family. She says her husband has been the pillar of her strength and has supported her tremendously in her endeavors. She is the daughter of Udaya Lakshmi and Gangadhar Rao. Her future plans include wanting to start a research center for Kuchipudi and these days she is busy acting in movies and tele-serials apart from teaching dance, conducting workshops and of course, performing!
Her message to the upcoming artists is that it’s important to give 100% to the art, to be sincere to your commitment and internalize the art form completely. When dance is internalized completely, nothing can go wrong, she ends with a vibrant smile. When asked about her huge fan following she says she is only grateful to the lord that she can make so many people happy.
My journey with this artist seems to have just begun because in spite of a detailed conversation, I cannot get enough of her artistic sensibilities. I feel like going deeper and deeper on what it means to dance, endlessly and discover varied experiences and emotions associated with it. I feel like asking again why she never gave up and what is this ecstasy called dance…my mind questions again..
The dance goddess residing inside of her, performing and casting a magical spell on her…Manju Barggavee dancing eternally, beautifully and ethereally…long live the dance!!!