Bharatanatyam
The Vazhuvoor Tradition
Smt. Rhadha & Sujatha Vijayaraghavan

The Vazhuvoor Tradition of Bharatanatyam came to the fore with Natyacharya Vazhuvoor Ramiah Pillai and his star pupil Kamala in the nineteen forties. The Vazhuvoor bani (style) is renowned for grace and fluidity of movement and subtlety of abhinaya. Adhering to tradition, Ramiah Pillai was a pioneer in setting a new trend in presenting Bharatanatyam to audiences urban and rural, away from the temple and court. The appeal of his bani as seen in his disciples inspired thousands of young girls to learn the art.

Rhadha, the younger sister of Kamala and her dancing partner for several decades, is a remarkable combination of performer, teacher and choreographer. She has personally trained scores of meritorious pupils in her dance school Pushpanjali. Her dance productions Jaya Jaya Devi in collaboration with Lalgudi G. Jayaraman and Sree Lakshmi Prabhavam in collaboration with Chitravina Ravikiran have won acclaim in India and abroad. In this DVD she has demonstrated the adavu-s (basic movements) and part of some of the well known items of the Vazhuvoor repertoire.

Sujatha Vijayaraghavan, bilingual writer (Tamil and English), dance scholar and musician is a close associate of Rhadha and has provided the research, scripts and music for most of her productions. In this DVD she is the commentator, analysing the salient features of the Vazhuvoor bani.